New York Times columnist, David Brooks, almost always has trenchent, lucid, and sober analyses of American society. His July 12, 2016 column laments the collapse of the "American ideal" and the failure of leadership throughout our country. (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/opinion/are-we-on-the-path-to-national-ruin.html?_r=0)
While almost always optimistic about even the most dire events Mr. Brooks shows some concern that American society may become even much worse than he had imagined.
He is right to be concerned. There is nothing in the logic of the individualist/capitalist system which has become so overwhelmingly powerful (driving elements of severe economic injustice, severe political institutional dysfunction, severe distrust of nearly all institutions, and more) to think that change for the better will occur.
Imagining that things could change for the better if only some elements of this system would reform, be more courageous, or have magic occur doesn't make sense. The logic of the system dominates.
Clear thinking about change has to include changing or "pushing back" that logic. There has to be a major change in the social ethos which characterizes our society. There has to be elements of collective identity and rationality, new public values, and some institutional leverage on the part of the little people to force significant social change to improve their lives objectively and subjectively.
That clear thinking means a new social vision and a practical plan to alter the American social ethos. That's what "An Action Manual" is all about. It is a comprehensive, theoretically-sound vision and practical plan to update our 18th-Century governance principles and institutions and level the playing field between the elite and the rest of us.
Please give it a good look. You won't regret it.
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