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."
One of the nation's shrewdest political observers traces 30 years of volatile political history, explores what has gone wrong with American politics, and offers a bipartisan look toward a more productive future. This acclaimed national bestseller won the 1991 Los Angeles Times Book Award. "A gripping, page-by-page analysis of what ails us."--National Review.
| Introduction: Living in the Past: How Liberals and Conservatives Are Failing America | 9 | |
| Pt. 1 | The Failures of Liberalism | 29 |
| 1 | Freedom Now: The New Left and the Assault on Liberalism | 31 |
| 2 | The Virtues of Virtue: The Neoconservative Revolt | 55 |
| 3 | Not Black and White: Race, "Values," and Willie Horton | 77 |
| 4 | Family Politics: Feminism and Its Enemies | 98 |
| 5 | The Lost Opportunity: Jimmy Carter and the Not-So-Vital Center | 116 |
| Pt. 2 | The Conservative Impasse | 145 |
| 6 | Ideas Have Consequences: Conservatism's Contradictory Origins | 147 |
| 7 | Moderation Is No Virtue: The Troubled Life of "Modern Republicanism" | 170 |
| 8 | Hell Hath No Fury: The Religious Right and the New Republican Party | 209 |
| 9 | The Demand for Supply Side: Conservative Politics, New Deal Optimism | 242 |
| 10 | Politics Without Government: The Rebirth of Libertarianism | 259 |
| 11 | Balancing Acts: Reagan, Bush, and the Conservative Impasse | 283 |
| 12 | One Nation, Divisible: The 1988 Campaign and the Logic of False Choices | 300 |
| Pt. 3 | Curing the Mischiefs of Ideology | 327 |
| 13 | The Politics of the Restive Majority: Healing Public Life in the Nineties | 329 |
| Afterword to the Touchstone Edition: Beyond False Choices: The Revolt of the Voters | 356 | |
| Notes | 374 | |
| Acknowledgments | 420 | |
| Index | 425 |
Overview
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 ...