Synopses & Reviews
Has the nation's infatuation with the free market warped the true meaning of American freedom by its emphasis on the self-serving individual in a looking out for Number One world?
Freedom is America's most treasured value. In Freedom Reclaimed, John E. Schwarz examines the profound implications of the difference between the vision of American freedom that the Founders enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the free-market idea of freedom that is ascendant today. Schwarz shows how the three-decade shift toward free-market freedom has brought economic hardship to the majority of Americans and suffering to the political life of the nation. As the nation moves further away from its impelling original commitment, most Americans now have only limited access to the freedom the Founders envisioned. Schwarz sets forth a program that can help America return to its ennobling vision and resume its historic journey.
In policy discussions on employment, education, social issues, and health care, Schwarz recasts our understanding of what freedom means and involves. In so doing, he transforms the way we see our world and revitalizes our ability to change it for the better.
Synopsis
John Schwarz says that free-market conservatives have distorted the true meaning of American freedom by overemphasizing individual, personal liberty in a looking out for Number 1 world. Instead, he argues that the true meaning of American freedom, one which the founders enshrined in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, proposes that individual liberty depends on the liberty of all--that a citizen enjoys freedom to the extent that all other citizens can enjoy freedom and that they have a fair chance to exercise that freedom. Schwarz points out, however, that the conditions under which freedom can be realized today have changed, such that a disproportionate number of Americans have limited access to that freedom. In Freedom Reclaimed, Schwarz outlines a program whereby freedom can once again be freedom for all, especially in access to a decent living, personal security, and education. This book challenges the prevailing conservative, free market climate that America finds itself in today.