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Title: Compassionate Conservatism: What it is, What it Does, and How it Can Transform America by Marvin Olasky ISBN: 0-7432-0131-0 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 15 January, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.46 (13 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Religious zealots showing their true faces
Comment: Terrible and a nauseating cover up for what is going on, an organized attempt to break the wall separating the state and religion. I lasted 10 pages. May be 9 pages too many
Rating: 4
Summary: Maybe these zealots deserve a chance
Comment: Compassionate conservatism is not a platitude but a distinct social program. It aims to help the poor without compromising conservative principles ' very conservative principles, very religious conservative principles. Marvin Olasky, one of its spokesman and advisor to George Bush when he was governor of Texas, has written an overview for the general reader. Actually, it's for the general conservative reader, but liberals should take note.
Much of the book is a collection of essays recounting the author's visits to various antipoverty programs across the country, mostly privately run. The traditional programs (run by churches and charities) provide counseling, education, job training, and placement ' the usual mix. The dropout rate is substantial, and most of those who graduate and get a job fail and return to poverty. I can't quarrel with this result. But only a minority of alcoholics, drug addicts, and the obese succeed in solving their problems, too. These are tough problems.. It's with greater pleasure that he relates encounters with compassionate conservatism antipoverty programs 'all privately run, generally by born-again Christians and their churches. These offer the same benefits plus a heavy dose of moral uplift, discipline, and abstinence. Anyone can enter, but once in the program they must toe the line. Use of alcohol and drugs means instant expulsion; so does irresponsibility, poor attendance, and laziness. There are no second chances.
So far none of this is objectionable or even particularly conservative. However, the author adds one feature he considers essential: religion. The programs he admires stress an aggressive, proselytizing, strictly moralistic fundamentalism. Many otherwise commendable leaders become unpleasantly self-righteous on the subject of God.
Because the government refuses to fund sectarian charities, they look upon bureaucrats with the contempt they reserve for the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. Olasky approves and quotes them at length. He also maintains that graduates of these programs do better. I haven't the expertise to dispute this, and it seems reasonable that a despairing member of the underclass who accepts Jesus will become a more solid citizen. It works with alcoholics.
Nonfundamentalists will find this book irritating because the author makes no attempt to win them over. Yet wouldn't it be wonderful if Republicans took a genuine interest in fighting poverty? Democrats aren't giving it more than lip service. Americans today don't place a high priority on correcting social injustice. They would oppose any Federal effort that involves spending tax money. As a result, the only political movement making a big noise about helping the poor are the compassionate conservatives. Why not give them a chance?
Thoughtful readers should hold their noses and persist to the end.
Rating: 5
Summary: Taking back oneself
Comment: The Sixties gave us many things. One thing it took away was the willingness and ability of Americans as individuals to take responsibility for themselves and to be accountabe for their actions. Compassionate conservatism is a way to return responsibility and accountability to individuals and, in so doing, freeing them from poverty, addictions, and other negative behaviors. Many people attack compassionate conservatism as some religious trend but if all religious elements are stripped from it, what remains is the same idea of taking responsibility for one's own actions that mental health professionals try to get their clients to develop. If you have never worked with any of the populations Olasky describes, then you are not qualified to judge what he has written about them and whether compassionate conservatism offers a way out of their depressing lifestyles. I have been a member of some of those populations and I have worked with them since "recovering". There may be other ways to achieve success but compassionate conservatism offers something sure-fire. It works when other methods don't. Marvin Olasky does write with the pedantism of the academic. If you get past that, however, the message is compelling. The book is a quick read.
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Title: The Tragedy of American Compassion by Marvin Olasky ISBN: 089526725X Publisher: Regnery Publishing Pub. Date: February, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Dream and the Nightmare: The Sixties' Legacy to the Underclass by Myron Magnet ISBN: 1893554023 Publisher: Encounter Books Pub. Date: 07 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Renewing American Compassion by Marvin Olasky ISBN: 0895264145 Publisher: Regnery Publishing Pub. Date: April, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Boy Genius: Karl Rove, the Brains Behind the Remarkable Political Triumph of George W. Bush by Lou Dubose, Jan Reid, Carl M. Cannon ISBN: 1586481924 Publisher: PublicAffairs Pub. Date: 21 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Standing for Christ in a Modern Babylon by Marvin N. Olasky ISBN: 1581344740 Publisher: Crossway Books Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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