Michael Lind
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By: Free Press
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Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Exploding myths, offering solutions 5 out of 5 stars.
19 of 20 people found this review helpful.
Every so often, I come across one of those books that really makes me think. Michael Lind's penetrating look at modern America, "The Next American Nation: The New Nationalism and the Fourth American Revolution," is one of those books. I should elaborate a bit on that statement: books that REALLY make me think are ones that I will ponder at odd times during the day, or think about as I am falling asleep at night. I usually don't do that with a mass-market paperback or the latest popular novel. No, certain books on history, society, or philosophy sometimes find me puzzling out their theses while I engage in the mundane activities of daily life. Not every book has such an effect on me, but Lind's effort did. Written nearly ten years ago, "The Next American Nation" asks questions and puts forth conclusions imbued with intelligent insight and forceful conviction. It's iconoclastic, attacking the dogmas that presently govern every facet of our society. Despite the book's age, the issues Lind addresses continue to have relevance in the here and now. The author was once an editor at Harper's and The New Republic, as well as a contributor to The New York Times and The Washington Post."The Next American Nation" probably falls under the category of American Studies, a once vaunted field of scholarship that fell on hard times once the multiculturalists took over academia. Lind's explorations borrow liberally from history, politics, sociology, and philosophy in a quest to put forth an overarching argument about where America should go in the future. According to the author, the United States has experienced three revolutions during its history, and it must experience a fourth one if it is to survive. Lind claims these revolutions birthed three distinct republics: Anglo-America (1789-1861), Euro-America (1875-1957), and Multicultural America (1972-present). Each republic put forth a national formula unique to its time. Anglo-America associated itself with Protestant Christianity flowing from a dominant Anglo-Saxon population. Euro-America embraced all white Europeans as authentic citizens while supporting a broader Judeo-Christian ethic. Multicultural America, which Lind despises for reasons he explains in minute detail, rejects the emphasis on Americans of European descent by elevating minorities to the status of autonomous nations within the larger society. Multiculturalists reject Christianity, replacing it with secular humanism as the new civic religion. Wars and other social turmoil led to the rise of these republics.
Each republic survived due to grand compromises, extraconstitutional bargains that allowed the upper classes to thrive. Anglo-America's implicit agreement between the northern upper class and the southern planters allowed slavery to thrive until the Civil War. In Euro-America, the agreement was between white industrialists and poor white laborers to keep non-whites out of the work force. Multicultural America thrives on the repudiation of white supremacy while elevating five socially constructed race categories, which then compete for special favors from the government. Social classes, whether real or artificial, play a central role in Lind's analysis of American society. The author argues that a white overclass exists today, a class that thrives through credentials earned from top schools and nepotism at the highest levels of business and government. This overclass has taken control of both political parties, and uses multiculturalism to defuse resistance from minorities. Lind claims a black overclass, created through race-based handouts like affirmative action, relies on the white elites for power even as they condemn the white power structure. Meanwhile, the majority of the minority population languishes in slums across the country. In other words, multiculturalism is a tool of the elite designed to pit racial groups against one another while the upper classes rob the country blind.
Michael Lind offers a solution to our problems. Scrap multiculturalism, the author avers, or else America will end up looking like a third world country (high crime rates and slums with the upper classes living in gated, privately protected communities). Liberal nationalism should become the Fourth American republic, nationalism based on a common language and shared social and psychological traits called Trans-America. Intermarriage will play a large role in this new nation, with the melting pot once again reasserting itself. Trans-America will abolish the nearly unchecked immigration of low skilled immigrants (they drive down wages for poor citizens), replace the current plurality election process with one of proportional representation, and ban political fundraising. Lind even offers a canon of Trans-American heroes from the past, from Alexander Hamilton to Frederick Douglass.
Whew, is that a lot of material! I'm not even touching on key parts of his argument, but you get the idea. His solutions, however, do have many problems. Replacing the current way we elect officials, for instance, sounds like a solid plan. I would love to get rid of big money in politics. Proportional representation may not be the way to go since this form of government must rely on forming coalitions to elect leaders. Look at the difficulties in Israel and India, where the government is always collapsing as multiple parties duke it out for control. That's not the biggest problem in this book, though. Lind's ideas about class in America are solid, but how will he get people to think about class in a non-Marxist way? Class and Marxism go together like shoes and socks. Most people cannot even envision one without the other. Any effort to overcome the divides between social classes will have an uphill battle in a country that spent fifty years battling Marxism, to say the least. Still, Michael Lind's book is an effort to come up with some solutions to our current problems, one that goes outside the current dogmas in the process. The author is intelligent, a good writer, and truly seems to care about his country. A stellar read.
Editorial Review:
Michael Lind's unsettling and ambitious new book brilliantly challenges the culture-war extremists of both the right and the left, develops a sweeping reinterpretation of American history, and offers an original vision of a better American future. Even at points of disagreement, I am greatly impressed by the toughness of Lind's intellect, the breadth of his knowledge, and the decency of his aspirations for our country. This book may well prove to be the most consequential book of the year--and several years to come.
