Adults Only [Paperback]

Sid Dinerstein (Author), Shawn McAllister (Editor), Mel Abfier (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2007

Regardless of their politics or party affiliation, everyone in America knows the country has problems. Most of them think their political position is the answer to those problems. The biggest problems are that politics in America has become a blame game with the sole objective of scoring points, rudeness has replaced civility in our political discourse, and too many people love their Party more than their Country. The solutions lie in the fact that we need to develop an Adults Only approach to the problems in America. Grow up! says Sid Dinerstein, one of the most popular and prominent local political party leaders in the state of Florida. Dinerstein lays all partisan politics aside and succinctly describes where America went astray from her intended path and how to get her back on track in his new dynamic book aptly titled, Adults Only. There are no political agendas set forth in Dinerstein s book. It is straightforward, written from the heart, filled with the wit that has become known as Sidisms by those who love and respect him, rich with common sense, and driven by practical solutions to the major issues confronting America in the 21st century. As he points out, America is not a spectator sport we can all do it together, but we have to first grow up, change our attitude, and then change how we conduct politics. Adults Only is an extremely informative, highly entertaining, easy to read book with specific solutions for our huge problems of Governance and the many questions that follow. But they re not for the faint of heart. They are for Adults Only!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sidney Dinerstein was born in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York on April 12, 1946. He grew up in a typical working class upwardly mobile family environment. Great value was placed on academic excellence and independence. He majored in Economics at Brooklyn College. Courses in Public Speaking motivated him to start reading voraciously and joining the Jewish Fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity helped to prepare him for his transition into a career-oriented world. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brooklyn College in January, 1966, at the young age of 19, and immediately entered the City College of New York s Business School where he was awarded a Masters of Business Administration Degree in January, 1968. In 1974, he formed JBS Associates, Inc., a financial services company catering to the retail community, with his partner, Bob Weiner. Sid s second career, Volunteerism, soon followed. He was elected to the local Lakeland Regional School Board of Education in 1979 and, at the age of 33, was the youngest of the nine board members. He served for six years, two as Board President, during which many major changes were made. In 1987, he and George bought out Bob s interest in JBS Associates. The company grew to 600 employees. On February 1, 1993, JBS was sold to National City Corporation. That sale completed Sid s transition from Entrepreneur to full-time Volunteer. The Dinersteins moved to Florida in 1990. Florida provided a whole new array of volunteer opportunities for Sid. He found the local Republican Party and started learning a whole new set of skills. Appointed to the Executive Board, he chaired the Minority Outreach effort and organized a countywide Get Out The Vote effort for the 1996 election. In 2001 he was elected Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Palm Beach County and in December, 2002 was elected Chairman, a position he holds to this day. In the years that followed, Sid Dinerstein became a high profile media savvy community activist. He hosted a WPBR weekly radio talk show focused on Education for one year. Sid took on both partisan and non-partisan projects and became the self appointed advocate for Charter Schools. He became the county spokesman for lower taxes and smaller budgets, taking on elected officials of both parties. Sid had no problem speaking out against wayward officeholders, even those of his own party, and soon built a reputation for demanding high ethical standards for elected officials. Simultaneously he chaired the Palm Tran Services Board, the empowered board appointed by the Palm Beach County Commission to improve the bus system. This board accomplished significant increases in ridership through reconfiguring routes and schedules without additional buses. He repeatedly turns down suggestions to run for public office, but has always felt he has something significant to offer to American politics logical, concrete answers. After much encouragement from friends and colleagues, he decided instead to write a book. His book, Adults Only, is a non-partisan appeal to Americans to grow up. He says, It comes out of a fundamental truth that stares me in the face every day: Lord Acton was right. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Realizing that Lord Acton was right, across party lines, led to the writing of this book... an effort to retrieve lost power on behalf of the citizenry.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Stargroup International; 1st edition (December 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884886868
• ISBN-13: 978-1884886867
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,224,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For adults who care about posterity, March 28, 2008

By 

George H. Blumel (Atlantis FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Adults Only (Paperback)

Adults Only While Sid Dinerstein's book analyzes political issues of the day and offers solutions in a non-partisan way, this book comes across to me as basically about his concern for his grandchildren and our posterity. He asks the reader to think about what is best for the country now and in the future. Hopefully, it will encourage caring adults to run for office or to at least get active in supporting politicians who will act like the adults who founded this great Republic instead of like the self-centered children that is characteristic of many officeholders.

Since professional politicians generally act primarily in the interest of their own careers he suggests that term limits on political offices would encourage citizen-legislators --people who would run to do a job as a public service instead of a career. In other words, adults who take responsibility for passing on the liberty that we ourselves have inherited. He argues for a balanced budget --counting ALL of the nation's spending and off-budget tricks (an especially informative chapter). The deficit spending approved by career politicians is pushed out to past their retirement age unto the next generations.

The book covers English as our national language and why that is so important to our continued existence as a "melting pot." Dinerstein's education solutions are not just theoretical as he works at charter schools himself. He has ideas about the entitlement programs that are heading for a disastrous wall at great speed --but career politicians keep putting off solutions as they consider only the next election.

This is a little book that most will read in little more than an hour but because it is written succinctly it covers the issues and hopefully, stimulates adult-like thinking about what needs to be done. The author does not mince words -- I've read good books with five times the number of words but less content.