The Battle: How the Fight between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America's Future |  | Author: Arthur C. Brooks
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $12.60
as of 9/5/2010 04:13 CDT details
You Save: $11.35 (47%)
New (34) Used (8) from $10.00
Seller: luisa1310
Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 14,710
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 192
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9
ISBN: 0465019382
Dewey Decimal Number: 322.30973
EAN: 9780465019380
ASIN: 0465019382
Publication Date: May 25, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780465019380 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
America faces a new culture war. It is not a war about guns, abortions, or gays—rather 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.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 28
 One of the best books of 2010 May 19, 2010
VoraciousReader
45 out of 53 found this review helpful
This is a great book with the right message at the right time. It offers a very simple but powerful argument: we are engaged in a war between two competing visions of America's future. In one, we will continue to be a free enterprise nation. In the other, we will move toward government control, income redistribution, and statism. Which do you prefer?
Arthur Brooks shows that America will be forever changed if we don't stand up and take action now. Free enterprise is one of the values that has made this country great, and a small but vocal minority is undermining this core tenant. Brooks argues: "America needs leaders as committed as we are to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and defending free enterprise. In short, we need leaders committed to the source of our flourishing and the bedrock of our culture."
The book is very well written, sharp, and engaging from start to finish--likely one of 2010's best. It is a must read for anyone concerned about the direction our country is headed.
A Short, but Hard Hitting Defense of the Free Enterprise System May 24, 2010
James R. Holland (Boston, MA)
50 out of 61 found this review helpful
This short book or collection of four essays with an introduction by Newt Gingrich is long on facts gleaned from various National Polls and Surveys. The four chapters are entitled "The 70-30 Nation:" "A Bill of Goods: The 30 Percent Coalition's Story of the Financial Crisis:" "Free Enterprise and the Pursuit of Happiness:" and the "Moral Case for Free Enterprise." The main text comprised 128 pages of the total 174 pages that include an excellent notes section and index.
The United States is in the midst of a cultural war. "It is a struggle between two competing visions of American's Future. In one, America will continue to be a unique and exceptional nation organized around the principles of free enterprise. In the other, America will move toward European-style statism grounded in expanding bureaucracies, increasing income redistribution, and government-controlled corporations. These competing visions are not reconcilable: We must choose."
Backed up by a large number of national polls, the author divides the two warring factions into groups of people with 70% favoring the side of "Free-Enterprise" and 30% favoring socialism, redistribution and a big brother government. He provides plenty of documentation to demonstrate this 70-30 division of sides. For example while most voters mistrust big government, big business, large corporations and Wall Street banks, "The 2010 Gallup Survey found that 95% of Americans have a positive image of small business. One doubts whether `motherhood' would even score so well."
He then breaks down the two armies of thought. The people in the 30% coalition are "led by people who are smart, powerful and strategic. These are many of the people who make opinions, entertain us, inform us, and teach our kids in college...and work in intellectual industries such as law, education, journalism, and entertainment."
This intellectual elite is the leaders of the rest of the 30%ers. Those people are largely found in extremely liberal geographic locations such as San Francisco, Seattle, Washington and Boulder. Another strong part of the 30% is comprised of ethnics, especially blacks and Hispanics. Why this is so is demonstrated by the author with lots more poll, focus group and study data.
The real core of the 30%ers is young "adults under 30. This is not just a fifth of the adult population: It is the future of our country. And this group has exhibited a frightening openness to statism in the age of Obama."
"There are three long-term strategies to keep the young in the 30% coalition: pay off their debts, give them government jobs, and make sure they never have to pay for the services that the government provides." Obama intends to make government jobs, which already pay 73% more than the average private sector worker earns for the same job, even more attractive than private industry employment. Their college debts will be paid off if they work for the government and they will end up paying less in taxes of any kind because of more government worker tax-free perks.
The author also enjoys buttressing his thoughts by quoting the Founding Fathers such as in the following: "'The natural progress of things,' Thomas Jefferson warned, `is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.'" It's interesting to learn that these same problems existed centuries ago and that the founders of the United States tried to save future generations from repeating the mistakes of the past. Ben Franklin wondered if we'd be able to keep our freedom from government.
Obama and his fellow radicals are planning to tax the wealthy, except for the very politically connected, out of existence and then hide the other taxes that will be needed to help the new, perfect welfare state survive. The Left doesn't really know whether there will actually be enough income to support their Utopian State but that will a problem for the future, not now, when every crisis allows the government to take more control of every citizen and redistribute their wealth equally, except of course for the government leaders and public worker class and to add another nail in the coffin of the golden goose that was capitalism.
The author shines a spotlight on the five false claims of the Obama Narrative and as with vampires, the light vaporizes them. The five main claims are "Government was not the primary cause of the economic crisis:" (Actually the government has been the cause of most of this nation's economic crisis throughout its history.) "The government understands the crisis and knows how to fix it:" (Baloney) "Main Street Americans were nothing more than victims of the crisis:" (Except for the millions who took full advantage of the government's obviously stupid idea to give away trillions of dollars of other people's money) "The only way to save the economy is through massive government growth and deficit spending:" (Double down on the bad bet) and "The middle class will not pay for the stimulus package. Only the rich will." (Yes, there is free lunch and health care, etc.) The author methodically dismantles these false claims one by one. Both Republicans and Democrats are guilty of screwing things up with the best of intentions as well as their simple power grabs designed to further enrich and entrench themselves or their patrons. There is plenty of blame to go around, but as the author so clearly demonstrates a mere 30% of society is now enslaving the 70% majority.
It's particularly interesting how the author explains what happened in the recent financial crisis involving sub-prime mortgages. Basically that was Utopian social engineering gone terribly wrong--the government's attempt to provide mortgages to people with bad credit, no jobs and no real desire or ability to pay back a mortgage backfired. Contrary to what the government now claims, Wall Street bankers who bundled those worthless mortgages and took them off the hands of the quasi-governmental agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were actually considered saviors by the politicians who had set in motion the sub-prime mortgage fiasco. The government enabled Wall Street to make money by saving the government from it's own unsustainable, flawed socialistic policies. The risk was spread out around the entire world. It makes the reader curious as to whether Wall Street is again in the process of saving the very politicians who are pointing fingers at them and accusing them of being greedy? It makes the reader wonder about the accuracy of recent news reports that the government has been using Wall Street and Chicago Commodity Brokers to hold down the price of gold and silver in order to protect the world's paper money supply? Is Wall Street willingly playing the scapegoat while at the same time still collecting mountains of fees from the government for saving their as...Ur, paper assets?
What, if anything, can be done about the current crisis mindset that is allowing the 30% to set in motion policies that would never be permitted in the United States during normal economic conditions? There is hope, but the readers of this review will have to get the book and discover the solutions for themselves. That won't take too much time out of busy schedules because this pithy book is really only a one-day read. Even when a reader, like me, scratches and scribbles so many notes in the margins and between the lines of the book that it appears like a gang of graffiti artists had a messy ball point pen party inside this book's covers, the short time it takes to read the book is well worth the effort. It's nice to occasionally experience common sense enlightenment via true brevity.
A trivia item from the book: "Tea" in the Tea Party Movement stands for "Taxed Enough Already."
Even Better Than Expected! May 20, 2010
Paul Troy (Florida)
17 out of 22 found this review helpful
Arthur Brooks has returned with his best book to date. The Battle: How the Fight Between Free Enterprise And Big Government Will Shape America's Future is a brief and extremely readable book that will have a huge impact on the national debate. This is a must read for anyone closely watching the current ideological and political climate.
Brooks shows that there is a new culture war brewing in America, not about abortion or gay rights, but about free enterprise. He demonstrates that Americans favor free enterprise by a 70 to 30 majority, but the anti-capitalist minority led by President Obama and the liberal elite is rapidly dragging the country away from free enterprise and towards Socialism.
The implications are huge for America. Brooks uses extensive research and solid evidence to show that America's free enterprise system is not just about economic prosperity or getting rich. He proves that free enterprise is more importantly a moral issue that allows individuals the freedom to choose how to live their lives, care for their families, earn a living in their chosen field, give to the charities of their choice, and pursue happiness according to their own beliefs. Brooks shows that if America continues down the road to serfdom by replacing free enterprise with big government and social democracy, America will also be throwing its culture of free enterprise, individual responsibility, and equality of opportunity out the window. Americans will be less free, less prosperous, and less happy as a result.
The Battle not only identifies this crisis, but offers practical solutions and arguments so that Americans who cherish freedom can win every argument and defend our culture of free enterprise from those who want to turn America into a social democracy like France or Greece.
The 70/30 Nation: Free Enterprise Culture v. Big Government Culture June 21, 2010
Seth Cooper (Seattle, WA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
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.
The most important book in preparation for the Battle of 2012 June 10, 2010
Stephen Tyler
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
The Battle: How the fight between free enterprise and big government will shape America's future is one of those books where every set of 3 pages explodes in your mind as a potential essay. Brooks could have easily and with great advantage expanded this book to 400 pages. I'm glad he didn't. In just 128 pages he provides for those of us who care a stark, crisp analysis of precisely where this nation stands: we are on the edge of oblivion. Then he explains exactly why and how we got there. And in Chapter Four, he explains exactly what we must do to save ourselves. What more could anyone ask of an author and his book.
The authority that Brooks brings to this task comes from his years of studying the General Social Survey, a 90 minute face-to-face interview with a randomly-selected sample of adults that has been taken every year since 1972. This is a massive and daunting data-set, and it forms the background for "The Battle." As you read the book, it dawns on you that Brooks must have spent thousands of hours pouring through surveys and polls of every imaginable sort. It is his most frequent reference to the points he makes.
Not only is Brooks an authority on who Americans are and how they think, he is the author of 8 books, a professor teaching business and government policy, and the current president of the American Enterprise Institute. The agent provocateurs who flood the comment section of reviews of conservatives books with their silly and groundless wise-cracks will not notice what the intellectual upper class of the 30 percent will instantly see; this is a credible book by a seasoned expert, and he has placed the cross-hairs precisely on the issue that will animate that 70 percent of Americans now in the process of "altering or abolishing" a government that has long ago become "destructive to these ends;" that being, as Brooks so eloquently explains, "the pursuit of happiness."
Showing reviews 1-5 of 28
|
|
|
