With his trademark blend of political history, social science,
economics, and pop culture, two-time NYT bestselling author, syndicated
columnist, National Review senior editor, and American Enterprise
Institute fellow Jonah Goldberg makes the timely case that America and
other democracies are in peril as they lose the will to defend the
values and institutions that sustain freedom and prosperity. Instead we
are surrendering to populism, nationalism and other forms of
tribalism.
Only once in the last 250,000 years have humans stumbled upon a way to
lift ourselves out of the endless cycle of poverty, hunger, and war that
defines most of history--in 18th century England when we accidentally
discovered the miracle of liberal democratic capitalism.
As Americans we are doubly blessed that those radical ideas were written
into the Constitution, laying the groundwork for our uniquely prosperous
society:
- Our rights come from God not from the government.
- The government belongs to us; we do not belong to the government.
- The individual is sovereign. We are all captains of our own souls.
- The fruits of our labors belong to us.
In the last few decades, these political virtues have been turned into
vices. As we are increasingly taught to view our traditions as a system
of oppression, exploitation and "white privilege," the principles of
liberty and the rule of law are under attack from left and right.
At a moment when authoritarianism, tribalism, identity politics,
nationalism, and cults of personality are rotting our democracy from
within, Goldberg exposes the West's suicidal tendencies on both sides of
the ideological aisle. For the West to survive, we must renew our sense
of gratitude for what our civilization has given us and rediscover the
ideals that led us out of the bloody muck of the past - or back to the
muck we will go.
Suicide is painless, liberty takes work.
