The Eclipse of the American Century: An Agenda for Renewal

by Heck, Gene W.

• ISBN13: 9780742563100
• ISBN10: 0742563103
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-10-30
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc

Summary

"Amid a 2008 presidential campaign calling for dramatic, often ill-defined "change" - arguing that Americans are clinging to their historic, constitutionally guaranteed rights to bear arms and enjoy religious freedom out of sheer "bitterness" - this analysis compellingly contends that America's social and economic problems stem from too much change already. It maintains that the radical counterculture revolution that set in across college campuses in the 1960s, which has now spilled over into society at large, set the nation on a course of decline paralleling that of ancient Rome." "Drawing heavily upon the vision of the Founding Fathers, it reveals how the ongoing attack on the nation's traditional values has produced cultural and civic alienation and an attendant loss of work ethic - creating a dangerous bureaucratic overstretch whose social welfare costs are now threatening the nation's socioeconmic future."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Can the Twenty-First Century Again Be the American Century?	p. xi
Why Civilizations Decline	p. 1
Historic Causes of Collapse	p. 3
Contemporary Causes of Collapse	p. 29
Declining Cultural Values	p. 59
The Excesses of Education	p. 61
The Manipulation of the Media	p. 101
The Crisis of Citizenship	p. 133
Mounting Complexity and Cost	p. 167
The Burdens of Bureaucracy	p. 169
The Tyranny of Taxation	p. 199
The Implosion of Ideology	p. 227
Recipe for Renewal	p. 243
Pursuing Prudent Public Policy	p. 245
Curbing Complexity's Compliance Costs	p. 269
Endnotes	p. 287
Bibliography	p. 315
Index	p. 333
About the Author	p. 347
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