Compassionate Conservatism: What It Is, What It Does, and How It Can Transform America [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Marvin Olasky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001

Compassionate conservatism is a new political force in the land, sweeping the grassroots of people of all faiths, races, and ethnicities. In its parts it offers solutions to many of our most intractable problems; in its whole it is nothing less than an innovative philosophy of government. No author is more qualified to explain its power and promise than Marvin Olasky, described by "The New York Times" as "the godfather of compassionate conservatism."

Compassionate conservatism offers a new paradigm for how the government can and should intervene in the economy. It begins with a long-lost premise about human behavior: economics, by itself, is not what changes lives. Only faith, and deeply held beliefs, can do that. For decades government has focused only on material well-being, ignoring the passions and convictions that make life worth living. What is conservative about the new movement is that its leaders also know that government cannot instill these beliefs. What it can do is help them flourish. It can give aid, inspiration, and direction to America's natural "armies of compassion" that have been a hallmark of our history since the founding.

Compassionate conservatism offers a way to transcend the root problems that currently oppress too many deserving Americans. It offers a unique vision of the triangular relationship between the state, our many churches, and our tens of thousands of charities. It is a true reinvention of welfare, a wholesale revolution in the welfare state, and a redefinition of the social safety net.

In "Compassionate Conservatism" Marvin Olasky takes us on a road trip with his son, Daniel, across the country, showing exactly how the new movement is unfolding. Along the way, he offers a set of principles, and a brief tour through history to show that these are not so much radically new ideas as rediscoveries of long-lost wisdom. Read this book for a blueprint of the future of politics and welfare in America.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If 2000 Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush has a catchphrase, it's "compassionate conservatism." But like so many political slogans, this term can mean very different things. Marvin Olasky--author of The Tragedy of American Compassion and an advisor to Bush--seeks to describe what he believes it is. And he must be onto something, for, as Bush writes in a brief introduction, "This book clearly summarizes the principles of compassionate conservatism." Here's the nub: "Poverty around the world is a spiritual as well as a material problem: most poor people don't have the faith that they and their situations can change.... Economic redistribution by itself cannot fight poverty effectively because it does not affect the attitudes that frequently undergird poverty." To put it more bluntly, religious faith should play a greater role in public life, especially when it comes to delivering social services to the deprived:

The major flaw of the modern welfare state is not that it is extravagant, but that it is too stingy. It gives the needy bread and tells them to be content with that alone. It gives the rest of us the opportunity to be stingy also, and to salve our consciences even as we scrimp on what many of the destitute need most--love, time, and a challenge to be "little lower than the angels" rather than one thumb up from monkeys.

The bulk of the book is given to descriptions of Olasky's travels around the country with his 10-year-old son, visiting faith-based organizations in some of America's toughest neighborhoods. These vignettes, told in the first person, recall feel-good Reader's Digest stories about ordinary men and women accomplishing extraordinary things in some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable. Parts of the book read like a Bush campaign speech--indeed, one of the appendices is a Bush campaign speech--and Olasky goes out of his way to take a few swipes at Vice President Al Gore. If readers want to get a sense of what a Bush administration might try to accomplish, at least on the domestic front, Compassionate Conservatism is a great place to start--and miles ahead of Bush's own dull campaign biography A Charge to Keep. --John J. Miller --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

"Compassionate conservatism" is a phrase used by Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, but he didn't originate it. Credit for that goes to his advisor Olasky, who, in his 1992 book The Tragedy of American Compassion, proposed that the needs of the poor and uneducated could be better met through the efforts of local, faith-based organizations than through a big, bureaucratic social-welfare machine. As Olasky explains in this manifesto, compassionate conservatism requires looking behind the overt problems of poverty, illiteracy and drug-addiction to address the structures that sustain themAthey must "bring civil society back to the inner city." Olasky describes his travels across the country visiting faith-based local groups that have made a difference. The centerpiece of his tour is Indianapolis, where a coalition of churches, businesses and civic organizations has developed partnerships to transform inner-city neighborhoods block by block. Olasky, who edits the Christian news magazine World, argues that faith is an essential part of the process (and to those who object, he responds that the words "separation of church and state" do not appear in the First Amendment). He even proposes the creation of a White House office of advocacy for faith-based organizations imbued with "the rock-like faith of someone who believes that Christ changes lives." His partisan and sure-to-be-controversial primer opens with a foreword by Bush and closes with Bush's July 1999 speech defining compassionate conservatism, in which he promised, if elected president, to allow religious, as well as nonsectarian, groups to compete to provide services on federal, state and local levels. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.; Unabridged edition (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786120053
• ISBN-13: 978-0786120055
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,541,077 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)