The Next American Civil War: The Populist Revolt against the Liberal Elite
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The tea parties, the guns at town hall meetings, the protests against health care reform, and the general unrest in America today have taken many people by surprise. Some interpret it in terms of economic hard times, but Lee Harris offers a different explanation. Today’s populist revolt is only the latest installment of an ongoing cultural war that began long before the current economic crisis. It is a rebellion against a self-appointed intellectual elite whose attitude to the average American is “Don’t worry, we know what is best for you.” For Harris, the stakes in the current struggle are high: Will America be ruled by ivory tower liberals, or will it remain the land in which ordinary men and women are free to make their own choices and control their own destinies? Throughout our history, Americans have always challenged the definition of liberty, and this has allowed us to progress as a society. Harris argues that this debate is good and necessary, and that we must take this new populist uprising seriously if we are to defend our founding principles. A masterly and visionary work that weaves current events with philosophical investigation, The Next American Civil War rethinks Americans' most elemental ideas of freedom in order to enable the people of the United States to face the challenges of our times.
Preface: Is America Still Governable? The Message of the Town Hall Revolts • Freedom and its Ambiguities • Freedom, Utopia, and the Intellectual • American Exceptionalism • Common Sense • The Life Cycle of Liberty • Crazy for Liberty • Self-made Men, Self-made Societies • The Tao of the Ornery • The Making of Ornery Americans • Why Libertarianism is not Enough • How the Little Guy Got his Freedom • Can Everybody Really be Free? • Conserving the Spirit of Liberty • Conclusion: The Fate of Freedom and the Future of the Western Civilization
