Can America Save Itself from Decline?: Politics, Culture, Morality

Can America save itself from decline? This is this question many Americans are pondering. Great nations throughout History have followed the pattern of rise and rise, then decline and fall. Is this America’s fate, or can we reverse our decline and rise again? In the belief that if any great nation can reverse its decline, America can–-we believe in reinvention, we are not fatalists yet, but it will take stronger leadership and reform than seen to date–-Carla Seaquist in her wide-ranging commentary for The Huffington Post addresses this historic challenge from various angles–-political, economic and financial, cultural and moral–-all in the context of the American character. In an extended end-essay, she addresses the question posed in the book’s title. Sample titles of 75 essays include: “Recovery without a Reckoning”; “Fat Cat Pledge: ‘I Will Pay Higher Taxes’”; “Risk Management According to Moby-Dick”; “A War’s Premise Must Justify the Troops’ Suffering”; ““My Republican Mother Says Yes to Gun Control”; “Exceptional Nations Don’t Bluster”; “Get Thee to Geneva, Mr. Obama: Your Drone Strikes Make Targets of Us All”; “Humor: There’s Funny and There’s Symptom of Decline”; “Free Speech vs. Responsible Speech”; and “Democrats Are ‘Disgusted’ with Politics? Boo Hoo.” Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh calls Ms. Seaquist “an essayist in the great American tradition.” Seaquist has been writing commentary since 9/11, first for The Christian Science Monitor and now for The Huffington Post. An earlier book is titled Manufacturing Hope: Post-9/11 Notes on Politics, Culture, Torture, and the American Character (available at Amazon). An international relations major, her early career was in civil rights. Also a playwright, she published Two Plays of Life and Death (available at Amazon), which includes Who Cares?: The Washington-Sarajevo Talks and Kate and Kafka, and is working on a play titled Prodigal.