Customer Reviews

The True Patriot

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Every so often a book comes along that changes the way we look at the world, Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring", or Richard Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene." Now Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer have written a book that changes the way that we, Americans, look at ourselves. How do they do this? By pushing aside the convenient stereotypes of modern media, asking Americans what it really means to be a Patriot, and revealing it to be this: to be what Americans fundamentally are -- pragmatists with the courage to stand on principle, people with the energy and optimism to improve self and society, and people who love freedom because it enables us to improve our lot in life but also to improve our life allot -- by serving and contributing to family, community and country.

These concepts are not presented as a sleepy civics lesson -- in the hands of Liu and Hanauer they are downright exhilarating. They show that to be American is to participate in one of the greatest experiments of all time, one that is still relatively new for history's laboratory. To help us appreciate this, the authors intersperse throughout the book speeches of great Americans that show us where we have come from, from Thomas Jefferson's inaugural address, to Teddy Roosevelt's call to "The Strenuous Life", to Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 Speech on the March on Washington. These serve as touchstones to remind us of the core principles that have always been at the heart of the American Dream - freedom with responsibility; opportunity with personal initiative; purpose through sacrifice and service; community; contribution; stewardship; leadership and pragmatism. Working from these bedrock concepts, the authors then explain a ten-principle plan for a progressive Patriotism. (Note to reader: although the authors' have written a book about unabashedly "progressive" Patriotism, politics and civics, this book is in part a fiercely traditional tome - the authors hold up, illuminate and summon us with ideas that have been the engine of our democracy of over 200 years). The author's ideas about how to live our patriotism are provocative, challenging and generous. Ultimately, the plan laid out in The True Patriot lights a path for the American body politic by taking from our past what defines us as Americans, and revitalizing it with the common sense, clear sightedness and intellectual energy needed to keep America's compass on true north.

If you have been looking for a way to rekindle the excitement of being a citizen in the greatest political experiment going, "The True Patriot" is it.

Even if you just read it for the great historical speeches, True Patriot is a winner. Full disclosure, I know the authors, but I can honestly say this "pamphlet" reminds me why I AM proud to be an American, an emotion that has been hard to muster these last several years. It also reminds me that shared sacrifice and responsibilty to community and country needs to re-enter the political discourse. Capitalism seems to have evolved into "get as much as you can for yourself while the gettin's good", and has forgotten that the foundation of capitalism and free markets is community.

The True Patriot transcends partisan politics and reminds us what it means to be an American. The book respectfully and insightfully discusses where both progressives and conservatives have gone right and wrong. The book is packed with incredible one liners, a unique selection of historic American speeches by great leaders of the past, and a ten principle plan that I hope all politicians will adopt. Most importantly, this book asks the reader tough questions about what patriotism means to them. America has been polarized by ideologues posing as politicians--this book shows us a new way forward that's firmly rooted in the best traditions of our past. Just in time for the 2008 election!

I love this little book and have been enthusiastically handing it to others since I first got a copy.

Traditional American values have been seriously corrupted! They have been corrupted by the right as well as the left, the religious as well as those who are not. Pop culture idolizes greed and selfishness: Paris Hilton, "prosperity gospel," and a nail salon on every corner. These same anti-values masquerade as social policy--American cowboys riding out of our corrals and trampling anyone in our way, including each other.

With powerful, visual language and quotations from great American leaders of the past, The True Patriot articulates a moral framework based on the ideals that founded this country. Liu and Hanauer argue that by definition patriotism is allegiance to a group effort, that patriotism seeks to serve something greater than any one of us. It acknowledges our debt "There's no such thing as a self-made man" and our responsibility "to measure a citizen's worth by contribution to country and community, not by wealth or power."

This book isn't perfect for me. As someone who has travelled extensively, I cringe at phrases like, "No other nation prides itself on being the world's laboratory, demonstrating what happens by when you intermingle the peoples of the earth." In their call for us to rally us around the great American dream, Liu and Hanauer brush aside the dreams from which ours emerged, the dreams of peoples outside our national boundry, and the crucially humbling consciousness of how at times we have violated our own deepest values.

But part of the beauty of their message is simplicity. This book is a powerful call to arms, a reminder that this country is worth fighting for--not our unfettered stream of cheap consumer goods, but the principles we represent. It reminds us of the potential we have to be a beacon to the world. This book should be in every high school civics class; I recommend it for anyone who cares about the past and the future of this country.

It is all too likely that this book will be lost amidst the cacophony of today's made-for-TV political petifoggery. I can only recommend that every American progressive not only read the book, but commit it to memory, and then act upon it's counsel.

The True Patriot is an excellent read and quite timely given the election season and accompanying rhetoric. It's a book that describes our responsibility as citizen participants in a democracy and talks about what it really means to be patriotic. There is interesting discussion about how to move from divisive politics to something that is embracing, based on a set of ethical guiding principles and includes service to the community.

The book is a quick read, and incredibly well researched. This includes snippets of inspiring speeches from past leaders in our country that demonstrate the principles on which the US was founded and to which we must return. This is a great book for generating discussion and making readers really think about what it means to be a US citizen. Hopefully, our political leaders are studying this work closely.

I've got a bookshelf full of fun rants written for liberals like me -- filled with incisive analysis of the atrocities of the Republicans and the Bush administration. The TruePatriot is that rare optimistic book that devotes itself to the question of what OUR values are, and how we can proudly carry forward the progressive message, which the authors show is fundamentally the American message. They say that delineating progressive policies is inadequate; progressive leaders must learn to speak in moral and patriotic terms, and their book shows the way. Documented with profound quotes from George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK, MLK and other inspiring American leaders, The TruePatriot echoes JFK's appeal, "Ask what you can do for your country..." and your neighbors, your community. It calls on all of us to share the sacrifice necessary to restore America's position as a beacon for the world. "We are unapologetic," the authors write, " in our belief in America's purpose: to light the word's path to freedom and equal opportunity." Liu and Hanauer call The TruePatriot a pamphlet, in the spirit of Tom Paine's Common Sense, and at pocket size and 125 pages, double spaced, it can easily be read in one sitting -- and thought about and talked about for months and years. In fact it ends with five provocative questions to discuss with friends and family and on the authors' website, truepat.org.

I applaud Liu and Hanauer for offering this smart and well-crafted manifesto to our political discourse. Their ideas are solid, even if a reader may healthily disagree with some of their assumptions. The presentation is very cogent and accessible, making it easy to grasp both the framework and core ideas. Their examples, along with the wonderful collection of speeches and illustrations, add enormous value both to the ease of reading their book and the historical context for their ideas. Kudos. Now let's get some of our political leaders to follow suit!

Have you ever wished that progressives had more firepower in the battle for our country's hearts and minds? Are you too busy to read the long and flailing treatises that attempt to address the problem? This book is a must read for you. One hour of reading, and you can turn the tables on right wing ideologues with gusto! A powerful rebranding of progressive values that should transform the way that progressives make their case to the world.

Do your progressive friends a favor. Give them this book!

The True Patriot is a must-read for all who are focused on using 2008 to put America on a better course. Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer have made an important and timely contribution to the political debate, arguing that we need a new politics, rooted in America's founding principles, and drawing much more on notions of sacrifice and contribution to community than many of our political leaders are demanding. Liu and Hanauer are progressive Democrats, but their critique of America's current politics rises above the tired old dynamics of Blue and Red. They criticize conservative Republicans for straying far from true conservative principles (like Teddy Roosevelt's commitment to conservation) and for passing off as patriotism something much more akin to jingoism; but they also take many Democrats to task for ceding the ground of patriotism so readily, and for not building progressive politics on a stronger foundation - one rooted in a clear moral code, celebrating American exceptionalism, calling for sacrifice in pursuit of common goals, and challenging America to new levels of greatness. Not only do Liu and Hanauer try to offer the kind of moral map that has been missing too often from progressive policy lists; they also do something particularly fresh and useful when they lay out their own, personal "moral code" for political life. They note it is no easy thing to encapsulate one's guiding political principles in a single page - and they prove the point by challenging the reader to take his or her own crack at doing so. (I tried; they're right; it's hard.) This compact volume, written in the provocative pamphleteering tradition of Thomas Paine, also provides reprints of the seminal American texts that the authors say inspire their vision of America - from familiar and wonderful pieces like the Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, to some words that most of us have lost sight of and are glad to find again, like Judge Learned Hand's address at "I am an American Day," or a 1968 speech at the University of Kansas on "Recapturing America's Moral Vision" by Robert F. Kennedy, whose muscular, demanding, progressive vision these authors very much echo. Liu and Hanauer have provided us with a book that implicitly asks these important questions: What exactly is it about the great figures and moments in America's history that leave us feeling so inspired and patriotic? And what are we willing to do today so that our own grandchildren might look back and have those same feelings about our generation and what we accomplish? Challenging questions, and ones that all of us - including the current crop of presidential candidates and their advisers - would do well to ponder as we approach November 2008.