Political Breakdown

This book explains the recent loss of civility in American politics. Recently, our leaders have become more and more hostile to each other. They not only disagree about policy but reject the decency that used to assuage their differences. The usual explanation is that extremists now dominate both major parties.This book shows, however, that unresolved social differences are chiefly to blame. After 1960, new divisions over race, poverty, and immigration erupted and have never been resolved. The left would extend new rights and benefits to many new claimants, while the right rejects any such idea. Both sides believe the very nature of the country is at stake. In fact, however, left and right could agree about a new America. It would be more diverse than now but retain the essential individualism of our culture. In America, life must continue to mean more than survival. It must again become a quest for distant goals.