Free. Fair. Forward‪.‬

Free. Fair. Forward. — A Foundation for the Future of American Society is a compendium of essays written from 2009 to 2025 gathered into six sections that traverse the boundaries of philosophy, sociology, psychology, economics, history, politics, and interpersonal communication. The six sections (book-ended by a preface and conclusion) are generally arranged with the intention of guiding the reader from the most philosophical concepts to the most pragmatic. With nods to many of the best works of fiction and non-fiction about the human condition, Free. Fair. Forward. makes the case that for current generation(s) answering the audacious question “How do we as a society respect everyone’s time and attention?” is foundational to calming our social and political turmoil (or — at the very least — to better understanding the barriers standing in our way to better personal relationships). [… and, No, this is not written by AI.]

The six sections of the book include:
1. Learning how we perceive ourselves and each other
2. Learning how we (try to) talk to each other
3. Learning how societies (including our own society) are structured
4. Rethinking how we support each other
5. Considering alternatives to our current structure of government
6. Other specific policy suggestions

Each section builds a bit upon the preceding sections but could also stand on its own if the reader is only interested in a narrow segment of the topic at hand: How do we recognize and then get past the unnecessary artificially-imposed barriers that prevent us from collaborating effectively? How do we as a society respect everyone’s time and attention — balancing freedom and fairness to make forward progress over the next 250 years of the on-going American experiment?