Customer Reviews

The Courage of Our Convictions: A Manifesto for Democrats

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4 star:		(1)
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This is a short sensible book, a fast read, with some deep thoughts easily understood:

1) Democratic Party today is timid and out of ideas. It failed America by allowing lies and the suppression of dissent to lead us to an elective war in Iraq that has now cost more dead than were murdered on 9/11, and in addition given us over 65,000 amputees and permanently disabled veterans.

2) The Democratic Party has forgotten its roots in Teddy Roosevelt's sense of national unity, Trumans's sense of internationalism; and John F. Kennedy's sense of civic duty. I would add that the Democratic Party has lost its ties to labor and to religion (see my review of "The Left Hand of God.")

3) The program for the future demands that America lead the world to COLLECTIVE solutions. The author points out that in his obsession with Iraq, Bush Junior has neglected all other global matters as well as domestic security.

4) The author calls for a restoration of government as the source of safety nets for society--not necessarily a larger government, but at least a government not owned by corporations and attentive to the needs of the commonwealth and the public.

5) He concludes the book with a redefinition of security, to include livelihood, community, environment (see my review of Max Manwaring's "Environmental Security and Global Stability"), energy, and borders. To this list I would add family.

6) He stresses the importance of the rule of law, which puts him at one with Senators Warner and McCain, and at odds with the infantile boy president who would sanction torture and rendition and all sorts of imperial atrocities.

7) He notes that no single party can save America, and this may be the acme of wisdom. Now that we know that the Democratic Party is ineffective at a base on base challenge to the Republicans (Karl Rove knows how to steal close elections, having masterminded the criminal thefts of Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004), it is clear that only a coalition campaign, one that unites moderate Republicans like myself with fiscally responsible Democrats, and Independents, Libertarians, Reforms, Greens, and the dis-engaged, can get America on track.

Bill Bradley and Gary Hart are two of my heros. This book confirms the author's continued value and relevance to the future of the nation.

The first half of this book is a study of the Democrat presidents over the past fifty years and their actions. He traces the triumphant actions of Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy as well as offering his critiques on the decline of Democrat power.

The second half offers suggestions as to how we can pull together as a nation and revive the party by presenting a unified front as well as win back the majority.

Democrats have already won back the majority. Now all we can do is wait and see what they will do with it. While everything in this book might not be feasible, as a couple of the other reviewers have pointed out, at least it contains ideas. Too many people are running around complaining that things have to be changed, however they have no workable plan. We need more Democrats like Hart, who have ideas and who aren't afraid to voice them.

Hart says that Democrats have been too cautious on Iraq. Perhaps, but raising questions in the frenzy post-9/11 was not a good survival strategy if one was in a contestable race - eg. Max Cleland in Georgia. On the other hand, Hart's suggestion that they now say they made a mistake in originally supporting the war and now see the light seems credible.

Moving on, Hart believes that Democrats have run out of ideas for about the last 40 years. Yet, he also recognizes that some of its last major ideas have had serious repercussions - eg. championing civil rights forfeited its base in the South by alientating white males, especially those in labor unions who see their jobs threatened by minorities entering the labor market. Championing the rights of women further alienated white men who now have to also compete with women of all colors. Meanwhile, environmental and working condition regulations also upset small farmers and businesses, and the Democrats also became tarred with supporting abuse of welfare and resisting protectionism. (How Hart thinks "free trade" is benefitting America's middle class is beyond my comprehension.) Finally, Hart then goes on to criticize America's response to Rwanda, Kosovar, etc. as timid.

As for new ideas, Hart comes up short. He fails to recognize the havoc Free Trade and massive illegal immigration bring (we CANNOT absorb most of Mexico and Central America, which would enter the U.S. if they could), education is no longer the path to growth that it was - due to outsourcing and the fact that about half of college graduates end up taking jobs that do not require a college degree, Hart fails to recognize that education costs have risen far above what is helpful (per studies and comparisions with other nations), he fails to recognize that minorities in the U.S. primarily suffer from their own destructive behaviors, and that healthcare needs massive reform (about half of healthcare costs are wasted - per experts) - not just coverage for all Americans. Then there are those awful trade and government deficits!

Bottom Line: Hart's conclusion that Democrats need new ideas and to work together better is correct - however, he doesn't offer much, if anything, in the way of helpful suggestions beyond the U.S. working together with other nations (something almost everyone recognizes).

The Democrats have lost the last two presidential elections and have also been the minority in Congress: while they're calling for changes, they haven't the power to lead them in. THE COURAGE OF OUR CONVICTIONS: A MANIFESTO FOR DEMOCRATS calls for the party to redefine itself, to clarify its principles and stand behind them, ridding itself of the division and controversy which have contributed to its demise. Any interested in building Democratic strengths and re-learning principles that differentiate it from Republican ideals must have this.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

A fantastic read for anyone interested in philosophy, politics and history. Senator Hart offers an eloquent and compelling narrative of where the modern Democratic Party has been and where it should go.

This was purchased for a our local library. Can't comment on the book itself, as I haven't read it. But shipping was fast and book was in the condition promised.

This book is an invaluable resource for anyone who is interested in the problems of the Democratic Party and is now ready to begin a discussion on reviving the party.

Obviously, America is weaker without two strong political parties. Good political factions keep watch on each other, and create the ongoing debate that produces the best of democratic policies in a republican society. Hart adds immensely to the debate by his focus on Democratic failures, but his advocacy of inept policies will dismay many Americans and anger most others. His solution is to abandon old values and define a new meaning and purpose of the Democratic Party as a nattering nannie of negative nonsence.

What part of 'Don't Tread on Me' doesn't he understand?

This phrase from an early Revolutionary flag represents the heart of American attitudes. In England, a Sunday afternoon rugby match between adjoining villages can turn into a brawl by people who resent being bossed by outsiders. In the Thirteen Colonies, that resentment was of powdered Lords telling Americans what to do from thousands of miles away. The only wonder is that it took so long to rebel. "Don't Tread on Me" was the unwritten credo of the Democratic Party until the rise of the Kennedy cabal.

"If the Democrats fail to act, not only will the party suffer, but so will America, and so too will the rest of the world," Hart asserts. Hart doesn't realize "the rest of the world" did very well for thousands of years without the wise counsel of American Democrats. In fact, most American values are based on the heritage of those benighted foreigners and not on Hart's ideas.

America didn't fight fascism until attacked, and generally did not go "abroad in search of monsters to destroy" until John F. Kennedy tried to save South Vietnam. The great folly of the past 50 years is the attempt to teach the world to become good Americans. George Bush is simply the least competent at this crusading zeal, as shown in many domestic policies and everything in Iraq. Hart simply offers a kinder, gentler incompetence.

Call it "compassionate liberalism".

"Don't Tread on Me" is a basic American value. It applies to personal relations as much as to the search for international monsters or an axis of evil. The longterm trend in history is to greater personal freedom, not a brave new world of complacent conformity. Hart laments the lack of ideas from Democrats; but his great mistake is to assume the future needs more government meddling.

In other words, it is a good one-evening read, devoid of useful ideas but enough to make intelligent readers think. Unless Democrats begin to think for themselves instead of meekly reacting to Republican platitudes or Hart's embrace of the past, they'll remain an inconsequential but often irritable minority.

Hart, like Kennedy, expresses many of the finest ideals of America. Like Kennedy, some of his ideas may lead Democrats into even

deeper doo doo. Maturity won't come for Democrats until they realize Kennedy wasn't perfect in every way and every thing, and that Hart offers

ideas but not solutions. They need to recognize and debate the party's mistakes, then move on. This book is a good start, but it's a long way from a guide or an inspiration.