Table of Contents

* Introduction * Is There Really a Spiritual Crisis? And What Does It Have to Do with Politics? * What Is a Progressive Politics of Meaning? * The Failure of the Liberals * The Failure of the Conservatives * Giving White Men (and Other Supposed Oppressors) a Break: A Repudiation of Political Correctness * A Progressive, Pro-Family Perspective * Policy Implications: The Economy, Education, and Health Care * How Do We Get There? * Epilogue: The Clintons and Contemporary Politics

About the Author

Michael Lerneris the editor of Tikkun magazine, and holds Ph.D.'s in philosophy and in clinical psychology. He is the author of Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation and, with Cornel West, of Jews and Blacks: Let the Healing Begin. He is rabbi of Beyt Tikkun synagogue in San Francisco.

Reviews

As ongoing editorial leader of the Jewish-ecumenical Tikkun, Lerner has long been among the more humanistic and balanced thinkers rooted in the New Left. Here he writes explicitly in response to the premature pronouncements that the American public has decisively embraced a New Right orientation. He is not that concerned with the particulars of current politics, which is a pity for readers who will otherwise accept his basic orientation. Lerner's thesis boils down to the notion that Americans today are hungry for values and that through "politics of meaning," not mere materialism but ethical behavior and community-thoughtfulness, they can achieve an alternative orientation to an alienating market that presently wears down family and spirituality. The book's final pages, which regret that the Clintons have not stood by principles that at moments seemed harmonious with Lerner's, are rousing, even remarkable, and his thoughts on an array of controversies from affirmative action to movies merit respect. But Lerner's ideas, whatever their quality, are overwrapped in redundant platitudes and wearisome slogans. Overall, a boring book filled with significant notions.‘Scott H. Silverman, Bryn Mawr Coll. Lib., Pa.

Tikkun editor Lerner charges that the right wing of the U.S. political spectrum champions an ethos of narrow self-interest while positioning itself as the force that cares about God, family and ethics. Chiding liberals and progressives for failing to address people's fundamental need for caring relationships, meaningful work and community, Lerner calls for a "politics of meaning," a new movement that would dramatically downsize government‘not by returning power to the states, as conservatives advocate‘but through decentralized grassroots institutions, democratized workplaces where workers decide how and what to produce, job rotation, social audits of every proposed law or project, voluntary family-support networks in every community, and senior citizens' work corps. Lerner attacks the "hate radio" of Rush Limbaugh, and he counsels feminists and other critics of our male-dominated world to go easy on white males, who are themselves victims of a frantically competitive system. Often preachy or vague, this ambitious manifesto nevertheless offers fresh perspectives on multiculturalism, sexism, crime and violence, school curricula and the Clintons' defeated health insurance plan, which Lerner views as a sham attempt to curb the greed and profiteering built into the medical industry. (May)