Cheese factories on the moon : why earmarks are good for American democracy / Scott A. Frisch and Sean Q Kelly.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 167-172) and index.

Whose pork is it anyway? -- "No money shall be drawn from the Treasury-- " -- Responding to local conditions -- Earmarks and the national interest -- Earmarks and the Executive Branch -- Earmarks and the media -- Lobbyists and earmarks -- The explosion of earmarks -- Earmarks and the paradox of reform.

From the publisher. In recent years, special congressional appropriations{u2014}"earmarks"{u2014}have become synonymous with wasteful government spending and corruption. In this timely, provocative, and highly-readable book Frisch and Kelly challenge the conventional wisdom arguing that earmarks are good for American democracy. They argue that the Founders of the American republic invested the power of the purse in the U.S. Congress to ensure that spending would reflect the priorities of constituents and to balance the legislature against the executive branch of government. Cheese Factories on the Moon is a much-needed challenge to a widespread but deeply flawed "consensus" about what is wrong with congressional appropriations earmarks.