The Audacity of Hope summary

The Republican party promotes an ownership society which tells its citizens “You’re on your own,” rather than, “We’re all in it together.”

This world-view reflects the lack of empathy that America is suffering from today. Instead of acknowledging each others’ needs and focusing on values shared by all Americans, an ownership society highlights individual differences and promotes conflict.

In the United States, a successful political campaign requires a lot of money. Thus politicians either need to have a lot of money themselves, or they must ask the wealthy to sponsor their campaigns.

One consequence of fund-raising is that politicians become more like their donors. They simply have to spend a lot more time talking to the people in the top 1 percent of the national income distribution, and the longer they are in politics, the more limited their interactions become. Their donors are rich, most of their fellow politicians are rich, and crossing the country in private jets makes the problems of ordinary Americans far less tangible for them.

During the last few decades, the global economy has changed drastically.

While globalization has brought prosperity to many societies, it also brings its share of challenges, particularly to the ordinary American worker.

Americans are hard-working people, willing to take personal risks. Their culture is a business culture. At its core is the idea that through work and virtue anyone can achieve wealth and prosperity.

Since Americans value hard work, they believe that anyone working full-time should be able to make a living and support a family.

America’s laws are based on Judeo-Christian moral tradition. Most of America’s great reformers were motivated by faith and they used religious language to fight for their cause.

Today, America is no longer just a Christian nation. It is a diverse society encompassing all kinds of religions as well as nonbelievers.

Predictions show that shortly after 2050, whites will no longer be the majority in America. Even though many Americans are skeptical about large-scale immigration from Latin America, they should remember that not too long ago immigrants from Italy, Ireland and Eastern Europe faced the same skepticism.

The ability to welcome and absorb newcomers has always been a key part of America’s greatness. The core idea of the Constitution is that every citizen is equal, and America’s economic system has always provided opportunities to anyone willing to work hard.

Many Americans look at the situation in poor inner-city neighborhoods with frustration. The situation is often seen as a hopeless cause and change seems impossible.

Rising frustration often leads to people calling for an end to welfare, a stricter police force and harsher judges. The logic seems to be that if the problem cannot be solved, then at least its effect on the life of the working tax-payer should be minimized.

Many people are talking about the decline of American family values.

A lot of changes have occurred in the last 50 years. Marriage rates have declined, more children are growing up without their biological fathers and parents in general have less time to spend with their children.

The Republican idea of an ownership society tells us that the American economy needs less regulation, less taxes, less government.

However, laissez-faire economic policies lead to a divided American society, where a prosperous elite, the knowledge class, secures increasing shares of the economic pie, while the lower-paid majority struggles to make ends meet.

If America wants to be competitive in the global economy, it shouldn’t cut costs or create trade barriers. Instead it should strive to create a vibrant free market in which great companies can develop innovative products.

For such a free market to work, the government must lay a strong foundation for it. To succeed, a free market needs the right infrastructure as well as educated people who have a legitimate chance to succeed through their own efforts. Only people with this kind of social mobility can contribute to a thriving economy.

Dependency on foreign oil drastically undermines the future of the American economy and threatens national security as well.

While America controls only 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves, it accounts for 25 percent of total global consumption. Since worldwide demand is rising and supply disruptions are more likely than ever, an economy depending on foreign oil is extremely vulnerable. Terrorists who want to harm America can simply do so by attacking oil fields anywhere in the world.

American foreign policy has been strongly influenced by the threats of the Cold War.

But today, it is not threatened by countries with large armies like the Soviet Union, but rather smaller, militant organizations such as international terrorist networks.