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Real Common Sense
America's extreme Right falsely claims the Founding Fathers as allies for their radical agenda. Pundit Glenn Beck has gone so far as to use the title of Tom Paine’s famous 1776 pamphlet Common Sense for his own book—a book that attacks the political, social and economic rights which Paine and the Founders fought for.
It’s time to cut through the rhetoric, smoke, and spin, and get back to our core American values. We have gone off course as a country by emphasizing consumerism over citizenship, entertainment over education, and "me" over "we." By rediscovering the moral compass our Founders put into place, we can create a united America, and a future worthy of our grandchildren.
It’s time to cut through the rhetoric, smoke, and spin, and get back to our core American values. We have gone off course as a country by emphasizing consumerism over citizenship, entertainment over education, and "me" over "we." By rediscovering the moral compass our Founders put into place, we can create a united America, and a future worthy of our grandchildren.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2011
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June 9, 2011My review from the Missoula Independent:
America has a rich history of bitching. About social change. About religion. And, fundamentally, about politics. Sometimes, Americans even complain that there is far too much complaining going on. As angry bumper stickers and interminable internet threads suggest, Americans don't even have to talk when they vent their politicized misgivings.
What's the alternative? "The alternative is to think clearly, to orient ourselves, and to act," Brian Kahn writes at the beginning of his new book Real Common Sense, and if that sounds easier said than done, it assuredly is. Kahn says that the fault for our inactivity lies in our own consumerist tendencies, but a larger part resides with the Right, which has unfailingly been opposed to progress of any kind and, worse, tried to appropriate the Founding Fathers to support its views.
Real Common Sense attempts the daunting task of wresting the ideals of the American Revolution from the clutches of the Right. Kahn pinpoints the crises of American political life and shows how each is an entanglement of consumerism, privatization, and irresponsibility. Liberally peppering his book with the words of Jefferson, the Constitution, FDR, and others (we would have liked more Kahn and fewer quotation marks), he laments the corporatist insanity that caused our almost-Greater Depression, the media's reliance on airing entertaining punditry over information, and an unhealthy junk food culture that the government seems powerless to prevent. Kahn's rhetoric is occasionally heavy-handed, yet his writing is both informative and intelligent, especially in his mockery of "socialist engineering"—the right's taboo labeling of anything remotely humanist—that would include Medicare, the armed forces, and national parks.
Like any strictly partisan book, Real Common Sense will elicit one of two responses: If you are on the right you will loathe Kahn's ideology, but if you are even two inches to the left you will appreciate the radical streak of Kahn's mind and read it in one sitting.
Somewhere between a New Deal Democrat and a Lincoln Republican, Helena-based Kahn is host of the award-winning radio program "Common Ground," as well as an activist for a variety of causes. No doubt influenced by his prodigious employment record—boxing coach, ranch hand, journalist, documentary filmmaker—Kahn displays an empathy for the common person that is passionate and inflexible. He hammers away at his message that community trumps the individual, long-term goals are paramount, and extremists are ruining the country.
And while the author's humorless outlook is forbidding, his optimism that things can be corrected is tenacious; what distinguishes Real Common Sense from the thousands of other titles calling for a major shift in values is that it actually offers solutions. For instance: government regulation of pharmaceutical-drug costs; improving the media by levying a tax on broadcasting companies, which will be collected for airing educational ads; compulsory universal service based on FDR's Civil Conservation Corps projects, such as building roads and planting trees; and a progressive tax on the wealthy. If his advice often sounds oversimplified, that's because it is. That's not a bad thing, considering that its target audience is composed of working-class people and not professors of economics or staff writers for The Economist.
Offering a brief timeline of the U.S. from the founding of the nation to the poverty and environmental catastrophes of today, Kahn shows how conservatives, tutored by the selfish philosophy of Ayn Rand, have turned the American Dream into the American Myth. Surprisingly, for a work that deals with such a wide array of troubling topics, Real Common Sense shies away from an explanation of fundamentalist religious belief, which seems to have given an artificial conscience to right-wing, anti-Enlightenment politics. Perhaps Kahn took another cue from Thomas Paine: questioning religion will quickly make one very unpopular with a vast chunk of the population. Whatever the rationale for the omission, it seems a glaring silence in his otherwise unequivocal attack on conservative principles.
Yet Real Common Sense still manages to be a momentarily important riposte to Fox News, the Tea Party, and other "falsifiers of American history," in Kahn's words. Its tone is homespun and conversational, and what it lacks in comprehensiveness it achieves in a no-frills analysis of citizenship, community, and responsibility. While nothing new to those familiar with Michael Moore's films, it is nonetheless a clear-sighted tract on the agonies of government, media, education, and conservation. Both an update to Paine's Common Sense and a rebuttal of Glenn Beck's Common Sense, Real Common Sense is more a self-help handbook for proletarian guidance than a Paine-worthy polemic. It will not transform the reactionary, but it just might inspire the progressive.
America has a rich history of bitching. About social change. About religion. And, fundamentally, about politics. Sometimes, Americans even complain that there is far too much complaining going on. As angry bumper stickers and interminable internet threads suggest, Americans don't even have to talk when they vent their politicized misgivings.
What's the alternative? "The alternative is to think clearly, to orient ourselves, and to act," Brian Kahn writes at the beginning of his new book Real Common Sense, and if that sounds easier said than done, it assuredly is. Kahn says that the fault for our inactivity lies in our own consumerist tendencies, but a larger part resides with the Right, which has unfailingly been opposed to progress of any kind and, worse, tried to appropriate the Founding Fathers to support its views.
Real Common Sense attempts the daunting task of wresting the ideals of the American Revolution from the clutches of the Right. Kahn pinpoints the crises of American political life and shows how each is an entanglement of consumerism, privatization, and irresponsibility. Liberally peppering his book with the words of Jefferson, the Constitution, FDR, and others (we would have liked more Kahn and fewer quotation marks), he laments the corporatist insanity that caused our almost-Greater Depression, the media's reliance on airing entertaining punditry over information, and an unhealthy junk food culture that the government seems powerless to prevent. Kahn's rhetoric is occasionally heavy-handed, yet his writing is both informative and intelligent, especially in his mockery of "socialist engineering"—the right's taboo labeling of anything remotely humanist—that would include Medicare, the armed forces, and national parks.
Like any strictly partisan book, Real Common Sense will elicit one of two responses: If you are on the right you will loathe Kahn's ideology, but if you are even two inches to the left you will appreciate the radical streak of Kahn's mind and read it in one sitting.
Somewhere between a New Deal Democrat and a Lincoln Republican, Helena-based Kahn is host of the award-winning radio program "Common Ground," as well as an activist for a variety of causes. No doubt influenced by his prodigious employment record—boxing coach, ranch hand, journalist, documentary filmmaker—Kahn displays an empathy for the common person that is passionate and inflexible. He hammers away at his message that community trumps the individual, long-term goals are paramount, and extremists are ruining the country.
And while the author's humorless outlook is forbidding, his optimism that things can be corrected is tenacious; what distinguishes Real Common Sense from the thousands of other titles calling for a major shift in values is that it actually offers solutions. For instance: government regulation of pharmaceutical-drug costs; improving the media by levying a tax on broadcasting companies, which will be collected for airing educational ads; compulsory universal service based on FDR's Civil Conservation Corps projects, such as building roads and planting trees; and a progressive tax on the wealthy. If his advice often sounds oversimplified, that's because it is. That's not a bad thing, considering that its target audience is composed of working-class people and not professors of economics or staff writers for The Economist.
Offering a brief timeline of the U.S. from the founding of the nation to the poverty and environmental catastrophes of today, Kahn shows how conservatives, tutored by the selfish philosophy of Ayn Rand, have turned the American Dream into the American Myth. Surprisingly, for a work that deals with such a wide array of troubling topics, Real Common Sense shies away from an explanation of fundamentalist religious belief, which seems to have given an artificial conscience to right-wing, anti-Enlightenment politics. Perhaps Kahn took another cue from Thomas Paine: questioning religion will quickly make one very unpopular with a vast chunk of the population. Whatever the rationale for the omission, it seems a glaring silence in his otherwise unequivocal attack on conservative principles.
Yet Real Common Sense still manages to be a momentarily important riposte to Fox News, the Tea Party, and other "falsifiers of American history," in Kahn's words. Its tone is homespun and conversational, and what it lacks in comprehensiveness it achieves in a no-frills analysis of citizenship, community, and responsibility. While nothing new to those familiar with Michael Moore's films, it is nonetheless a clear-sighted tract on the agonies of government, media, education, and conservation. Both an update to Paine's Common Sense and a rebuttal of Glenn Beck's Common Sense, Real Common Sense is more a self-help handbook for proletarian guidance than a Paine-worthy polemic. It will not transform the reactionary, but it just might inspire the progressive.
March 18, 2012
One of those books I picked up while scanning the new book shelf at the library. Prior to reading this book I wasn't familiar with Brian Kahn or his public radio program "Home Ground". Now I will definitely seek out his work.
I resonated most with the message that we've become a nation of citizens and businesses that demand rights without the corresponding responsibilities that come with those rights.
I also liked his piece on public schools and the need to modify what we teach in school. "Many of us have come to think of education as the teaching of job-related skills -- the 21st century job market demands increased knowledge and skills, and education can provide it. But if we all we expect ours schools to do is enable graduates to get well-paying jobs in a consumer economy, we fall into a trap of our own making". He further adds that the emphasis on teaching job-related skills contributes to many people remaining ignorant of essential knowledge and the ability to think critically.
In regards to corporations, he argues they wield immense power without the constraints of human values and that must be changed with reforms that bring commerce in line with conscience, and the making of money in accord with morality.
I resonated most with the message that we've become a nation of citizens and businesses that demand rights without the corresponding responsibilities that come with those rights.
I also liked his piece on public schools and the need to modify what we teach in school. "Many of us have come to think of education as the teaching of job-related skills -- the 21st century job market demands increased knowledge and skills, and education can provide it. But if we all we expect ours schools to do is enable graduates to get well-paying jobs in a consumer economy, we fall into a trap of our own making". He further adds that the emphasis on teaching job-related skills contributes to many people remaining ignorant of essential knowledge and the ability to think critically.
In regards to corporations, he argues they wield immense power without the constraints of human values and that must be changed with reforms that bring commerce in line with conscience, and the making of money in accord with morality.
October 1, 2011
Real Common Sense is quick and easy read, which is certainly welcome. Beyond that, I wasn't blown away by anything in it. At various points the author suggests a couple Nudge (great book, look it up) principles that could be used to build support for public education, an excellent idea.
It's a welcome angle of tying historic viewpoints to their modern day applications, and examining who is trying to twist them.
Overall, I think the author is spot on with almost everything, I just wasn't persuaded by anything. A whole list of good ideas, but I just wasn't moved to advocate for them. Perhaps I am too close to the issue. If you're less involved with politics you will likely enjoy this book more.
It's a welcome angle of tying historic viewpoints to their modern day applications, and examining who is trying to twist them.
Overall, I think the author is spot on with almost everything, I just wasn't persuaded by anything. A whole list of good ideas, but I just wasn't moved to advocate for them. Perhaps I am too close to the issue. If you're less involved with politics you will likely enjoy this book more.
June 8, 2011
I finished this a little while ago, but I still have a good impression of this book. I think the author is right on with how the Tea Party continues to misrepresent the constitutional founders and what they intended for this country. There need to be so many drastic changes in our government. I am often appalled at what I (and we) as citizens allow to continue in our government. If the Tea Party bugs you, or are just generally dissatisfied with our government and policies you may enjoy this book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews