A top-fiver from Wes in 2016: The Fractured Republic

The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism
by Yuval Levin

"Fractured Republic" is without a doubt, one of the best policy books I've read in years about America and why we have become so polarized as a country. Levin's core premise is that both Republicans and Democrats are striving to return to each party's "golden age" (1960s and 1980s specifically) where "things worked" in each party's view. Levin notes on p. 102: "Our politics of competing nostalgias often translation into a fight between individualism and statism that neglects the middle layers of society: the Right wants unmitigated economic individualism but a return to common moral norms. The Left wants unrestrained moral individualism but economic consolidation. Both will need to come to terms with some unconformable realities of twenty--first century America."

The author does a great job walking the reader through these decades and why things seem to have "fallen apart" in the 21st Century. Throughout the book I found myself highlighting key passages and ideas I haven't thought of or considered before or circling passages that effortlessly summarize my thoughts over the years following politics. This book helped me understand better at the 10000 foot view why our country seems "off the rails" and why both political parties are locked in such fierce battles and never-ending partisanship and brinkmanship.

Levin makes a lot of sense in this extended essay (as he calls it), which he as put considerable time and reflection into before putting pen to paper or started typing away. A treasure of a book and a road map to the future in our fractured, individualist era we are now living in. Levin states (p 104) that, "Too many Americans are detached from some core sources and channels of human flourishing--family, work, faith, and community. The challenges of governing are great. But they are made made even greater than they have to be by our inability to grasp our circumstances as their are." A must read before the 2016 election and beyond for serious people seeking serious solutions to today's problems.