The Gardens of Democracy : A New American Story of Citizenship, the Economy, and the Role of Government

One of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “10 Books Everyone Should Read” This fascinating study of democracy in the 21st century is a much-needed call for citizens to reach across the aisle and put power back into the hands of individuals—not Big Government Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer outline a simple but revolutionary argument for why our most basic assumptions about democracy need updating for the 21st century. They offer a roadmap for those looking for a way forward from an American life marked by divisive conversations. In a world with widespread political upheaval, a deep wellspring of civic engagement and collective action is emerging. America is finding that our cultural and political dialogue is spiking over everything from racial and social justice to fighting the ever-widening income gap, to climate change—even how we might best collaborate as active citizens to heal our democracy. Timely, inspiring, and highly charged, The Gardens of Democracy is a much-needed call to action for citizens to embrace their roles in a democratic society. To model positivity and good citizenship, plus ensure liberty and justice for all, we must achieve compromise by reaching across the aisle and putting the power to execute programs back in the hands of individuals, not big government. We must redefine how we view prosperity in order to move from a dog-eat-dog mentality that perpetuates the top 1% to a communal and inclusive movement that illustrates that we’re all better off when we’re all better off . American democracy is informed by the 18th century's most cutting edge thinking on society, economics, and government. We've learned some things in the intervening 230 years about self interest, social behaviors, and how the world works. Now, authors Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer argue that some fundamental assumptions about citizenship, society, economics, and government need updating. For many years the dominant metaphor for understanding markets and government has been the machine. Liu and Hanauer view democracy not as a machine, but as a garden. A successful garden functions according to the inexorable tendencies of nature, but it also requires goals, regular tending, and an understanding of connected ecosystems. The latest ideas from science, social science, and economics?the cutting-edge ideas of today?generate these simple but revolutionary ideas: True self interest is mutual interest. (Society, it turns out, is an ecosystem that is healthiest when we take care of the whole.) Society becomes how we behave. (The model of citizenship depends on contagious behavior, hence positive behavior begets positive behavior.) We're all better off when we're all better off. (The economy is not an efficient machine. It's an effective garden that need tending. Adjust the definition of wealth to society creating solutions for all.) Government should be about the big what and the little how. (Government should establish the ideas and the goals, and then let the people find the solutions of how to make it happen.) Freedom is responsibility. (True freedom is not about living some variant of libertarianism but rather an active cooperation a part of a big whole society; freedom costs a little freedom.) The Gardens of Democracy is an optimistic, provocative, and timely summons to improve our role as citizens in a democratic society One of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “10 Books Everyone Should Read” A fascinating look at democracy in the 21st century, this revolutionary book is a much-needed call for citizens to reach across the aisle and put power back into the hands of individuals Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer outline a simple but revolutionary argument for why our most basic assumptions about democracy need updating for the 21st century. They offer a roadmap for those looking for a way forward from an American life marked by divisive conversations. In a world with widespread political upheaval, a deep wellspring of civic engagement and collective action is emerging. America is finding that our cultural and political dialogue is spiking over everything from racial and social justice to fighting the ever-widening income gap, to climate change—even how we might best collaborate as active citizens to heal our democracy. Timely, inspiring, and highly charged, The Gardens of Democracy is a much-needed call to action for citizens to embrace their roles in a democratic society. To model positivity and good citizenship, plus ensure liberty and justice for all, we must achieve compromise by reaching across the aisle and putting the power to execute programs back in the hands of individuals, not big government. We must redefine how we view prosperity in order to move from a dog-eat-dog mentality that perpetuates the top 1% to a communal and inclusive movement that illustrates that we’re all better off when we’re all better off. Argues that in contrast to the eighteenth-century concept of society as a predictable machine, twenty-first century American democracy needs to be viewed as a series of complex, interrelated systems capable of coming up with adaptive solutions to its problems