The Bill of Obligations
The Ten Habits of Good Citizens
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3.9 • 17 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Watch the PBS companion documentary “A Citizen’s Guide to Preserving Democracy”
“An indispensable guide to good citizenship in an era of division and rancor.” —Anne Applebaum
There is no question that the United States faces dangerous threats from without; the greatest peril to the country, however, comes from within. In The Bill of Obligations, bestselling author Richard Haass argues that, to solve our climate of division and safeguard our democracy, the very idea of citizenship must be revised and expanded. The Bill of Rights is at the center of our Constitution, yet the most intractable conflicts often emerge from cases that, as former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer pointed out, “are not about right versus wrong. They are about right versus right.”
There is a way forward: to place obligations on the same footing as rights. The ten obligations that Haass introduces here reenvision what it means to be an American citizen, to commit to our fellow citizens and counter the growing apathy, anger, and violence that threaten us all.
Through an expert blend of civics, history, and political analysis, this book illuminates how Americans across the political spectrum can rediscover how to contribute to and reshape this country’s future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
American democracy is gravely threatened by political polarization, according to this disappointing treatise by Council on Foreign Relations president Haass (The World). At the root of the problem is a political culture that "concerns itself only with protecting and advancing individual rights"; his solution is the fostering of a "culture of obligation" focused on what citizens owe each other and their government. After sketching the role that "inequality of opportunity" and other factors have played in increasing political partisanship, Haass outlines 10 countermeasures, calling on citizens and lawmakers to "Be Informed," "Value Norms," "Remain Civil," and "Stay Open to Compromise." The entries include positive and negative examples (good: Al Gore accepting the 2000 election results; bad: Nancy Pelosi tearing up Donald Trump's State of the Union speech), brief history lessons, and earnest discourses on the value of democracy. At times, Haass's statements are so banal as to be nearly pointless ("There are... significant problems with resorting to physical violence in pursuit of political goals"). More frustratingly, he refuses to fully acknowledge the asymmetrical nature of the problem he's rightly concerned about, suggesting at one point that it's "debatable" whether Republicans would have supported Obamacare had Democrats been more willing to compromise, but making no mention of the Tea Party. This is more of a deflection than a reckoning.
Customer Reviews
Nothing interesting
Blah blah blah, not the insightful or informative book I was hoping.