LIVING IN AN IMPERFECT WORLD, AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

A solutions-oriented book offers a critique of the 21st-century’s political status quo.

It’s not difficult to “find imperfections in all walks of American life,” Zecola notes in the first line of his work, “from its rules, to its leaders, to its economic policies and so forth.” Divided into six parts that examine the disconcertingly imperfect state of America’s rules, leadership, policies, markets, industry, and future, the volume paints a bleak picture. Though the six elements analyzed are different, they are all interconnected in the author’s convincing account because their problems stem from an anti-democratic “unbalance” in American politics. The constitutional allotment of influence, for instance, gives small, mostly White and rural states “the power to block the will of the majority of the people.” Similarly, the book contends that Evangelicals, a demographic minority, have “orchestrated a jury-rigged Supreme Court that has eliminated 50 years of women’s rights, restricted gun control, and restricted measures to curb pollution.” And while offering well-reasoned solutions to a myriad of issues, including providing career advice to the unemployed and those entering the workforce, the work presents an ultimate solution that boils down to the need for a renewed democratic ethos whereby “voters become engaged” and retake control of the mechanisms of government. Although the volume’s idealistic final answer may come off as Pollyannaish, its critiques are grounded in a dishearteningly realistic approach. Many of its sharpest barbs are reserved for the religious right (whose “anti-abortion viewpoint is based upon nothing more than a misunderstanding of the reproduction process”) and Donald Trump (who “turned lying into an art form”). But this is not simply a partisan polemic. Democrats, for instance, are criticized for their “out-of-control” spending as well as their general apathy toward protecting democratic norms from conservative incursions. At 153 pages, the book offers a concise critique of the existing state of America with a well-informed, accessible writing style reflecting Zecola’s background as a successful entrepreneur, corporate executive, and government official. But the volume’s lack of citations may disappoint readers looking for a more scholarly approach.

A sound, if eclectic, take on America’s sociopolitical woes.