PDF Handmaking american express

America has survived an economic near disaster While the state of employment and housing will one day improve we will never return to the delusional prosperity that defined the first decade of the 21st century Progressives should hold the key to quality of life in our coming post consumerist society but today Democrats have become timid our vision of the good life marginalized by three decades of partisan attacks and the think tank induced assumption that an unfettered marketplace low taxes and international adventurism will somehow give us an America capable of inspiring the world Handmaking America reaches back to the Arts and Crafts roots of progressive thought confronting the way right wing ideology and the power of post industrial capitalism have undermined work government our very way of life advancing a practical achievable vision for a good society that can use the capacity of government to recover the essential strength of the American idea Handmaking America A Back to Basics Pathway to a Revitalized American DemocracyReading this book in 2017 was wrenching It was written as advice for democrats to have a compelling narrative during Obama s presidency It now reads as a terrifying look into where we ve gone wrong as a country Looking with hindsight at the ways trends have kept going since then that he was warning against its hard and especially reading references to Donald Trump s antics as a silly distraction from politics made me want to quit reading because it was too hard Paperback I felt like I already knew everything this guy was trying to say Paperback I was intrigued by the call for greater poetry and reality in politics and how they are all related Paperback This is one of the best most thoughtful and thought provoking books I ve read this year I d surrender my goodreads account half my facepals and all my digital devices to be friends with Bill Ivey Make your 2013 meaningful by reading this book Paperback Some very good ideas 1 At the root of America s sickness is consumerism an obsession with acquisition And corporations have taken it to a new level by creating products that require you to keep buying in order to keep using them The goal of the market is not to have sold you things but to be selling you things tomorrow His example is the single cup coffee brewers It costs about 50 per pound to supply them with coffee The computer of course with it s three year cycle of obsolescence is the the ultimate example The latest electronic device positions us firmly on a treadmill of endless obsolescence 2 Everything Marx said about communism was false Unfortunately everything he said about capitalism was true 3 Taylorization of labor 4 Education reform is overemphasizing math science reading and test taking at the expense of citizenship and expressive life We need educational objectives attuned to the demands of citizenship than the needs of our market economy 5 Use new technologies to serve our needs rather than being willing to reshape ourselves to fit the demands of advertisers and machines Paperback.