The Essential America:Our Founders & the Liberal Traditition

If you hate the deamonization of liberalism of the last 40 years by conservatives and the neo-cons, you will find hope in this book. Everything that has made life better for the working classes was made possible by liberalism. Right wing conservatives are now trying to destroy all of these gains. ---BBB

The Essential America : Our Founders and the Liberal Tradition
by George McGovern
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly

The former presidential candidate, three-term South Dakota senator and outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War balances partisan argument with historical perspective in his winning, well-reasoned (if rarely startling) ninth book. Drawing both on the "moral and spiritual views" of America's founders and on his own experiences (as a wartime bomber pilot, a senator and a U.N. official fighting world hunger), McGovern defends a proud legacy of liberalism, whose "role is to harness federal power to serve the public interest." Offering warm words for many Republicans, McGovern nevertheless pulls no punches about the current administration's "arrogance and go-it-alone" behavior; much of the book outlines a progressive alternative. Five chapters alternate progressive policy recommendations with discussions of (and long quotes from) presidents McGovern admires: Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln and FDR. The book's real historical hero, however, is Eisenhower, who warned that an ever-expanding "military-industrial complex" could choke off democracy and waste American treasure in needless wars.

Product Description:

Liberalism is the oldest and most enduring American tradition, a philosophy and way of life we inherited from the Founding Fathers. This is the central idea of The Essential America by George McGovern, America's best-known (and most consistent) liberal.

Referring us to our moral and spiritual foundations, McGovern not only presents a resounding defense of liberalism as "the most practical and hopeful compass to guide the American ship of state" but offers specific proposals for keeping the tradition vibrant.

The Essential America proposes programs for feeding the world's malnourished children. Rather than sending our armies abroad, McGovern spells out policies that confront the causes of terrorism. He proposes cutting our military budget (echoing Dwight D. Eisenhower's powerful warning about the military-industrial complex). He condemns preemptive war, criticizes tax cuts for the rich, and warns against government for the powerful minority.

Americans have traditionally stood for progress, generosity, tolerance, and protection of the needy, McGovern states -- as well as for multi- lateralism in foreign policy and "a decent respect for the opinions of mankind." He reminds us that while creative tension between liberalism and conservatism is the genius of American politics, it is the liberals who have been responsible for every forward step in our national history. They built "the Essential America."
------------------------------------------

Customer Reviews

George McGovern's Common Sense Is Back, July 19, 2004
Reviewer: Richard Marano "author of Vote Your Conscience" (Connecticut)

George McGovern's, The Essential America, is a candid, refreshingly-honest discussion of American liberalism, today's "most maligned political philosophy." This great American statesman tackles the criticisms of liberalism head-on, and clearly demonstrates how both the liberal and conservative traditions have evolved and eroded politically. George McGovern remains ever-faithful to the "social gospel," teachings instilled in him at any early age by his father, a devoted follower of John Wesley. Moreover, McGovern's political beliefs are soundly and squarely rooted in the U.S. Constitution.

McGovern remains unafraid to espouse liberalism--whether it be Jefferson's, Lincoln's, or his own. In so doing, he demonstrates how far America has strayed from the brilliant guidance of our founding fathers. He addresses all of the toughest issues of our day, including the war in Iraq, world hunger, and, of course, international terrorism.
This is a book only George McGovern could have written--specific, thoughtful, provocative-- a blueprint for a wiser, stronger American future in a more peaceful world.

Essential, good common sense, August 21, 2004
Reviewer: Jon Hunt (Old Greenwich, Ct. USA)

George McGovern has always been a voice of reason and it's good to see he's still around and speaking out about things that are great about America and things at which cause us concern as a nation. You won't find many neocons reading "The Essential America" because they've "written" their own book on this country...and gotten us into a lot of trouble because of it. McGovern points out that so much of America's spending is in non-productive areas....much of it in defense that has produced us with little tangible results over the past fifty years. He rightly concludes that the current president and his ilk in Washington have not made the United States any safer in the world, but more vulnerable, given the needless foray into Iraq and the even larger question of the uneven tilt toward Israel. We'll be paying the price for those mistakes for ages to come.

Senator McGovern speaks of his war service in this book but does so humbly and with many references about what patriotism should be. He reminds us of the hollow phrase, "America...love it or leave it" and echoes his own words from 1972...."let us change America, so we can love it the more." I hope this is a fitting prelude to the defeat of George Bush in November...or to put it more liberally...erasing America's mistake. "The Essential America" provides a ringing endorsement of the liberal tradition in this country and it is a book that is definitely worth the read.

The Great Liberal Classic Everyone Must Read--167pages, August 31, 2004. Reviewer: Douglas Carpenter (Pennsylvania)

The 167 pages are easy and enjoyable reading. Buy several copies as gifts for all your friends and neighbors, especially young people.
The elder statesman explains how the search for the just society and a moral foreign policy based on reason and enlightened self-interest has been an essential part of the American quest from the beginning. Recognizing that both conservatism and liberalism are essential elements of the American tradition, he invites the reader to apply the principles of our nation's founding fathers to such issues as diverse as the Israel-Palestinian conflict, health care in America and hunger throughout the world.

The counsel of history helps inspire his opposition to never ending unwinnable wars that only prolong and worsen human agony producing uncontrollable results that frequently inflame whole regions to catastrophe; isolate America, weaken our own security and undermine our national interests as well as our values.

In spite of his crushing 1972 defeat (38% of the popular vote) at the hands of the Nixon campaign which was rooted in a criminal conspiracy and more recently; the rise to dominance of the radical right and their dangerous policies, this old historian's optimism is infectious. He reminds the reader that ideological blindness will not dominate forever. He predicts that liberalism will play a far greater role in the next 25 years than it did in the past 25 years. Perhaps genuine conservatism will also make a come-back.

This great man's compassion finds inspiration in the Methodism of John Wesley as well as the Christian social gospel which considers the search for social justice a natural expression of personal salvation.

One is struck by his bottomless well of charity and kindness even to his political adversaries. He even makes a point to praise Richard Nixon for launching the Environmental Protection Agency, supporting civil rights and opening the door to China.

In the U.S. Senate, George McGovern was a brilliant bipartisan visionary who joined forces with his good friend and senatorial colleague, Robert Dole in skillfully crafting, maneuvering, legislating and implementing the most massive assault on malnutrition in American history. He stresses that liberalism needs conservatives to point out its weaknesses and minimize its excesses. Both political philosophies have been with our Republic since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson bitterly battled with each other in an ideologically divided young nation. Both philosophies have redefined themselves numerous times as history developed. Both are as American as can be.

Certain snobbish and mean-spirited know-it-alls have twisted and spun and rewritten reality in a desperate and pathetic effort to make the good name of George McGovern synonymous with 1960's counterculture chaos and confusion and to blame monstrous results of monstrously misguided and long discredited policies on voices of reason and balance.

President Eisenhower thought a lot of George McGovern; and so did Barry Goldwater and countless other thinking conservatives who knew him well--many of whom remain his close friends to this day.

The real George McGovern is the son of a small-town Wesleyan Methodist minister. He was a World War II bomber pilot and real hero who learned the difference between reality and storybooks. He has spent his life as a tireless humanitarian who never suffers compassion fatigue, a passionate defender of rural American family life, a dedicated history teacher with a critical mind, a consummate listener, reader and deep thinker and a true Christian gentleman.

George McGovern comes straight from the heart and soul of America. And his voice speaks from the conscience of a kinder, gentler, older and wiser America.