num_pages: 177
description: There is in America today a palpable discontent with politics as usual. Apprehension over the nation's future abounds. Unhappiness with the quality of leadership is everywhere to be seen: from the insurgent campaigns of H. Ross Perot to conservative pundit Patrick Buchanan to former California governor Jerry Brown. The search for a vision of politics that might galvanize the electorate has sparked the most volatile presidential race in decades. In this eloquent and provocative manifesto, early versions of which influenced the thinking of several of the presidential candidates, Richard Goodwin provides the broad outline of an agenda for change. One of America's most respected and experienced critics and activists, having advised both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, Goodwin combines a sense of history with a commitment to contemporary concerns rare among political analysts. Promises to Keep contends that the political crisis of our time is far deeper than most politicians realize. Nothing less than a breakdown of American society is in process. Modern politics, Goodwin argues, is riddled with the twin corruptions of money and faction. Both the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as the Congress and the executive branch, have fallen under the sway of special interests--at the expense of the nation and its capacity to create wealth and social justice. Washington is also cut off from the realities impinging on most Americans. Government is paralyzed. The consequence has been a betrayal of the American dream. Promises to Keep proposes a new political movement--outside the present political process--to restore what Goodwin calls "democratic capitalism." He succinctly outlines the movement's objectives and its ultimate goal: to compel political leaders once again to serve the interest of the entire American people. He takes a new and sober look at the potential and limitations of political action itself, and offers a penetrating reappraisal of the process of gov
language: English
title: Promises to Keep: A Call for a New American Revolution
titlecomplete: Promises to Keep: A Call for a New American Revolution
ratings_count: 8
publisher: Crown