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In this new edition of his national bestseller, E. J. Dionne brings up to date his influential proposals for a politics that can and must find a balance between rights and obligations, between responsibility and compassion. From the New, Updated Introduction: "At the heart of Why Americans Hate Politics is the view that ideas shape politics far more than most accounts of public life usually allow. I believe ideas matter not only to elites and intellectuals, but also to rank and file voters. Indeed, I often think that the rank and file see the importance of ideas more clearly than the elites, who often find themselves surprised by the rise of the movements that arise from the bottom up and shape our politics."… (more)
I regret E J Dionne’s book is called Why Americans Hate Politics because it misleads the reader into thinking that it is about something that it’s not. This is a book that discusses U.S. politics of the Sixties Left and the Eighties Right and contrasts the Liberal left with the Republican right. Dionne concludes with the recommendation of a perspective that I'll summarize as a self-governing republic striving for the middle ground. At the book’s conclusion he briefly refers to the American’s growing alienation from political discourse but it hardly justifies the book’s title. Nevertheless, I found this to be an excellent book as someone who wanted to understand more about contemporary American politics and public policy development. Further, his Washington Post columns and radio media appearances always demonstrate keen insight and thoughtful criticism. I look forward to reading Dionne’s additional titles. ( )
"As long as people are people, democracy, in the full sense of the word, will always be no more than an ideal. Once may approach it as one would the horizon in ways that may be better or worse, but it can never be fully attained. In this sense, you, too, are merely approaching democracy."
-- Vaclav Havel To the United States Congress
Dedication
TO MY MOTHER AND FATHER, WITH LOVE
First words
The New Left and the counterculture prepared the way for Ronald Reagan.
Quotations
Many young voters who had been drawn to the New Left and the counterculture because they attacked authority were drawn to conservatism because it attacked the state. Thus did the New Left wage war against the paternalistic liberal state and defeat it. The right picked up the pieces. (Chap. 1 "Freedom Now")
Last words
A nation that hates politics will not long survive as a democracy.
In this new edition of his national bestseller, E. J. Dionne brings up to date his influential proposals for a politics that can and must find a balance between rights and obligations, between responsibility and compassion. From the New, Updated Introduction: "At the heart of Why Americans Hate Politics is the view that ideas shape politics far more than most accounts of public life usually allow. I believe ideas matter not only to elites and intellectuals, but also to rank and file voters. Indeed, I often think that the rank and file see the importance of ideas more clearly than the elites, who often find themselves surprised by the rise of the movements that arise from the bottom up and shape our politics."
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Wikipedia in English (3)
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