The estimable, David Brooks, columnist of the New York Times, again points out an important defect in American society. He calls it the "Death of Idealism." (See link below.)
As usual, his diagnosis is good but he rarely has much in the way of solutions. Of course, he is only a journalist and nobody else has articulated sound solutions either.
That's where "An Action Manual" becomes the only theoretically sound and practical articulation of a program to fix this defect in America. The the book announces the National Character Program and it is responsive to Brooks's diagnosis in a lot of ways but especially when it comes to articulating a new set of American values.
That set of values is set out in the image here. The lack of idealism which Brooks laments cannot be addressed by our existing 18th-Century political and governance concepts. A new paradigm has to be imposed providing a new way of looking and thinking of those things which will bring Americans together as a team, establish a public interest attitude, embrace inclusivity, and smarten the way we govern and deal with each other.
It is easy to diagnose defects and to critique; we have no shortage of people doing that. An Action manual provides a roadmap to actually achieving a better, smarter America.
NY Times 9-30-2016 (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/30/opinion/the-death-of-idealism.html?_r=0)
Write a comment