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Chargement... American Schism: How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing our Nationpar Seth Radwell
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"Two disparate Americas have always coexisted. In this thoroughly researched, engaging and ultimately hopeful story of our nation's divergent roots, Seth David Radwell clearly links the fascinating history of the two American Enlightenments to our raging political division. He also demonstrates that reasoned analysis and historical perspective are the only antidote to irrational political discourse."Did my vision of America ever exist at all, or was it but a myth?" Searching for a fresh and distinctive perspective on the recent corrosion of our civic life, Radwell's very personal and yet broadly shared question propelled his search back to our nation's founding for a fresh and distinctive perspective on the recent corrosion of our civic life - and led to a surprising discovery. Today's battles reflect the fundamentally divergent visions of our country that emerged at our nation's founding and have been vying for prominence ever since. The founding principles that shaped the United States may be rooted in the Enlightenment era. But the origin of our dual Americas is a product of two distinct Enlightenments - Radical and Moderate."-- Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)320.973Social sciences Political Science Political Science Political situation and conditions North America United StatesClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne: Pas d'évaluation.Est-ce vous ?Devenez un(e) auteur LibraryThing. |
Where I agree with him:
- he's pro-truth and against the postmodernist idea of "no truth/your truth/my truth"
- he's against the idea of equal outcomes and wants to keep the idea of meritocracy & people being able to keep (some of) the rewards of success.
- he's in favor of equality under the law and a broad view of who is included in "we the people". He believes in democracy.
His suggested solutions are mostly standard liberal/progressive policies. Tax more (esp the rich), spend more on education, elect the president by national popular vote, eliminate the filibuster (and possibly do more to make the senate less important), reverse Citizens United, ban political advertising on TV/internet, eliminate voter ID rules and gerrymandering (he didn't address current gerrymandering to ensure more racially diverse representation in congress, so maybe he isn't aware). To him it seems obvious that this all flows from the ideas of Jefferson and other radical enlightenment thinkers, but I'm skeptical. At least he's open to debate with people who also support democracy and the rule of law, which is more than can be said for many partisans of either side.
The book was an incredibly ambitious effort, and he deserves credit for that, and for trying to address a truly important issue. But most readers would probably be better served by looking at history and enlightenment thought more directly, particularly the writings of Jefferson, Franklin and the French Enlightenment thinkers.