How the Left Can Win Arguments and Influence People

Wilson, John K.

ISBN 10: 0814793630 / ISBN 13: 9780814793633

Published by New York University Press, 2001

About this Item

The popular image of America is of a deeply conservative nation, yet progressivism has long been a powerful force in the collective psyche. This book draws on the tradition of progressive thought to provide the left with practical ideas for regaining popular support and political influence. Series: Critical America Series. Num Pages: 288 pages, black & white illustrations. BIC Classification: 1KBB; JPFF; JPLM; JPQB. Category: (G) General (US: Trade); (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 5182 x 3226 x 17. Weight in Grams: 305. . 2000. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780814793633

Bibliographic Details

• Title: How the Left Can Win Arguments and Influence People
• Publisher: New York University Press
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814793630
• ISBN 13: 9780814793633
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

If we were to rely on what the pundits and politicians tell us, we would have to conclude that America is a deeply conservative nation. Americans, we hear constantly, detest government, demand lower taxes and the end of welfare, and favor the death penalty, prayer in school, and an absolute faith in the free market.
And yet Americans believe deeply in progressive ideas. In fact, progressivism has long been a powerful force in the American psyche. Consider that a mere generation ago the struggle for environmentally sound policies, for women's rights, and for racial equality were fringe movements. Today, open opposition to these core ideals would be political suicide.
Drawing on this wellspring of American progressivist tradition, John K. Wilson has penned an informal handbook for the pragmatic progressive. Wilson insists that the left must become more savvy in its rhetoric and stop preaching only to the converted. Progressives need to attack the tangible realities of the corporate welfare state, while explicitly acknowledging that "socialism is," as Wilson writes, "deader than Lenin."
Rather than attacking a "right-wing conspiracy," Wilson argues that the left needs one, too. Tracing how well-funded conservative pressure groups have wielded their influence and transformed the national agenda, Wilson outlines a similar approach for the left. Along the way, he exposes the faultlines of our poll- and money-driven form of politics, explodes the myth of "the liberal media," and demands that the left explicitly change its image.
Irreverent, practical, and urgently argued, How The Left Can Win Arguments and Influence People charts a way to translate progressive ideals into reality and reassert the core principles of the American left on the national stage.

About the Author

John K. Wilson is the author of The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education and Newt Gingrich: Capitol Crimes and Misdemeanors.