For the People


Book Description

How the Constitution Can Guide America Back to True Greatness ​America has become a country lacking in both physical and psychological security—and this insecurity is a clear and present danger to world peace and stability. This must-read, political call to action is for anyone dissatisfied with our dysfunctional government and seeking real change. Simon Chadwick argues that the true American dream is realizing self-actualization (The Pursuit of Happiness), the pinnacle of psychologist Abraham Maslow’s famous Hierarchy of Needs. Chadwick sets out in simple and straightforward terms how we can save US democracy by fulfilling every citizen’s innate needs, including the top echelon of achieving his or her creative potential. In order to generate greater overall contentment for its citizens, Chadwick proposes that a country must establish a democratic libertarian government, a form that is much closer to the general intent of the Constitution, which gives every person the right to live in peace, without fear, under its protection. By dissecting current events and framing them in Maslow’s hierarchy, Chadwick offers fascinating historical and cultural context, and clear, positive advice for how our country, culture, and government can move toward democratic libertarianism, self-actualization, and ultimate satisfaction.




Who We are


Book Description

Canadians have come to embrace their country as a “postmodern state”—a nation that downplays its history and makes few demands on its citizens, allowing them to find their allegiances where they may—in their region, their ethnic heritage or the language they speak. The notion of a Canadian national identity, with shared responsibilities and a common purpose, is considered out of date, even a disadvantage in a borderless world of transnational economies, resurgent regions and global immigration. In his timely and provocative book Who We Are, Rudyard Griffiths argues that this vision of Canada is an intellectual and practical dead end. Without a strong national identity, and robust Canadian civic values and engagement, the country will be hard pressed to meet the daunting challenges that lie ahead: the social costs of an aging population, the unavoidable effects of global warming and the fallout of a dysfunctional immigration system. What’s needed is a rediscovery of the founding principles that made Canada the nation it is today, core values that can form a civic creed for our own times. In a passionate call to revitalize our shared Canadian citizenship, Griffiths reminds us of who we are and what we’ve accomplished.




The Manifesto for Teaching Online


Book Description

An update to a provocative manifesto intended to serve as a platform for debate and as a resource and inspiration for those teaching in online environments. In 2011, a group of scholars associated with the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh released “The Manifesto for Teaching Online,” a series of provocative statements intended to articulate their pedagogical philosophy. In the original manifesto and a 2016 update, the authors counter both the “impoverished” vision of education being advanced by corporate and governmental edtech and higher education’s traditional view of online students and teachers as second-class citizens. The two versions of the manifesto were much discussed, shared, and debated. In this book, Siân Bayne, Peter Evans, Rory Ewins, Jeremy Knox, James Lamb, Hamish Macleod, Clara O'Shea, Jen Ross, Philippa Sheail and Christine Sinclair have expanded the text of the 2016 manifesto, revealing the sources and larger arguments behind the abbreviated provocations. The book groups the twenty-one statements (“Openness is neither neutral nor natural: it creates and depends on closures”; “Don’t succumb to campus envy: we are the campus”) into five thematic sections examining place and identity, politics and instrumentality, the primacy of text and the ethics of remixing, the way algorithms and analytics “recode” educational intent, and how surveillance culture can be resisted. Much like the original manifestos, this book is intended as a platform for debate, as a resource and inspiration for those teaching in online environments, and as a challenge to the techno-instrumentalism of current edtech approaches. In a teaching environment shaped by COVID-19, individuals and institutions will need to do some bold thinking in relation to resilience, access, teaching quality, and inclusion.




The Care Manifesto


Book Description

We are in the midst of a global crisis of care. How do we get out of it? The Care Manifesto puts care at the heart of the debates of our current crisis: from intimate care--childcare, healthcare, elder care--to care for the natural world. We live in a world where carelessness reigns, but it does not have to be this way. The Care Manifesto puts forth a vision for a truly caring world. The authors want to reimagine the role of care in our everyday lives, making it the organising principle in every dimension and at every scale of life. We are all dependent on each other, and only by nurturing these interdependencies can we cultivate a world in which each and every one of us can not only live but thrive. The Care Manifesto demands that we must put care at the heart of the state and the economy. A caring government must promote collective joy, not the satisfaction of individual desire. This means the transformation of how we organise work through co-operatives, localism and nationalisation. It proposes the expansion of our understanding of kinship for a more 'promiscuous care'. It calls for caring places through the reclamation of public space, to make a more convivial city. It sets out an agenda for the environment, most urgent of all, putting care at the centre of our relationship to the natural world.




The Journalism Manifesto


Book Description

Drawing on the collaborative expertise of three senior scholars, The Journalism Manifesto makes a powerful case for why journalism has become outdated and why it is in need of a long-overdue transformation. Focusing on the relevance of elites, norms and audiences, Zelizer, Boczkowski and Anderson reveal how these previously integral components of journalism have become outdated: Elites, the sources from which journalists draw much of their information and around whom they orient their coverage, have become dysfunctional; The relevance of norms, the cues by which journalists do newswork, has eroded so fundamentally that journalists are repeatedly entrenching themselves as negligible and out of sync; and because audiences have shattered beyond recognition, the correspondence between what journalists think of as news and what audiences care about can no longer be assumed. This authoritative manifesto argues that journalism has become decoupled from the dynamics of everyday life in contemporary society and outlines pathways for fixing this essential institution of democracy. It is a must-read for students, scholars and activists in the fields of journalism, media, policy, and political communication.




Who We are


Book Description

Faced with yet another minority government, Canadians clearly cannot decide who we want as a leader. In Who We Are: A Citizen's Manifesto, Rudyard Griffiths injects a welcomed passion into the future of Canadian politics and what it means to be Canadian. He explains the notion of a national identity at a time when Canadian nationalism and unity are a government priority, following the Harper government's creation of a sub-ministerial cabinet portfolio with the title Canadian Identity. Clearly and thoughtfully, Griffiths addresses global warming, immigration and an aging population, and argues that the "Canada lite" model leads to a dead end: irrelevancy on the world stage and divisive strife at home. He reminds us of who we are, what we've accomplished and why a loyalty beyond the local and personal is essential for Canada's survival.




Give Us Liberty


Book Description

Give Us Liberty is written for every American who is ready to stand up to the federal government’s unprecedented power, spending, and intrusion on personal freedom. As millions are realizing, our country’s future has been dangerously compromised as the national debt spirals out of sight to pay for a litany of irresponsible federal policies: “Obamacare,” Wall Street sweetheart deals, liberals’ pet social programs, Congressional pork, foreign aid, and new military adventures. Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe–economists and influential supporters of Tea Party activists and candidates across the country–explain what’s at stake, why limited government is the answer to our crisis, and how we can renew American prosperity by studying the lessons of the revolutionary era. This paperback edition also features a new foreword by Glenn Beck.




America the Possible


Book Description

In this third volume of his award-winning American Crisis series, James Gustave Speth makes his boldest and most ambitious contribution yet. He looks unsparingly at the sea of troubles in which the United States now finds itself, charts a course through the discouragement and despair commonly felt today, and envisions what he calls America the Possible, an attractive and plausible future that we can still realize. The book identifies a dozen features of the American political economy--the country's basic operating system--where transformative change is essential. It spells out the specific changes that are needed to move toward a new political economy--one in which the true priority is to sustain people and planet. Supported by a compelling "theory of change" that explains how system change can come to America, the book also presents a vision of political, social, and economic life in a renewed America. Speth envisions a future that will be well worth fighting for. In short, this is a book about the American future and the strong possibility that we yet have it in ourselves to use our freedom and our democracy in powerful ways to create something fine, a reborn America, for our children and grandchildren.




The Revolution


Book Description

This Much Is True: You Have Been Lied To. The government is expanding. Taxes are increasing. More senseless wars are being planned. Inflation is ballooning. Our basic freedoms are disappearing. The Founding Fathers didn't want any of this. In fact, they said so quite clearly in the Constitution of the United States of America. Unfortunately, that beautiful, ingenious, and revolutionary document is being ignored more and more in Washington. If we are to enjoy peace, freedom, and prosperity once again, we absolutely must return to the principles upon which America was founded. But finally, there is hope . . . In The Revolution, Texas congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul has exposed the core truths behind everything threatening America, from the real reasons behind the collapse of the dollar and the looming financial crisis, to terrorism and the loss of our precious civil liberties. In this book, Ron Paul provides answers to questions that few even dare to ask. Despite a media blackout, this septuagenarian physician-turned-congressman sparked a movement that has attracted a legion of young, dedicated, enthusiastic supporters . . . a phenomenon that has amazed veteran political observers and made more than one political rival envious. Candidates across America are already running as "Ron Paul Republicans." "Dr. Paul cured my apathy," says a popular campaign sign. The Revolution may cure yours as well.




Citizens of the Empire


Book Description

As we approach the elections of 2004, U.S. progressives are faced with the challenge of how to confront our unresponsive and apparently untouchable power structures. With millions of antiwar demonstrators glibly dismissed as a "focus group," and with the collapse of political and intellectual dialogue into slogans and soundbites used to stifle protest-"Support the Troops," "We Are the Greatest Nation on Earth," etc.-many people feel cynical and hopeless. Citizens of the Empire probes into the sense of disempowerment that has resulted from the Left's inability to halt the violent and repressive course of post-9/11 U.S. policy. In this passionate and personal exploration of what it means to be a citizen of the world's most powerful, affluent and militarized nation in an era of imperial expansion, Jensen offers a potent antidote to despair over the future of democracy. In a plainspoken analysis of the dominant political rhetoric-which is intentionally crafted to depress political discourse and activism-Jensen reveals the contradictions and falsehoods of prevailing myths, using common-sense analogies that provide the reader with a clear-thinking rebuttal and a way to move forward with progressive political work and discussions. With an ethical framework that integrates political, intellectual and emotional responses to the disheartening events of the past two years, Jensen examines the ways in which society has been led to this point and offers renewed hope for constructive engagement. Robert Jensen is a professor of media law, ethics and politics at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream, among other books. He also writes for popular media, and his opinion and analytical pieces on foreign policy, politics and race have appeared in papers and magazines throughout the United States.