7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
OPTIMISTIC AND HOPEFUL, September 14, 2005
Whatever you may think of Newt Gingrich, this book paints a wonderful future for the United States. Addressing such wide ranging issues as the space age, the information technology revolution, reforming government bureaucracies, the nature of society, defense, and foreign policy; this book will force you to sit back on your heels and think about the role of government and the individual in modern society. Of course, it is one thing to imagine what might be possible, it is another to devise the governmental policies that will facilitate that future. Considering this book was published in 1984, it is fairly easy to see that Speaker Gingrich has gotten more right then wrong in this book.
Speaker Gingrich's concern about communism and the Soviet Union seem quant now that the USSR has collapsed into several weak countries. However, it is difficult not to argue that those countries will continue to create problems for the international community and the United States due to fundamental flaws in their culture. On wonders how Journey for Our Time: The Russian Journals of the Marquis de Custine (cited in this book as being as authoritative on Russian culture as de Tocqueville was on American culture) compares to modern Russian culture.
Additionally, the policies that Speaker Gingrich advocates in this book for creating a better future are certainly from the Conservative branch of American politics. Yet, at times, he is harshly critical of the conservative movement. Indeed, some of the programs he is advocating - greater space exploration, defense reform, government innovation, and education reform - all translate directly into a larger federal government.
Overall, this is an excellent read. It will interest historians in years to come. It will interest those who just want to read someone in 1984 making educated guesses about the future and seeing how much the author got right and wrong. While many readers will find Speaker Gingrich's partisanship (though there are few attacks on other than ideas in this book) and his policies wrongheaded, it is refreshing to see a politician basing his actions on a core of intellectual thought with a significant rigor. One can only wonder why so few politicians have the moral courage to lay out their vision in such a public forum.
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