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1-Page Summary of The Audacity Of Hope
Overview
The founding fathers had the foresight to write two masterpieces. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution directly reflect how they envisioned America. At the very core of these documents is the idea that every man and woman is born free, with equal rights and opportunities in society. Still, there were challenges facing them: no democracy has ever worked for a large nation for any length of time before then.
Thus, freedom is only possible in a society that upholds values such as family, religion, and patriotism. The people must have the power to direct their own course of action. For this reason no one person should be able to control everyone else. Americans believe in these two principles: individual liberty and equal opportunity for all citizens regardless of race or social class. These principles bring people together and keep our democracy alive.
The attitudes of Americans are strongly influenced by the founding fathers’ spirit. These values have been passed down from generation to generation and are often considered so natural that people take them for granted.
Big Idea #1: America is currently suffering from a lack of empathy.
The Republican party promotes an ownership society, which tells its citizens that they have to fend for themselves. This is in contrast with the Democratic party’s message of “We’re all in it together.” America has lost a sense of empathy and this lack of empathy hurts the weakest members of society. If Americans had to send their children to schools like those found in inner cities, they would realize how bad things are and try harder to give these people a chance at life.
If CEOs thought they were equal to their employees, would they raise their own wages and cut back the company’s health-care benefits?
Politicians are so adamant about their own opinions that they fight for them vehemently. However, wouldn’t it be nice if they could admit to the other side having a valid point?
Many of America’s biggest problems would cease to exist if people made more of an effort to see things from other people’s perspectives. To create a better democracy and tilt politics toward the needs of weaker members of society, all Americans should commit to a stronger sense of empathy and ask each other more often “How does this make you feel?”
Big Idea #2: Politics are strongly influenced by money, interest groups and the media.
In the United States, it is very difficult to get elected without a lot of money. Therefore, politicians either need to have a lot of money themselves or they must ask the wealthy for donations.
When politicians raise money for their campaigns, they become more like the donors. They spend a lot of time talking to people who have a lot of money and that makes them less aware of how ordinary Americans live. It’s harder for them to understand what those people are going through because they travel in private jets and meet with other rich people all the time.
Politicians are dependent on interest groups for support. For Democrats, it’s labor unions and for Republicans, it’s big business and the NRA (National Rifle Association). These groups have their own agendas, so politicians must learn how to please them in order to get elected.
Politicians rely on the media to get their message out. Without it, they wouldn’t be able to reach voters. The media likes simple messages and doesn’t like politicians who agree with each other because that makes for boring news. To get air-time, politicians use extreme language and tell people what they want to hear instead of telling them the truth about an issue. This is a problem because special interest groups have too much power over our representatives in Congress. We could fix this by mandating public campaign financing so candidates aren’t beholden to wealthy donors or special interests, as well as providing free TV and radio time so that no candidate has more exposure than another just because he or she can afford expensive ad campaigns.
