The Politics of Selfishness: How John Locke's Legacy Is Paralyzing America
283
The Politics of Selfishness: How John Locke's Legacy Is Paralyzing America
283Hardcover
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Overview
John Locke was an English philosopher who is regarded as the "father of liberalism." His thinking had a profound influence on political philosophy; in fact, the founding fathers who drafted the Constitution of the United States based a portion of its content upon Locke's tenets. However, it can be argued that these Lockean concepts are ill-adapted to realities of the modern world, and as such are the root cause of dysfunction in our body politic today—and are hampering the Obama administration's attempts to effect change.
This book traces the evolution of liberalism as a political philosophy in England and the United States from the 18th century to today. The author presents a series of historical and contemporary studies that illustrate how John Locke's political philosophy of antisocial individualism continues to affect modern American culture. Additionally, this book attempts to address why American "conservatives" are actually liberal, how American "liberals" can also be deemed liberal, to provide direction in getting American politics moving again, and restore the American dream for ourselves and our children.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780313393518 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Publication date: | 09/02/2010 |
| Pages: | 283 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Preface ix
Introduction: The Primacy of Ideology xi
Part 1 The Root Cause of the Malaise: The American Creed and Its liberal Ethos 1
Chapter 1 The Peculiar Genius of American Politics 3
Chapter 2 The Protestant Reformation, the Emergence of the Burghers, and the Eclipse of the Old Order 11
Chapter 3 Thomas Hobbes as God the Father of Liberalism 21
Chapter 4 John Locke as God the Son: Liberalism's Most Successful Salesman 27
Chapter 5 Liberalism after Locke: From Narcissism to Solipsism 41
Chapter 6 The Emergence of Individualism: America Embraces Locke 47
Chapter 7 Liberalism as the American Gospel of Self and Wealth 55
Part 2 Liberalism Struggles to Address Its Critics 61
Chapter 8 The Crisis of Triumphant Liberalism in England 63
Chapter 9 Liberal Agonistes: Spencer, Sumner Rise to Defend the Status Quo 73
Chapter 10 The Liberal Ascendancy and Its American Naysayers 79
Chapter 11 Liberalism's Nervous Breakdown: John Stuart Mill and the Limits of the Liberal Imagination 85
Chapter 12 Liberalism Repackaged as a Faith-Based Doctrine: T. H. Green as God the Holy Ghost 97
Chapter 13 "Modern Liberalism" after Green: Its Pentecost and Its Demise 109
Part 3 Liberal Hegemony in America 119
Chapter 14 Reactionary Liberalism and Its Apotheosis as the American Creed 121
Chapter 15 The Special Case of FDR: Was the New Deal a New Deal for Liberalism or the Same Old Thing? 125
Chapter 16 The Withering of the American Dream: The Myth of Horatio Alger Becomes Public Policy 131
Part 4 America at the Crossroads 143
Chapter 17 The Evidence of Implosion 145
Chapter 18 The Eclipse of the American Political and Legal Systems 149
Chapter 19 The Growth of Economic Inequality and Despair during America's Second Gilded Age 159
Chapter 20 The Collapse of Public Education in the United States 171
Chapter 21 Lawlessness and Gated Communities as Barometers of Anti-Social Behavior 181
Part 5 The Choice: Liberal Eschatology or a New Worldview? 187
Chapter 22 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Locke's Political Legacy and Its Consequences 189
Chapter 23 The Rediscovery of Politics and Its European Roots 199
Epilogue: Why Precision in Thought and Language Are Necessary Preconditions before a Public Dialogue Can Begin 207
Notes 213
Selected Bibliography 265
Index 277
What People are Saying About This
"Paul Nevins is a practicing attorney and former public school teacher who has found a way to make key tenets of America's founding political philosophy more understandable to citizens now trying to repair the damage that Lockean individualism has done to our society. If more of us had read this book in our high school civics classes or college political science courses, we'd be far better equipped to defend 'the public interest' today against conservative voices who claim there is no such thing. The Politics of Selfishness is a wide-ranging account of what's wrong with our schools, courts, workplaces and civic life. It's a wonderful work of scholarship and, unlike so many others, highly readable as well."
— Steve Early, labor journalist, lawyer, organizer, and author of Embedded with Organized Labor: Journalistic Reflections on the Class War at Home
"Paul Nevins takes seriously an essential but often forgotten truth: that the birth of our nation was conceived in philosophy, that at the core of that philosophy lies John Locke, and that Locke's thought has exerted a profound influence on the character of our country and on liberalism in the classic sense. In a trenchant and wide-randing analysis, Nevins diagnoses a fundamental crisis in American liberalism rooted in Locke, and he traces that crisis through its historical and contemporary strands…One need not agree with all of Nevins' conclusions to agree that we do indeed now face a crisis that goes to the very foundations of our republic and to accept wholeheartedly Nevins' invitation to debate the meaning of our founding in philosophy. This book represents a welcome opportunity to begin that conversation."
"Paul Nevins has laid out an ambitious and persuasive argument in The Politics of Selfishness that John Locke's political philosophy has crippled modern American discourse and marginalized the ideal of the common good. . . . This is the story of how John Locke's ideas have shaped who we are as Americans."
William J. O'Brien
"Paul Nevins has laid out an ambitious and persuasive argument in The Politics of Selfishness that John Locke's political philosophy has crippled modern American discourse and marginalized the ideal of the common good. . . . This is the story of how John Locke's ideas have shaped who we are as Americans."
—
William J. O'Brien, Economic Consultant, Global Insight
George Fried
"Paul Nevins takes seriously an essential but often forgotten truth: that the birth of our nation was conceived in philosophy, that at the core of that philosophy lies John Locke, and that Locke's thought has exerted a profound influence on the character of our country and on liberalism in the classic sense. In a trenchant and wide-randing analysis, Nevins diagnoses a fundamental crisis in American liberalism rooted in Locke, and he traces that crisis through its historical and contemporary strands…One need not agree with all of Nevins' conclusions to agree that we do indeed now face a crisis that goes to the very foundations of our republic and to accept wholeheartedly Nevins' invitation to debate the meaning of our founding in philosophy. This book represents a welcome opportunity to begin that conversation."
—
George Fried, Chair, Philosophy Department, Suffolk University
Steve Early
"Paul Nevins is a practicing attorney and former public school teacher who has found a way to make key tenets of America's founding political philosophy more understandable to citizens now trying to repair the damage that Lockean individualism has done to our society. If more of us had read this book in our high school civics classes or college political science courses, we'd be far better equipped to defend 'the public interest' today against conservative voices who claim there is no such thing. The Politics of Selfishness is a wide-ranging account of what's wrong with our schools, courts, workplaces and civic life. It's a wonderful work of scholarship and, unlike so many others, highly readable as well."
—
Steve Early, labor journalist, lawyer, organizer, and author of Embedded with Organized Labor: Journalistic Reflections on the Class War at Home