The Next Deal: The Future Of Public Life In The Information Age [Paperback]

Andrei Cherny (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2001

The Next Deal offers a highly readable blueprint for politics in the twenty-first century. The old-style one-size-fits-all government, Cherny argues, cannot accommodate the significant changes-including the moral revolution of the '60s and the technological revolution of the last fifteen years-that American society has undergone. Cherny proposes a "Next Deal" that will expand democracy by taking decision-making power out of the hands of experts and back into the hands of ordinary people.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A former Gore speechwriter and author of the 2000 Democratic Party Platform, Cherny offers a sweeping analysis of past, present and future American politics. He writes with the conviction that he and his generation are at the cusp of a major historical transformation, and he has a catchy name for everything: We have entered the "Information Age," which has spawned the "Choice Generation," the unjustly decried cohort that has grown up at the computer and expects immediate individual access to everything. This new incarnation of American individualism has asserted itself in the "New Economy" and can be credited with the politics of a "Choice Revolution," resisted by "Treadmill Liberals" and "Blockhead Conservatives." Just as agrarian, 19th-century individualism was replaced by big, centralized and hierarchical government suited to an urban and industrialized world, we now must move toward a decentralized system in which government programs provide citizens with the opportunity to tailor benefits to match their particular needs. No less important is the fulfillment of the "New Responsibility," which Cherny sees as "a necessary counterbalance to the individual autonomy of the Choice Revolution," through the "Citizen Corps," a program of universal national service for young people. However, the theoretical foundation for this combination of personal decision-making power and compulsory public obligation is unclear, and Cherny presents little outside evidence of a demand for linking individual choice with civic responsibility. Cherny may represent a new breed of socially responsible techno-pseudo-Democrat, but he fails to convince that this is America's future.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

When he became an Al Gore speechwriter at 21, Cherny also became the youngest White House speechwriter in history. Now at 25 Cherny is rewriting Arthur Schlesinger's The Vital Center for the new century, exploring the implications and consequences of the information revolution for the economy, government, and society. Cherny traces the shifting balance between Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian ideas from the eighteenth century to the twenty-first. He argues that, while Hamiltonian centralization made sense in the age of the assembly line, his own "Choice Generation" will demand that Jeffersonian individualism be restored. Similarly, he examines Progressivism as defined by Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, maintaining that Wilson's approach has more to offer for the Internet future. Cherny's governmental prescriptions are the most detailed and will probably draw the most attention; he seems naively confident that the Internet will inevitably force business genuinely to empower workers, so his economic suggestions are minimal. As for "community," Cherny celebrates the "New Responsibility," again with little detail. Likely to get lots of chat-show attention; purchase accordingly. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1st edition (October 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465009727
• ISBN-13: 978-0465009725
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,026,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrei Cherny is co-editor of the idea journal, Democracy. A former White House speechwriter and Senior Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, he is the author of The Next Deal and has written on history, politics, and culture for the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Cherny is an officer in the Navy Reserve. He, his wife, and son live in Phoenix.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cherny "Gets It" - Information Age Public Policy, October 31, 2001

By 

Newt Gingrich (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
("THE")   

This review is from: The Next Deal: The Future of Public Life in the Information Age (Hardcover)

To have a 21-year-old Gore speechwriter mature into a 25-year-old public policy book writer and then have that book enthusiastically trumpeted by a conservative former Speaker of the House is a moment of unique achievement. Let me be clear. While Andrei Cherny is a liberal, he has written one of the most thoughtful books about public policy in the information age to be produced by anyone of any ideological background or from any partisan belief. Cherny does a stunning job of placing the progressive movement in the context of the rise of the industrial corporation and makes a profound case that the rise of information technology that moves from mass production to intense personalization and choice that will profoundly change the relationship between government and citizens.

At one level these are not new ideas. Alvin and Heidi Toffler explained the general principles in 1979 in The Third wave. What makes Cherny's contribution so impressive is the degree to which he embeds the technological changes of today in the parallel ideas and experiences of 100 years ago. Just as the rise of the industrial corporation created the systems and the structures that could be translated into professional bureaucracy and into systems such as the city manager form of government, so the development of the automatic teller machine, the self serve gas station, the internet based personal reservation system for airlines and the personally directed 401k all spell the rise of a personally directed citizen process that will transform the process of governance.

I disagree deeply with some of Cherny's ideas, but I am in awe of his ability to take big concepts and embed them in American political history in a manner which will give them context and meaning for any citizen who wishes to study them.

I unequivocally recommend this book to any citizen who wants to know how we can improve our country.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, February 13, 2001

By 

Trey Grayson (Belmont, MA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Next Deal: The Future of Public Life in the Information Age (Hardcover)

All members of what the author calls the Choice Generation ought to read this book regardless of party affiliation. Cherny pens a great history of the development of government in the US in reaction to the changes in the economy. In general, the book is readable and is filled with subtle humor.

While I don't agree with all of his solutions, his main point that government needs to change to adapt to the new information-based economy is dead-on.

His futuristic approach to governing is in stark contrast to the populist, backward-looking campaign waged by his party during the last presidential election. The Dems could do well to listen to Andrei in the future.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What's NEXT in Public Policy . . ., January 24, 2003

By 

Hunter Baker "Hunter Baker" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Next Deal: The Future Of Public Life In The Information Age (Paperback)

Building on the work of "Reinventing Government" by Osborne and Gaebler, former Gore speechwriter Andrei Cherny makes the case for a federal government that drops the old "New Deal" bureaucracy in favor of a new guiding and enabling role. In the course of doing so, Cherny presents American history through the lens of Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian philosophies of government and weaves it together with a demographic portrayal of what he calls "The Choice Generation".

The result is readable and interesting, but left me (admittedly, a Republican) with the feeling that Cherny is in the wrong party. He believes Americans want the ability to control their lives more than anything else, but doesn't grapple with the notion that lower taxes and control over one's financial resources are probably the single greatest enablers of personal choice. I'd like to see him deal with the question of financial freedom instead of just blowing past it.

Cherny's prose style has speechwriter written all over it. He clearly enjoys putting together words and phrases that would snap when spoken to an audience.

If you're interested in what the future of public policy looks like to a well-informed young writer of the center-left, give The Next Deal a try.