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The Battle: How the Fight between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America s Future Hardcover – May 25, 2010

by Arthur C. Brooks (Author)

4.2 56 ratings

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America faces a new culture war. It is not a war about guns, abortions, or gaysrather it is a war against the creeping changes to our entrepreneurial culture, the true bedrock of who we are as a people. The new culture war is a battle between free enterprise and social democracy.

Many Americans have forgotten the evils of socialism and the predations of the American Great Society's welfare state programs. But, as American Enterprise Institute's president Arthur C. Brooks reveals in The Battle, the forces for social democracy have returned with a vengeance, expanding the power of the state to a breathtaking degree.

The Battle offers a plan of action for the defense of free enterprise; it is at once a call to arms and a crucial redefinition of the political and moral gulf that divides Right and Left in America today. The battle is on, and nothing less than the soul of America is at stake.

Print length

192 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

May 25, 2010
Grade level

11 and up
Reading age

13 years and up
Dimensions

5.75 x 1 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

0465019382
ISBN-13

978-0465019380
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to Gingrich, this slim volume will be judged in the future as "one of the pivotal books around which American history turned." Citing a 2009 poll, Brooks (Gross National Happiness), president of the American Enterprise Institute, examines the 30% of Americans who don't support Free Enterprise, calling them an "intellectual upper class" composed of "statist politicians, socialist college professors, left-leaning journalists, America-bashing entertainers..." His claim that this "30 percent coalition" has taken over the country is based on answers to two questions: should government promote policies to narrow the gap between rich and poor? Or should it foster job growth and allow "people to keep more of what they earn?" Nearly two to one opt for the latter. While the economy and Obama's appeal to minorities and young people swept Democrats to victory in 2008, "Statism had effectively taken hold in Washington" long before, in Brooks's view. Not above red-baiting (linking calls for "economic justice" to the "leftist philosophy" of Karl Marx, for instance), Brooks's main target is the "unprincipled Republican party" which has "strayed too far from its free-enterprise values," and needs new leadership.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

From the foreword by Newt Gingrich

Arthur C. Brooks has written a book which will take its place with Charles Murray’s Losing Ground as one of the pivotal books around which American history turned.

From his very first sentences Brooks is outlining a stark and compelling analysis of the crisis of contemporary America.

Brooks begins: “America faces a new culture war. I know this language is jarring, and many people are unwilling to accept it. But it’s true.”

The Battle then outlines three big facts:

First, there is a fundamental disagreement about America’s future between a socialist, redistributionist minority (the 30% coalition) and a massive free enterprise, work ethic, opportunity oriented majority (the 70% majority). For years I have spoken and written that “we are the majority”. It is a concept I learned from Ronald Reagan in the 1970s. Now Brooks provides the ammunition to factually explain why the 70% should govern America as a reflection of our legitimate majority status.

Second, there is an elite system of power which enables the 30% coalition to dominate the 70% majority. There are the seeds of an extraordinary history book buried in a few paragraphs of The Battle. How did the coalition of word users come to so thoroughly dominate the coalition of workers and doers? How did the elites on academic campuses come to define legitimacy for the news media, the Hollywood system, the Courts, and the bureaucracy? Brooks makes clear that the dominance of the hard left in these worlds is a fact. He sets the stage for someone (maybe another AEI scholar) to develop the historic explanation of how this usurpation of the people by the elite came to be.

Third, this is a conflict over values in which those who represent redistributionist, left wing materialism have stolen the language of morality while those who favor freedom, individual opportunity, the right to pursue happiness and personal liberty have been maneuvered into a series of banal and ultimately unattractive positions in the public debate. Brooks’ outline of a morally dominant culture of freedom shaming the materialistic, statist, coercive culture of redistribution is as important for our generation as Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom was for the Reagan-Thatcher generation.

What makes The Battle so important is its unique combination of intellectual clarity and the best succinct analysis of the values of the American people I have ever read.

Brooks argues that conservatism in its market oriented, individual liberty, equality of opportunity, right to pursue happiness, work ethic form is both popular and historically the most positive way for people to live.

After you have read this book and committed its arguments and its salient facts to memory, you will be able to debate any elitist redistributionist leftist and win the day in both moral rhetoric and factual analysis.

Every American about their country’s future and worried by the radicalism of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid machine should read The Battle. It is the ammunition with which to save our country and change our history for the better.Richard B. Cheney, former Vice President of the United States
“This is the playbook for the resurgence of the conservative movement.”

William J. Bennett
"Arthur Brooks is one of America's most astute, bold, and iconoclastic thinkers. The Battle provides yet more evidence of that fact. Loaded with fresh data and common sense, The Battle uncovers liberalism's true grand agenda—to change America's culture and the American way—and explains how these same Americans can fight back and ultimately win."

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; 1st edition (May 25, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465019382
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465019380
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 11 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #480,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #323 in Economic Policy
- #413 in Economic Policy & Development (Books)
- #1,054 in Political Conservatism & Liberalism

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4.2 56 ratings

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Arthur C. Brooks

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Arthur C. Brooks is a Harvard professor, PhD social scientist, #1 bestselling author, and columnist at The Atlantic who specializes in using the highest levels of science and philosophy to provide people with actionable strategies to live their best lives. He speaks to audiences all around the world about human happiness and works to raise well-being within private companies, universities, public agencies, and community organizations. Learn more at www.arthurbrooks.com.

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W. J Yates

"Cut To The Chase" valid points

Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2010

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While reading this book I couldn't help but think of "Animal Farm," required reading when I was in college. The book is short, concise, to the point and simply written without a plethora of faux-intellectualism so prevalent among today's "brandy-sniffers," i.e. college faculty. Simply written indeed, and intentionally so I would speculate.

As most of we reputed "ignorant fools" out in the hinterland have come to realize the pigs can actually be much worse than the naive Farmer Jones, as Orwell so effectively pointed out. His book was a response to the ridiculous message being force fed to the masses in Russia, vis-a-vis just another form of socialism. And so Brooks does a nice job of making the point to be careful what you ask (vote) for.

The really sad point is that had our citizenry taken the time to research Obama a bit we would have learned what we were in for. Many did though, I read OMAMA NATION labor day weekend before the election but few took the time to do so. I truly hope they have learned their lesson, even if it be the hard way.

Brooks is right, we have clearly been sold a bill of goods by Obama and his lying, socialist accomplices. What is the Obama lie-o-meter count up to now, 50 or 100 maybe? Saul Alinski must be smiling down on current events wherever he hangs out today.

I spent a good deal of my life exposed to European style socialism, up close; working with, working in and dealing with it on a daily basis. Socialism is no solution for what ails us in our country. Obama Care, as scary as it is, is not the end, merely the beginning of the social healthcare festivities. With all its faults multiplied 10 times, free market capitalism is still light years ahead of big government socialism - "social justice" indeed. What we stand to lose is our individual freedom, sold for 30 pieces of silver to the elitists in a nanny state setting. Thanks but no thanks, I have other plans.

Brooks is also right, the American people are terrified at what they have seen, so they have spoken where it counts, at the ballot box. And there is more to come in 2012 I believe, so also is the revolt of we commoners just beginning.

Just for fun I counted responses to the 1-star reviews of this book and sorted them into a category of helpful vs. not helpful responses. By my non scientific calculation: the count is 17% helpful and 83% not helpful. NUFF SAID?

5 people found this helpful

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Cooper

The 70/30 Nation: Free Enterprise Culture v. Big Government Culture

Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2010

Verified Purchase

Arthur C. Brooks' new book "The Battle" is a compelling and compact book about the social dynamics of America's current struggle between the culture of free enterprise and the culture of big government.

Brooks' premise is that America is a 70/30 nation: a clear majority of Americans belive that the role of government is more about ensuring equal opportunity to pursue happiness than it is about government ensuring equal economic outcomes. However, it is the elites and their followers who occupy the positions of political power and who are furthering the bi-partisan rise and rise of goverment power, bureaucracy, taxation, spending, regulation and entitlements.

Brooks fleshes out the makeup and outlook of the 70/30 nation, and along the way elaborates on the idea of "earned success." Meaning and control over one's life are critical to one's sense of satisfaction with work and to one's overall happiness. By itself, money does not guarantee happiness; it is only an indicator of "earned success." In fact, Brooks insightfully describes how it is the big government/welfare statist mentality that is thoroughly materialistic, misguidedly aiming for expanded government spending programs to "spread the wealth" and thereby create a more "just" society.

Free enterprise is a core component of human liberty. But that kind of freedom is incompatible with the kind of social democracy advocated by the "30" segment. In the book, Brooks deftly describes the welfare statists strategies' for expanding their base to ensure permanent expansion of government's role in the economy.

"The Battle" is not an overtly political or partisan book. It is not "anti-Obama." The book makes clear that Republican Congresses and the Bush Administration were responsible for the significantly expanding bureaucracy and welfare entitlements, and the TARP program and GM bailouts began under the prior administration. Rather, the book speaks to larger themes about free enterprise and goverment power and calls on Americans to recognize the urgent need to defend the free market as the best means to ensuring human flourishing.

7 people found this helpful

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Patrick J. Hogan

The Battle

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2011

Verified Purchase

Good book. It does a good job of explaining how the 30% minority which wants Cradle to grave government assistance and an ever increasing government presence in everyone's lives is consistently fighting to increase government involvement in EVERYONE's Life. This is must reading for those people who get up every morning go to work, pay their taxes, raise their kids and don't expect someone else to provide for them. The vocal LIBERAL elites who are constantly looking to take more money from those who earn it in order to give it to those who don't want to work, or be productive members of society is disheartening. The leaders of the 30% use buzz words like, everyone should pay there fair share, (READ TAX THE PRODUCERS TO REDISTRIBUTE TO THEIR CLIENTELE ). or WE NEED MORE INVESTMENTS ( code for more government spending ). And they won't call themselves LIBERAL they like PROGRESSIVE because it sounds better to those who aren't paying close attention. Who doesn't want progress. Except the only progress they want is a PROGRESSIVE increase in the amount of money they take from the producers, so that they can give it to the OXYGEN stealers who in many cases provide NOTHING of benefit to society but are constantly looking for more and more government assistance. Hopefully the people who make this country go every day are finally standing up and saying ENOUGH. You cannot continue to spend OUR money and OUR kids money on an endless array of useless projects. If your one of these people you need to read this book, so you can have the ammunition to fight the 30% who want an ever increasing percentage of your hard work being redirected to many who don't want to work. I'm all for helping those who can't help themselves. But we are tired of supporting those who refuse to help themselves and want someone else to support them.

2 people found this helpful

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