Good Sunday Afternoon Read

I haven’t read an “ideological” book since I swore off after college almost four-decades ago. Too removed from my daily life since; too theoretical; too boring.

If not for being offered a review copy, and a rare rainy afternoon in San Diego, I may not have gotten around to Getting America Right by Heritage Foundation president Edwin Feulner and Townhall chairman Doug Wilson, and would have missed out on a truly worthwhile book.

Yes, it’s ideological, as its subtitle, "The True Conservative Values Our Nation Needs Today", says. But, at the same time it’s not as narrow as that subtitle. This book offers any American, including liberals, a handy non-theoretical and practical framework of six questions for analyzing public policies and programs. Different people will put different weights on different questions and the weights will vary depending on the matter at hand, and bring differing facts to bear, resulting in differing answers.

However, by using a common framework of discussion, better focus on the issues and more civil disagreements will emerge, so constructive consensus will be the valuable result.

The six questions:
1. Is it the government’s business?
2. Does this measure promote self-reliance?
3. Is it responsible?
4. Does it make us more prosperous?
5. Does it make us safer?
6. Does it unify us?

There, how ideological is that? Still boring, if one only wants gotchas and partisan zingers. Practical if one cares about more elevated and civil discussion. This book is worth sharing with any friend, or student, who can benefit from that, and who wants to avoid tangential emotional arguments.