A Book I Highly Recommend

I just finished a book that I highly recommend. It's called "The Limits of Power" by Andrew J. Bacevich of The American Empire Project. Bacevich is an acclaimed conservative historian and former military officer. He issues a bracing call for a pragmatic confrontation with the nation's problems. The author identifies a profound triple crisis facing America today: the economy, in remarkable disarray, can no longer be fixed by relying on expansion abroad; the government, transformed by an imperial presidency, is a democracy in form only; the nation's involvement in endless wars, driven by a deep infatuation with military power, has been a catastrophe for the body politic.

These pressing problems threaten us all, Republicans and Democrats. If the nation is to solve it's predicament, it will need the revival of a distinctly American approach: the neglected tradition of realism.

Bacevich, uniquely respected across the political spectrum, offers a historical perspective on the multiple illusions that have governed American policy since 1945. The realism he proposes includes respect for power and it's limits; sensitivity to unintended consequences; aversion to claims of American exceptionalism; skepticism of easy solutions, especially those involving the use of force; and a conviction that, at the end of the day, the books will have to balance. Only a return to such principles, Bacevich argues, can provide a common ground for dealing with America's urgent problems.

This man has more common sense then anyone I have read in years. I highly recommend his book!

"When the laws undertake...to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society--the farmers, mechanics, and laborers--who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government." --Andrew Jackson, Bank of the United States Veto Message, 1832.