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  Rediscovering Republicanism -...

  John Nantz

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  When well-designed institutions function properly, people thrive. Few institutions have been more ingeniously designed than the U.S. federal government via the Constitution in 1787. This auspicious beginning more than two centuries ago helps explain why the U.S. remains a magnet for opportunity seekers, students, entrepreneurs, dissidents, and persecuted believers.Yet for decades now, America’s federal government has been underperforming. Social Security and Medicare face looming insolvency. The federal government’s “war on poverty” has failed to “end poverty” and arguably made it worse. In 2012, the United States Postal Service lost more money than the nation spent on the State Department, and Amtrak has lost money every year since being created in 1971. How can an enduring institution, so thoughtfully crafted, now produce such poor results?The federal government has grown so much because it serves a new and different vision, American Progressivism. American Progressives believed that democratically elected, public-minded federal politicians and employees could use federal programs to solve the nation’s greatest problems in a way no other American institution could. This idea justified the federal government’s massive expansion: today, the federal government runs over 1,500 programs and employs over 5% of the U.S. workforce.Yet federal results do not match Progressive expectations. Three key problems – “windfall politics”, “the government surcharge”, and “complexity failure” – overlooked by American Progressives explain the federal government’s consistent failures. American Progressive’s rosy-eyed view of human nature and political institutions have not been borne out by the evidence.In an era of substantial political fermentation and debate, rediscovering and re-applying American Republicanism represents the best path forward for the United States. The federal government should retain many necessary responsibilities but turn over those where it has failed.

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  F*ck Silence - Calling Trump Out...

  Joe Walsh

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  Donald Trump is the exact threat our Founding Fathers feared. 
  Joe Walsh is as rock-ribbed a conservative as they come. But he believes that no right-wing policy victory is worth the loss of our very democracy. 
  In this clear-eyed and unsparing book, Walsh makes the case that Trump has more in common with the foreign dictators he praises publicly than a predecessor like Ronald Reagan. Trump is an existential threat to conservatism, the presidency, and national unity. He has violated the Constitution in plain sight, assaulted democratic institutions, overwhelmed the country with disinformation, erected around himself a cult of personality, and governed according to his narcissism more than any discernable political philosophy. 
  Though Walsh agrees with Trump that the Washington elite has hung working-class America out to dry, traveling down the road to despotism is no response. And now a person who places himself above the rule of law and accountability sits in the Oval Office—all that's missing is a big, beautiful throne behind the Resolute Desk.  
  In F*ck Silence, Walsh challenges his countrymen, especially his fellow conservatives, to acknowledge and oppose this unpatriotic and un-American behavior before we give away what made America great in the first place: our democracy.

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  Inventing Human Rights - A History

  Lynn Hunt

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  How were human rights invented, and how does their tumultuous history influence their perception and our ability to protect them today? From Professor Lynn Hunt comes this extraordinary cultural and intellectual history, which traces the roots of human rights to the rejection of torture as a means for finding the truth. She demonstrates how ideas of human relationships portrayed in novels and art helped spread these new ideals and how human rights continue to be contested today.

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  Kindly Inquisitors - The New...

  Jonathan Rauch

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  The classic “compelling defense of free speech against its new enemies” now in an expanded edition with a foreword by George F. Will (Kirkus Reviews). 
   
  “A liberal society stands on the proposition that we should all take seriously the idea that we might be wrong. This means we must place no one, including ourselves, beyond the reach of criticism; it means that we must allow people to err, even where the error offends and upsets, as it often will.” So writes Jonathan Rauch in Kindly Inquisitors, which has challenged readers for decades with its provocative analysis of attempts to limit free speech. In it, Rauch makes a persuasive argument for the value of “liberal science” and the idea that conflicting views produce knowledge within society. 
   
  In this expanded edition of Kindly Inquisitors, a new foreword by George F. Will explores the book’s continued relevance, while a substantial new afterword by Rauch elaborates upon his original argument and brings it fully up to date. Two decades after the book’s initial publication, the regulation of hate speech has grown both domestically and internationally. But the answer to prejudice, Rauch argues, is pluralism—not purism.  
   
  Rather than attempting to legislate bias and prejudice out of existence, we must pit them against one another to foster a more vigorous and fruitful discussion. It is this process, Rauch argues, that will enable our society to replace hate with knowledge, both ethical and empirical.

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  US Politics in an Age of...

  Sharon Smith, Charlie Post, Kim...

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  “This collection contains everything we need to understand the world that gave us Trump, and to arm ourselves for the battles to come” (Sarah Jaffe, author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt).   The Democratic Party and mainstream liberal organizations have shown themselves to be completely inadequate to address the key questions facing working people today. The corporate-friendly wing of the party, especially in the aftermath of the Great Recession in 2008, has created conditions that led to the Trump phenomenon in the international context of rising right-wing populism.   These essays from a wide variety of thinkers delve into topics of economic inequality and exploitation, gender and cultural identity, and how the neglect of the working class by establishment politicians has had consequences that urgently need to be addressed.

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  Running for Our Lives - A Story...

  Robb Ryerse

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  Empowered by the Brand New Congress initiative in 2018, evangelical pastor and progressive Republican Robb Ryerse embarked on a long-shot, grassroots congressional campaign against Steve Womack, one of the most powerful Republican incumbents in Washington, DC. After he ultimately lost his race, Ryerse worked with the Vote Common Good campaign, traveling across the United States to help turn Congress blue. 
  Throughout his political journey, Ryerse gained new insights on the relationship between religion and politics in America today, the dynamics of our deep partisan divide, and the power of faithful people working for the common good. Running for Our Lives is the honest and authentic story of how one pastor tried to make a difference. Through all the joys and struggles of daring to make a stand, Ryerse shares what he's learned about how our political identities shape us, what the role of government has in helping to meet people's needs, and how others can get involved in politics as an expression of progressive faith.

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