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Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Worksx$12.91
  (83 reviews)
Best Price: $27.95 $12.91
What will take us from the world that fails to the world that works? Real change---the kind of change that happens when politicians drop their own agendas and respond to the will of the people. Newt Gingrich shows us how we can make real change a reality.
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At last someone is making sense....
By A23US54A0OILE4 on 2008-01-17
All I can say is its about time someone wrote a book that isn't a down in the mouth, whimpering review of how bad it is. Newt Gingrich shows us how we can grab a future we'll be proud to leave our children and grand-children in Real Change. Let me also say that Real Change doesn't attempt to only Republicans, but makes arguments that should appeal to all Americans regardless of your political leanings.
Why hasn't someone else shouted out these solutions? As another reviewer pointed out, most of us are not divided as a people. We all want the same things: affordable healthcare, education that educates, a healthy economy, and a national defense system that separates our friends from our foes. This is what Newt Gingrich says we can have.
To get the country we want we need to hold our elected officials feet to the fire and demand real change. Make them serve us, the citizen and not some special interest group, including the well organized and politically saavy illegal immigrants. Notice, I said "illegal." I have nothing against immigrants who come into the country the way my grandparents came in....legally. Politicians need to know we want progress and will not accept the status quo.
If you're tired of hearing the doom and gloomers, then Real Change is for you. Pick up a copy and you'll find yourself engrossed. This is a real page turner.....really.
I highly recommend Real Change by Newt Gingrich.
Peace to all.
It's about time someone said this in print
By AUICK2BKIPZ5B on 2008-01-15
Finally, someone with the credentials to say it has said it! Newt is right on target with "Real Change" and we all need to read this and digest it. He's right, we need to demand results from those we send to Washington. The book takes on the tough issues facing us today, and looks at how and who put us in the tenuous position we find ourselves. Immigration reform is a must, or we're going to lose our country. We must not elect those who would cut and run from the most dangerous war we've been in since WWII. We cannot lose this war as many on the left would have us do. We need tough judges, tax reform and we need to bring religion out of the darkness 10% of those in this country have put it in. The leftists who support these kooks on the far left must be stopped before it's too late. Read every page in this book to understand why change is so very necessary.
Morgan Norval, terrorism expert, author of The Fifteen Century War: Islam's Violent Heritage
A Visionary Plan For The Future
By A16QJ649N8PRV on 2008-02-07
Unlike the typical negative political rhetoric, Newt Gingrich has composed an amazing roadmap for positive change.
Virtually everyone is aware of the myriad of problems facing the United States today. There are problems with illegal immigration, high taxes, high energy prices, a failing Social Security system, spiraling health care costs, a divisive war, pathetic performance by government at all levels (e.g. Hurricane Katrina relief) and many others. Many are good at pointing out the challenges; few are good at providing answers. That is not the case here.
The former Speaker of the House stands alone at the top in terms of innovative ideas that could lead us to a very bright future. Everyone, regardless of political affiliation, should read the ideas in this book. Whereas almost all politicians focus on short term changes to gain political advantage, Gingrich concentrates on meaningful long term solutions.
One of his points is that America is not rigidly divided into red and blue states. He contends that there are core issues upon which the vast majority of Americans agree. He supports this with polling data. He has put together a platform featuring many of these consensus issues.
Not only would this approach help to unite Americans again, these ideas, if enacted, would make things immeasurably better for all. Some of these are as follows: Overhauling the Social Security system before it goes bankrupt, replacing the current air and railway transportation systems with much more effective ones, redesigning health care payment and delivery with 21st century technology to replace the 1950s model currently in place, reigning in an out-of-control judiciary, and many others.
Clearly, our big problems will require bold new solutions. Gingrich has proposed some of those and has shown a way that we can provide incentives to entrepreneurs for many more. We can either keep doing things the way we have been (like all of the presidential candidates would do with slight variations), or we can create a brighter future. Albert Einstein said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results." That is the way our system has been functioning. It is time to do something different.
I could go on and on about this book. It is so packed full of ideas and wisdom that it is hard not to do so. I will not do that though. I do recommend that you buy it, read it, and share it with others.
Real Change? Maybe?
By A2IWOXEV9ZI57O on 2008-02-11
I'm a big fan of Newt Gingrich. I think he is doing a lot of good on the sidelines as a thinker. With this in mind I clamored for a copy of his new book "Real Change" hoping to find some new ideas on how to turn America around or at least reaffirm my ideas. I am disappointed. "Real Change" offers several ideas about change but no solutions or at least no details about the "solutions". To Newt's defense he does refer the reader to his American Solutions web sight regularly and this reader has yet to visit the site. Hopefully it is full of solutions (and details). The book is description of much of what ails America and several bland, generic ideas about change. I think this book may only provide additional fodder for the "change" group-think which is in vogue during this Presidential election. What's not said is most people fear change and will do most anything to cling to the status quo. Nor is there any mention of the saying "be careful what you wish for, you might just get it." What are we wishing for? Change for the sake of change is ill-advised. I have consistently respected Mr. Gingrich for his ideas. I've met him more than once. He signed my copy of "The Road to Serfdom" by Hayek (it was the only book I had with me at the time, but a book Newt recommended nonetheless) But I am disappointed with this book and must question some of his thoughts and statements. First Newt does mention the Fair Tax but all but dismisses it as untenable. He seems to prefer the flat tax proffered by Steve Forbes et. al. In my opinion there is no bigger (or better) source for "Real Change" than the Fair Tax. Second, he writes " FDR, the greatest Democratic president of the twentieth century...". What? FDR's alphabet soup, all-encompassing government is the largest contributor to the mess we are in. Newt repeatedly refers to less government and more personal responsibility as the answer to America's woes. FDR, are we talking about the same person? FDR was a socialist who we elected FOUR times! The damage he did to this country is unmeasurable and has set the course for both the mess we currently face and if left unchecked the ultimate demise of this once great country. On at least two occasions in his book Newt refers to the Federalist Papers as the savior of this country. Although these papers serve as important source documentation leading up to the Constitution they are not the Constitution nor are they the law of the land. Suggesting "[t]hose in doubt that the elected branches have the power to reform the judicial branch need merely to read the Federalist Papers for quite specific recommendations for how it can happen." What does the Constitution have to say about that? Finally Newt needs to review his Physics, Thermodynamics, and Chemistry. He has not only jumped onto the Ethanol bandwagon but also has apparently discovered new laws of physical science. "Some have estimated that composite materials combined with a hybrid E-85 engine could produce a vehicle that could run for 500 to 1,000 miles on a gallon of petroleum." First E-85 refers to a fuel mixture 85% gasoline (petroleum) and 15% ethanol. This mixture contains LESS energy than 100% gasoline. For a vehicle to achieve this type of mileage it would require a vehicle like the Honda Civic to achieve at least 10-20 times the fuel efficiency currently available. Some of this could be achieved through lighter weight but there are no miracle composites available that would enable this type of improvement. And even it this mileage was attainable I doubt the vehicle would be large enough for even one passenger. I will take a look at his Real Solutions web site in hope of finding some answers and better information but my great expectations for this book have been dashed. However I remain a fan of Newt and recognize the fact America needs thinkers like him
Finally!
By A2TRYR2GTGT63B on 2008-01-24
Real Change: From the World That Fails to the World That Works
This is a book that is a must-read for all Americans. Brilliantly capturing what real Americans think, Gingrich provides research-based policy recommendations that (if adopted)would put the United States on the right path to future success and renewed greatness.
This book is the appropriate antidote to the currently popular soundbites that supposedly capture the policy prescriptions of out current crop of presidential wannabees.
EVERYBODY should read this book and get copies for all family memebers and friends. Even better would be to get one for politicians you know and insist that they read it.
- Finally, issues raised and solutions suggested...
By A3RE4YLFFG83NM on 2008-01-20
"The American people are stunningly pragmatic." - from this book, and one of many observations that need to be communicated and understood.
The only disappointment is that the appendices might have been many more in number and more detailed.
This book may be the Common Sense (Thomas Paine) of our time. The government is broken, in fact corrupted, and the author provides the facts to back up his premise that the bureaucracies at all levels of government are neither of or for the people but rather are working to perpetuate their own existence, destroying America in the process. Then, instead of stopping with gripes about where we are, concepts to address the problems are identified and discussed.
The first chapter of this book alone is worth the money and time invested and should be required reading for every taxpayer who is tired of watching our greatness and goodness be put in decline by loud but small fringe groups with narcissism rather than safety, security and prosperity for the whole be the agenda.
Other discussions of note include our failed judiciary, the problems with our education system, real environmentalism, and a thoughtful discussion of immigration that finally addresses the desire of most Americans to welcome immigrants, asking only that they abide by our laws. Perhaps this will resonate with Washington which apparently believes that only citizens should be subject to the economic brutality of the IRS and that a blind eye can be turned to illegal status of many immigrants. The solution is in rigorous law enforcement and implementing a viable guest worker program to satisfy the majority of law-abiding citizens and help our economy and our immigrant brothers and sisters.
This book both inspires the reader to seek real change to move government to a model that works, and causes concern that the need is urgent, and the alternative, continuing down the path of the status quo, is foreboding.
- Disappointing, Revisionist, Misleading, Incomplete
By A1S8AJIUIO6M9K on 2008-01-21
Edit of 13 Feb 08 to remove extraneous negatives.
Although Newt Gingrich is one of a handful of previously elected officials who has both a brain and an appreciation for history, this book is disappointing. It is primarily a base-pleasing blast on a variety of issues that are generally described with no implementation specifics, and certainly nothing in the way of an over-all balanced budget that would show what the trade-offs are.
1) Newt Gingrich was "present at the creation" of the brutally destructive practices of extreme partisanship, and I am not surprised to read, but feel compelled to question, his "immaculate conception" in this book as being good and clear-headed, while relegating all those "left behind" to the role of "evil-doers." Cf. Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency; The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy)). In my view, the number of Republicans bailing out of Congress is starkly indicative of their realization that America is fed up with party-line corruption.
2) Claiming that most of America is center-right and that the Democratic party now represents the fringe left places this author at the edge of delusion. Presumably he has read Running On Empty: How The Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It, but I question whether he has a clue about Liberty Coalition, Reuniting America, Cultural Creatives, World Index of Social and Environmental Responsibility, Bioneers, or any of the other groups that in the aggregate represent over 150 million American voters who despise BOTH the Republican and Democratic parties and are--as Lou Dobbs urges--declaring Independence.
3) Neither Dick Cheney nor Lou Dobbs appears in this book, nor is there any mention of the manner in which Congress and the White House have deceived and misled the public for over a century (Cf. Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq, Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil)
4) His specious recommendations on Iraq are completely inconsistent with reality as I have observed it across many many reviews. He fails to point out that the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Shinseki, correctly told Congress that 400,000 were needed to assure orderly stabilization & reconstruction, and that it was Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz and Cheney who over-ruled the Army and insisted on listening to a combination of Ahmed Chalabi (an Iranian agent of influence) and the Israeli government all too eager to have us do their dirty work. He natually avoids discussing the fact that we were snookered by Iran into doing what they could not do for themselves. Cf. A Pretext for War : 9/11, Iraq, and the Abuse of America's Intelligence Agencies)
Now for the substance, such as it is:
1) Platitudes on steroids. This is a facile book that explodes a YouTube video into a 242-page double-spaced booklet (not counting the last third of the book, appendices).
2) There are no footnotes, endnotes, or bibliography. This is a massive Op-Ed that is totally disconnected from the need to take account of any larger reality.
3)He touches lightly on young people, education, the judiciary, privatizing social security, immgiration (never mind that he consistently failed as Speaker to funded urgently needed border patrol positions), and green conservatism. "National security" gets two double-spaced pages, other topics as many as four to six. Whoopee.
3) His approach to a balanced budget is disingenius as well as mis-directed. He chants the four mantras: 1) cut taxes; 2) increase spending on what I like, decrease it on everything else; 3) end pork barrel spending; and 4) smarter spending. He certainly has a point with respect to the idiocy of rewarding Lockheed Martin for consistently failing NASA, but the last time I looked, the President and Congress had an Office of Management and Budget and a Government Accountability Office, so this is pontifical. He has no serious observations on how to eliminate income taxes (introduce the Tobin tax on Federal reserve transactions); increase revenue (end the import-export pricing fraud, the crop insurance and other frauds, different corporate books for IRS versus stockholders, the list is long and he does not have it).
4) He calls for citizen leadership and more entrepreneurship without any reference to what has been going on for over a decade in the way of World Cafe, Nexus for Change, National Online Deliberation, Wisdom Councils, Wealth of Networks, etcetera.
The book asks three relevant questions and fails to answer them to my satisfaction as a broadly-read person who believes that transpartisanship, not bipartisanship, is the necessary solution:
1) Whom do we serve?
2) What do we value?
3) How do we measure achievement?
The book contains scattered impulses, some good (Hart-Rudman emphasized that the failure of US education, especially in mathematics and science, was a major threat to the future of the Republic), and some bad (several blatant overtures to evangelicals).
Enough.
By way of larger context for those who believe non-fiction can be useful:
1) There are ten high-level threats to mankind identified by LtGen Dr. Brent Scowcroft and other members of the High-Level Threat Panel, as reported out in A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility--Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change:
01 Poverty
02 Infectious Disease
03 Environmental Degradation
04 Inter-State Conflict
05 Civil War
06 Genocide
07 Other Atrocities
08 Proliferation
09 Terrorism
10 Transnational Crime
Bush-Cheney, and Gingrich, ignore the first 8 threats as well as the last. The global war on terrorism is a fraud. What we *should* be doing is orchestrating a $250 billion a year program against the first seven threats, stop being the world's largest arms merchant, and start phasing out the 44 dictators, all but two our best pals (see Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025.
2) There are twelve policies that must be harmonized if we are to stabilize and reconstruct our own country:
01 Agriculture
02 Diplomacy
03 Economy
04 Education
05 Energy
06 Family
07 Health
08 Immigration
09 Justice
10 Security
11 Society
12 Water
3) Nothing the USA or EU in the next ten years will matter EXCEPT AND UNLESS they create an EarthGame, an Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, that compellingly demonstrates to the eight demographic challengers (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and Wild Cards like the Congo) how they can avoid our mistakes.
Earth Intelligence Network is offering a free book online today that will be available on Amazon in late Feburary, "COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace." Here is the bottom line: the age of top-down elite "management" of complex societies, using secrecy, scarcity, and fear to concentrate wealth and abuse the majority, is over. There is a broad literature on the emergence of bottom-up consensual citizen power including localized wisdom councils, and I have over 70 lists that can guide the earnest reader, but I will content myself for now with my last alloted link: The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All.
This book will, I hope, make money for the author. It will not, however, do anything for the Republic. Below I list seven REAL changes:
1) Electoral Reform Act (One-Page Outline at Earth Intelligence Network
2) Debates Open to ALL Parties, Not Just the Two Corrupt Parties
3) End Winner Take All in Both Cabinet and Congress
4) No Legislation Without Prior Public Posting in Detail
5) End Individual Income Taxes, Substitute Tobin Tax on Federal Reserve
6) End CEO Greed, Top Salary No More Than 1000X Lowest Salary
7) End Secrecy, Make All Government Decisions Transparent
To end on a positive note, I am quite certain that Speaker Gingrich would be a most valuable participant in any transpartisan cabinet that brought together leaders from across the spectrum. Our Nation needs more than platitudes--it needs a Transpartisan People's Trust that buys back the government; and an EarthGame in which each person has full access to all relevant information and we can self-govern in the context of the ten threats, twelve policies, and eight challengers. It does not help that we have lost an entire generation to lazy rote mediocrity in our schools.
The bottom line is that this book does not reflect the demonstrated breadth and depth of the Speaker's knowledge. It's a shallow quickie.
- Dishonest Drivel!
By A22RY8N8CNDF3A on 2008-01-21
"The American people are united on almost every important issue facing the country." So begins Gingrich in his latest book - "Real Change." If only it were so - immigration, taxes, trade policy, health care, Iraq, mid-East policy, the role of government in our lives, etc. provide examples of key areas where Americans are seriously divided.
Continuing, Gingrich tells us that "We're standing on the edge of a potential golden age for America . . . enjoy(ing) a level of prosperity, safety, and freedom unknown to previous generations." What dream world does this man live in - Americans have been losing good jobs, those retaining their jobs have been losing benefits or having them reduced, "real income" is down or stagnant, we live in constant threat of nutcases and terrorists in our cities, schools and malls, TSA still doesn't inspect airplane or ship freight, and the Cold War with Russia is warming up again.
"Republican Party candidates tend to come fro the business and professional world, which operates rationally in a business school-like manner. They often have little interest in or knowledge of politics as a method of accumulating power among a free people." I guess Tom DeLay, Grover Norquist, Rick Santorum and their "K Street Project" to create permanent Republican domination never existed!
There's more. Gingrich blames Detroit and Michigan Democrat political leaders for job losses incurred under their administrations. NAFTA, Free Trade, and poor American auto company design and management had nothing to do with it?
I admired Newt Gingrich when he came out with the "Contract for America" and wondered why he faded so quickly. "Real Change" and its lies and distortions provides some insight.
- Thoughtful Reflection on State of Our Union
By A1OX82JPAQLL60 on 2008-03-22
Gingrich of all that this reviewer hears opine on TV about the issues that trouble us, seems always to be the most composed and fresh thinker to have thought through and provide what sounds like a non-partisan what is good for America presentation.
Such is this book. He has criticism for both parties, showing that they are far more inclined to vote for their campaign treasuries than what the people need. Corporations and interest groups on the one side, and bureauocracy, unions and a liberal elite culture group on the other.
No wonder the majority of people feel disinfranchised from the whole 'we the people' government we hear idealized in speeches, but never seems to live in Congress and the White House.
Gingrich bases responses to major problems of healthcare, education, Social Security, etc. with a polling concept, which if true, shows that the vast majority of Americans support various goals and strategies which to date we don't hear from any one political candidate.
This truly is a book for all Americans to read and ponder. Very well done!
- Liberialism is a LIE
By AZKQ7A3V35ODD on 2008-01-23
If you are a communist, socialist, leftist, democrap, and/or liberal---Why the heck are you reading this book???? Why are you suprised by it?? Reagan, Limbaugh, and Gingrich are the only true voices of this Great Country. Love it or Leave it!!! See....Said in 4 short sentences!!!
- For real change, start with real ideas
By A3HTBYBNA37FUT on 2008-03-19
Full disclosure: Newt Gingrich's older daughter, Kathy Lubbers, has been a friend of mine since college and asked me to review this. She may be sorry she asked.
The book is almost devoid of big ideas, particularly in the area of how average citizens can bring about change. Worse, there's a lot of bad thinking and/or dishonesty. There are a few good ideas in here, but overall this is a weak effort by someone who purports to be a big thinker.
Gingrich has a long history of framing issues dishonestly - this is, after all, the man who advised GOP political candidates to characterize their opponents with such pejoratives as "sick" and "un-American" irrespective of who the opponents were or what politics they espoused. The dishonesty starts early here, with Gingrich drawing an artificial distinction between the 85 percent or so of Americans whom he considers "real" Americans and the remaining 15 percent or so, whom he considers the "fringe." Real life is more complicated: Is the majority of Americans who want us out of Iraq really a "fringe"? Is the majority who want government corruption - which, for most of the past decade, has meant GOP corruption -- rooted out a "fringe"? What about immigration -- which side of that issue is fringe?
Speaking of artificial divisions, Gingrich hauls out the tried-and-not-necessarily-true distinction between government as bureaucratic failure and private enterprise as font of all that is good. This distinction overlooks, for example, the superiority of the Veterans Administration health-care system as well as the failure of private enterprise to do what it is supposed to do in venues ranging from Iraq to areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The common thread there is that people who worked in government and didn't believe government had a role to play involved private interests in doing government's work, then acted stunned when private interests proved incompetent, corrupt or both.
He criticizes Democrats as being the tools of unions, teachers and other "special interests" without a word about how beholden the GOP is to the special interests running large corporations. And his suggestion that Republicans haven't governed well because they were fragile flowers more interested in the business of business than in the levers of powers doesn't pass the Tom DeLay Test.
I do like the idea of offering cash for innovations in energy and space exploration. But if the market were all that good at improving energy policy, we'd have had far more fuel-efficient American cars by now.
I don't have the expertise to say whether Gingrich's proposal to partially privatize Social Security is a good idea. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities looked at a similar plan proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham and found that the additional income from private investments would not outweigh the cut in government-funded benefits, so I'm skeptical. When he says the government will make up any losses people might suffer under a partially privatized Social Security, the phrase "moral hazard" comes to mind. And in any event, only minor changes to Social Security are needed to keep it solvent for the next 75 years. The budget deficit, the trade deficit and Medicare/Medicaid are all more pressing.
The book also is marred by silliness. For example, he complains that while FedEx can keep track of millions of packages, the government cannot keep track of millions of illegal aliens. Um, packages have bar codes; people do not. And Gingrich constantly uses "the elites" as a pejorative. When you've spent 20 years in the U.S. House, four of them as Speaker, you're "the elites" too.
The chapter on national security is - no kidding - just two pages long. To give credit where it's due, Gingrich correctly hammers the Bush administration for overemphasizing military response and failing to maximize the value of other approaches. But our national-security failure since 9/11 goes beyond invading the wrong country, which was bad enough and a war crime to boot. It encompasses failure to secure our ports, our chemical plants, our power-generating stations, all of which could and should have been done years ago. It encompasses torture. It encompasses illegal warrantless wiretapping. And on these subjects, Gingrich is strangely silent.
There's plenty of competition for the worst chapter in this book. But my personal selection would be Chapter 13: "America's History Requires Real Change in Today's Judiciary." Its intellectual dishonesty is breathtaking. Gingrich dwells on the Declaration of Independence's invocation of the Divine as the source of all human rights and essentially claims that passage as the basis for what amounts to state-sponsored religion. Problem is, the Declaration of Independence is not law. God is found nowhere in the Constitution, which laid out how we actually intended to govern ourselves, because the Framers understood the dangers of state-sponsored religion. Gingrich claims a majority of Americans want God in public life. That might well be true, but a majority of Americans want tighter controls on guns, too, and we don't just ignore the Second Amendment to give it to them (nor should we).
So how are we to bring about all this real change Gingrich hopes for? Vote, basically. Boy, there's stunningly sage advice. And since gerrymandering has left only about 50 of 435 House districts really competitive, good luck with that.
This country does need real change. But for a real change, could we please start with some real ideas?
- A Rational Blueprint
By A25QT3P9BDMSR7 on 2008-02-01
Finally, Newt has written a book that comprehensively defines the
countries problems, and begins to suggest some solutions.
When you hear "Washington is Broken" it should surprise no
one, that the bureaucratic structure of the U.S. government is
chocking the life out of our system. It's on auto-pilot with very
little sense of purpose other than to draw a paycheck and a pension.
It is an immutable beast that evades all containment.
- Fresh, thoughtful, and very much worth reading and discussing
By AUHG8KSHI529U on 2008-03-04
For some folks Newt Gingrich is radioactive. They hear his name and they switch to attack mode. However, this book deserves to be read and debated in its merits not on what his detractors say about his personal life, how the GOP took over Congress in 1994, or what they did with power while they held it. Well, actually, part of this book is Newt analyzing what the GOP did wrong while it held power. He says that when they became the majority many in the GOP had only been used to be being the minority and were not part of the Conservative movement. Hence, they ran Congress and spent your money like typical politicians.
Speaker Gingrich takes apart the myth of the Red versus Blue America and argues that there is a way to build a winning agenda based on issues that are supported by the majority of Americans. He has 21 chapters and a conclusion divided in to three parts. Part 1 is called "A Time For Change" and has five chapters laying out where we are and why the times cry out for change. He talks about why red versus blue is a myth, why the GOP failed to govern effectively, and why the Democrats can't deliver real change. Gingrich goes on to use the examples of the repairs after Katrina and the way the State of Michigan is failing to show the paralysis of the present way of governing, and also discusses the sad state of education in our country.
Part 2 says "Real Change Is Possible". Newt discusses how America has found ways to implement transformational change in the past and why we can do it now. He talks about the ways we can become Citizen Leaders, what we can learn from the changes in Britain and France, and contrasts Giuliani's Mayoralty of New York and the change in government when we deposed Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Part 3 has 12 chapters discussing the issues a majority of Americans support, how they support it and why. The issues are a sensible immigration policy, prosperity for American Workers, transforming Social Security, reforming the Judiciary, balancing the Federal Budget, and reforming NASA through entrepreneurship. He goes on to talk about Green Conservatism and environmental challenges, energy strategies, improving air and rail transportation, how to transform health care, and national and home security.
There are eight appendices. They provide a political platform embodying these issues, introduces Gingrich's Solution Lab, why Welfare Reform is a great example of Real Change, and FDR's D-Day Prayer (that was delivered over national radio). They also discuss health values, the four key areas for reforming health care, an excerpt from an earlier Gingrich book on a blueprint for the future, and a talk he gave on 9/10/07 at AEI on "What If? An Alternative History of the War Since 9/11".
No, I don't agree with everything Gingrich says and I think his physics for energy independence is quite suspect. However, I could vote for this platform (within bounds) and think his attempt at breaking this gridlock we have on imprisoning the base while taking a hammer and a blowtorch to the other side is terrific. This book is very much worth reading and discussing. We are going to need something along these lines to re-energize our political environment with positive feeling and fresh thought.
Recommended.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
Two other Gingrich books:
Rediscovering God in America:
Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation's History
Winning the Future
Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America
- Brilliant but uneven
By A26CEOII995JPF on 2008-02-24
In this book, Newt Gingrich, the hugely controversial Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 1990s, lays out his vision of what it would take to solve America's problems. His theme is the contrast between the world that works, the work of free enterprise symbolized by Federal Express, and the world that fails, the world of government bureaucracies, symbolized by the Post Office and the INS.
Parts of the book are extremely good. The book begins very strong with an analysis of the national political situation. In Gingrich's view, the people are not really deeply divided between liberals and conservatives. On the contrary, he believes that the overwhelming majority of Americans is center-right. We do not see this, he believes, because both parties have failed the people. The Democrats in his perspective -- no surprise here -- are hopeless. They have been captured by special interests, primarily government employee unions (primarily the teachers union) and the trial lawyers. They believe in the morality of Hollywood. They are hopelessly out of touch with the majority.
But, says Gingrich, the Dems might win the White House this year, because the Republicans have also failed the people. They have failed, says Gingrich, because they have listened too much to the short-term thinking of political consultants. These consultants usually advocate winning elections by stirring up the conservative base with anger issues. This anger, however, alienates moderates, who want solutions to problems, not endless ranting and raving. What the GOP needs to do, says Gingrich, is to build a long-term majority by focusing upon the positive. They need to present solutions, and they need to relate them to people's daily lives.
This part of the book, in my opinion, is right on. Gingrich knows exactly what he is talking about, and I hope that the GOP is listening. This IS what we need to do.
Gingrich next swings into a quick tour of a wide range of issues, from tax policy to the environment to Social Security to health care. The quality of this part of the book, in my opinion, was not very high. He spends too little time on each subject. His proposals, while often interesting, are usually kind of sketchy. I think that Newt would have done us all a favor, in this part of the book, by covering fewer subjects, but doing so in more detail and with more care.
- Intelligent Thought!
By A1NYHQXQE90V3H on 2008-02-22
This book clearly articulates in a non-partisan manner the flaws in the liberal minded approach to solving problems by creating inefficient government programs and unincentivized bureaucracy.
- My experiance was destroyed by the reader
By A12J9S8ZF2FMZT on 2008-04-07
I am a big Newt fan! With that said, I could not listen to his wife read the book. I could hear her constantly poping her p's, I could hear her tongue splapping around inside her mouth and the saliva making all kinds of discusting sounds. I GAVE the CD set away half way through the second cd.
- Vague And Typical.
By A3N3SN2DDD4HCJ on 2008-04-15
Newt Gingrich has spent the past few years trying to establish himself as some sort of neocon guru or sensei, the old man of the mountain who America's conservatives should seek for guidance. He couldn't run for President in 2008, so now him and his American Solutions program are trying to least be established as the advisor behind the throne.
Like clockwork Newt is churning out books detailing his agenda. "Real Change" follows his monument tour, "Rediscovering God In America," and tries to set-up a blueprint for what "real change" in America should be. Ironically, Newt isn't really offering anything you could call "change," instead he is simply advocating deepening many of the current system's worst elements or bringing back old-school free market, neocon ideas from the Reagan 80s (Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, another right-wing trooper, make constant cameos in the book). The book deserves two stars instead of one because Gingrich's language and phrasing is not the kind of radically insane dribble you typically find in Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham's latest outing, he does frame his arguments in a more articulate, academic prose, it isn't powerful or stunning, but you can read it without your brain feeling like it wants to vomit. And that is the charm Newt Gingrich shows in "Real Change," he knows how to frame really well very bad ideas. Consider the current world figure he uses as an examples we should follow: Nicolas Sarkozy of France, whom Gingrich praises as some sort of groundbreaking leader who is leading the charge for capitalism. Gingrich can admire him personally if he wants, but the French don't agree with him much, Sarkozy has approval numbers similar to George Bush's, no major reforms have really taken root, and the Socialist Party is quickly re-gaining major provinces. Newt also throws lavish praise on Margaret Thatcher for her union-busting, ignoring the fact that again, this was a very unpopular leader until the war with Argentina ignited nationalist sentiments which she took advantage of.
Gingrich is completely correct when he cites polls showing that Americans want change, but he makes it seem as if Americans want a deeper engraving of corporate idealism. There is a curious style in the way the book seems disconnected from actual human needs or social issues and simply advocates a "get rich" culture. One can imagine Newt's vision of America consisting of clones in suits and ties living to the drone of numbers and figures. "Real Change" is also very vague about how exactly to bring change. Take for example, the sections dealing with terrorism and Iraq, Gingrich advocates an even stronger stance (as if invading a country isn't enough) and demands that George Bush or his successor stop playing the game like softies and instead "fight to win." Again, as if invading other countries wasn't enough.
Domestic security issues tale a chilling, somewhat bizarre tone as Newt starts suggesting new police state measures for the internet and "outlawing terrorism" or what he considers threats of violence against the government. Gingrich even calls for the banning of websites, which is a funny suggestion from a man who condemns Communist systems and in this particular section takes on the form of a neo-fascist.
"Real Change" almost feels like a very cold, hollow analysis of where America should go, Gingrich comes across more as a businessman than as a true servant of the people. The book itself is very short, as are most current right-wing manuals, unless you count Jonah Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism" which was a tad longer, this is mostly because Gingrich simplifies most topics to this: America in trouble, bow down to the free market, everything will be ok, make money. It's as if the man has little grasp of the human scale of global issues or the complexities of going into a full-blown war with other cultures. Like Hannity, Gingrich praises Ronald Reagan to the point where the reader can assume Newt prays to him every evening, he basically uses Reagan's foreign policy as an example of the road America should take in the Middle East. Of course Gingrich omits the fact that Reagan left Central America in ruins, funded death squads and ran guns to the Contra terrorists. In fact, Daniel Ortega is back in power in Nicaragua and the FMLN is the favorite to win the 2009 elections in El Salvador, so Reagan's objectives have not exactly been met.
The U.S. dollar is almost worthless overseas, Iran is a respected power in the East, Gingrich's answer? Just hang tough and crush them, and don't forget, we need to make more money. "Real Change" is a change from the usual conservative ranting, but doesn't offer anything grounded in reality, or any actual change from the current system for that matter. Maybe that was meant as ironic on the part of Gingrich, that for him real change simply means embedding the current system even deeper than it already is. Americans searching for answers, will find nothing real here, except comforting phrases and nationalist devotion where the stars on the American flag are replaced with dollar bill signs.
- Report From Norway: Why They Don't Have an Energy Crisis and We Do
By A2SNWGN9LAYU3H on 2008-06-15
My curiosity about this book was piqued when I received a solicitation for it with an essay entitled, "Report From Norway: Why They Don't Have an Energy Crisis and We Do," pertaining of course to offshore oil drilling. I know a great deal about why the Norwegian method works since I work in the oil industry and had the opportunity to live with Norwegians for a couple of months last year and we discussed these things at great length, and so was very surprised that Newt would recommend the Norwegian method.
The Norwegian method works well because Statoil hydro, the biggest offshore hydrocarbon company in the world, is now a public limited company started with government money thanks to socialist investment. It is presently 2/3rds owned by the government and remains under government control and the profits (taxes, dividends, licensing, and sales) go into a savings fund to pay for Norwegian Social Security.
It's hard to imagine all of ExxonMobil's profits going into Social Security! Only last week here in the United States , even a profit windfall tax was shot down by the GOP. I am surprised that Newt recommends this. I didn't think Newt Gingrich supported Social Security.
I'm also surprised that Newt Gingrich supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - that certainly isn't the Norwegian method! Norwegians pride themselves on rational, secular decision making, and drilling in the ANWR is such an obviously, outrageously wasteful proposition that no honest person can claim otherwise without being mentally deficient.
By the most optimistic projections, the first drops of oil from ANWR would begin to flow in ten years, while we can save more oil right now than ANWR will ever produce within two years with the mere stroke of a pen to increase the efficiency of next year's cars by 2 mpg. It's as if you had the choice to pay for a short vacation either by spending your life's savings (all that you've ever saved and all that you will ever save) or by recycling your soda cans for a year or two. End of story.
The Norway model works because they employ the highest environmental policies in the world. Bear in mind that they only have one (arguably two) climactic zone to protect over 1600 miles of coastline, while the United States has a coastline ten times as long with almost every type of environment known. Drilling is never 100% free from environmental risk even with the best workers that the Norwegian method can procure.
Of course they are able to procure those workers because the Norwegian method requires paying their workers so well.
I know what you're thinking: what about taxes? Well, the Norwegian method works with lower taxes and they're progressive which is even better. Norwegian personal (and corporate) tax rates are 28%; in the US it's between 15-39% with an additional 0-12% state income tax. The sales tax (or "value-added" tax) for Norwegians is higher at 25% and therefore the cost of living is higher in Norway, but you can't forget universal health care and universal higher education.
I'm really glad that Newt Gingrich, who led the fight against universal health care in the 1990s, has changed his mind on the issue. I think of it as a moral thing, but even if one thinks of health care only in terms of money, the fact is that universal health care saves money for individuals and for the companies they work for. Every industrialized nation on earth is paying less for better health care and everyone is covered. No spin can change those kind of facts. Game, set and match.
I have insurance through my employer that costs me a bundle, but the Norwegian method of universal health care would save both myself and my company that money, plus I'd never have to worry about getting sick when I switch jobs. And did you know that more than half of the bankruptcies in 2005 were due to medical bills? Norwegians never lose their homes because someone got sick or injured.
Even that's almost nothing compared to how much money the Norwegian method would save hard working middle class Americans on college tuition! If your youngest children will be attending a state college in 18 years, you should be saving about $11,000 a year per child. If your kids are around ten years old, figure on saving about $18,000 a year per child. (And that's assuming a nice 8% rate of return.)
Now the Norwegians do have mandatory conscription but it's only for 6 -12 months of service for fully paid college (and it's been a thousand years since the Vikings invaded anybody!) I don't want to get political, but just last week in the United States a bill that would have provided college tuition after three years of service was voted down by the GOP. I wish more Republicans supported the troops with higher education like the Norwegian method does.
Don't forget how much you'd save with the Norwegian method of retirement pensions. In the Norwegian model, the profits all go into their Social Security trust fund. How much would that save you and your spouse every week? Everybody knows that Social Security privatization is a scam by the fat cats on Wall Street: how many people lost their 401K retirement savings in 2001? The Norwegian method gives senior citizens peace of mind because they never have to worry about retirement.
Newt Gingrich really picked a great country to model a plan on.
Norway is currently the second highest ranked nation in the world for literacy rate, education level and per capita income, with only a 2% unemployment rate and one of the highest hourly wages in the world, and the wage difference between the lowest paid worker and the CEO is among the lowest, making Norwegian society very egalitarian, much like the United States was in the 1950s during the golden age of the middle class. Well, you know the old saying: everyone does better when everyone does better.
The Norwegian model works because they have a strong middle class. The Norwegians learned their lesson after their workers were abused in dangerous working conditions and under exploitive labor relations policies. It's not surprising that New Gingrich continues to support family values, and although I don't agree with his definition of what constitutes "family values" (neither would the Norwegians: for example, same-sex partnerships were recognized in 1993), we certainly have plenty of common ground here. In the 1950s when the middle class was at its strongest, a single hard-working individual could provide for his entire family and afford a house, a car, a family vacation...and with only one parent having to work, the other was able to be with their children all day. After all, how can there be any family values at all if there isn't time to spend together as a family?
By the way, the Norway method works because advertizing directed towards children is tightly regulated. In the United States , Florida legislatures passed a law to protect senior citizens against deceptive advertizing, specifically Ed McMahon. Apparently a 65 year old can drive, vote and own a gun despite being incapable of understanding the word "may" in the sentence, "You may have already won $1,000,000" while at the same time there is no protection for children. How can a child be thought of as a more sophisticated consumer than a 65 year old?
Anyhow, it's refreshing to hear New Gingrich changing his mind and supporting such progressive positions. The Norway method works because of intelligent, progressive values and strong regulation.
I hope Newt Gingrich supports regulation in other areas as well. After all, deregulation hasn't worked at all in the airline industry, the automobile industry, the banking industry, the mortgage industry, the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the telecommunications industry, the mining industry, the electrical industry, and the military contracting industry to name a few, and the "self-regulation" of Wall Street and of the food supply have been disastrous (why have an EPA, an SEC, a GOA, an FAA or an FDA if they are left too unfunded to be effective?)
P.S. "Report from Norway: Why They Don't Have an Energy Crisis and We Do" is a really bad title. It screams, "Because we have 2% of the world's population but use 25% of the world's oil and even though they have 0.0007% of the world's population and are sitting on 10,000,000,000 proven barrels of oil and 90 years worth of natural gas, they're still investing heavily in wind and solar."
- No surprise in Real Change
By AJI0AM3R7Y4O2 on 2008-02-15
Newt's book, _Real_Change_ surprised me in that there was nothing new there. He tried, hard, to be objective. He slammed his own party as much as the Democrats, but in the end all I heard was hard core opinion and rhetoric. It was just dripping with schmaltz to the point that I put it down after about 2 chapters and won't pick it back up.
I heard good things about it in an online article and I ordered it online without reading any reviews. In the end, I wish I'd gone down to the bookstore and read through it before deciding to buy it. But that's the downside of ordering online.
(sarcasm on) Would you like my copy? I'm through with it.
- American politics
By ALE0CCFDW2V7Z on 2008-02-17
I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the American political system and the effect "politics" has on it.
- Real Hope, too!
By A3EL2YZJOZJ5MG on 2008-03-29
Unlike the "Audacity of Hope" from Obama, which he has shown thru his campaign to be more like the "audacity of hype", Newt comes up with some concrete changes for our country that will further liberate it to be a greater source of prosperity and security for all Americans. Talk about a "uniting" message vs. a purely "socialist" one, the contrast could not be more clear vs. the one from the "Obama-nation".
Our only "real hope" is that McCain will take this as the foundation for his campaign platform in the months to come now before the election, though he's been more of a "conformist" to Big Government vs. the "renegade" tag the Big Media has given him (renegade for moving to the Left perhaps?). At least, there's someone out there trying to blaze a new path for not just the conservatives but for opportunities for all Americans who believe in "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as more than just an old slogan.
- Interesting ideas from the former Speaker of the House
By A680RUE1FDO8B on 2008-07-22
Newt Gingrich is one of the leading Republican public intellectuals. I hesitate to call him a conservative because I am not sure he is. Given to the typical politician's flair for bombast, Gingrich still manages to sound intelligent and realistic most of the time.
Here, Newt assisted by two co-authors makes his case for "real change". Gingrich explains in the first part what we all know: it is "a time for change". He explores why, in his opinion, Republicans failed to govern successfully (an understatement) and why Democrats can't deliver what he considers "real change". It's an excellent, fairly balanced section, especially with his concluding remarks on the perilous state of education in the United States. Meaningful change will not occur with an ignorant populace, which is what we have today - and the next generation is going to be even more lacking in knowledge, if not intelligence.
The second section, "Real Change Is Possible", is I think somewhat superfluous. It sets out the case that individuals can make a difference (which I think is doubtful). Gingrich provides what he considers examples of change, such as the replacing of the "old order" in Britain and France and Giulani's success in New York City. This section is cheerleading, in my opinion, and perhaps necessary.
Part three, entitled "Real Change Requires Real Solutions", gets down to the nitty-gritty of how our society and nation needs to change. A sensible immigration policy. Acheiving "enduring prosperity" for American workers. "Real change" for Social Security. Reining in the judiciary. And so forth. You may agree or disagree with Gingrich's politics and his philosophy, but the man is worth considering. All of his subjects represent real problems for our nation. While some of his solutions struck me as being unworkable, most make a lot of sense in broad terms.
This really isn't a outrageously partisan book. Rather it is a thoughtfully considered argument by someone who is clearly concerned for the fate of the nation.
Worth reading, whatever your political persuasion.
Jerry
- Real Change
By A1TJDDCMTVHNLT on 2008-02-23
Newt shares his opinions on multiple items of today's world politics. He is critical of every branch of government and has opinions on how things should be done if change is to be gotten. Some seem logical but some are a fantasy if he really believes it will happen. Slow reading in some chapters with redundancy, but others go well in giving interesting information.
- Real Change requires real guts
By A1NXL7QARITS3B on 2008-02-25
Newt Gingrich's book is a "how-to" book on how to change our country for the better. Accomplishing that will require at least hundreds, perhaps thousands of heretofore unkown people to work individually to change their corner of America...perhaps at great personal risk. After all, the establishment can not be expected to go quietly into the sunset.
This book must be read by all critically thinking Americans. It should be required reading in high school civics classes (do they still teach civics in high school?) throughout the country.
- What Conservatives Need
By AETT9JD2PR1B0 on 2008-02-28
Once again, Newt hits the nail on the head and explains in clear detail what conservatives and Republicans need to do in order to maintain a position of effectiveness.
- Required reading
By A12DOLISBNYW8A on 2008-03-13
This is a must read for anyone interested in real change, which is different than the rhetorical puffery during elections. This book is for those who are committed to making a positive difference between elections.
- Real Change
By A1A0KX52WEOSO4 on 2008-04-07
Newt in one of the deep thinkers of our time. Even if you don't agree with everything Newt believes, this book will open your eyes to the many possibilities we face for improvement of our society.
- Interesting ideas, but no factual support for the proposed solutions
By A15PG6XEXTCLFB on 2008-06-02
Mr. Gingrich offers many facts and anecdotes to support his identification of problems, but provides no factual support for his suggested solutions that will lead to "real change". I suppose that the reader is assumed to already agree with Mr. Gingrich's thesis of drastically lower taxes, removal of union influence and limited federal regulation as the root answer to all of the difficulties we face as a nation. While Mr. Gingrich goes to great pains to say that he has the best vision for our country, but does nothing to show why anyone who does not already agree with him should do so. To follow the logic of this book, a stranded driver with a punctured tire does not need a new tire or a tow truck, they need to know not to run over any nails. I just wish Mr. Gingrich could support his arguments for how to collectively get off the side of the road, if you will.
I also had a hard time ignoring the score-settling that went on in the early portion of the book. In that sense, this serves as a wonderful microcosm of former Congressman Gingrich's career. After authoring the transformational identity of the Republican Party, Mr. Gingrich let party politics (the infamous "snub" and the Clinton impeachment) take over his agenda and cost his party a chance at the White House in 1996 and many Congressional seats in the 1998 midterms. In Real Change, Mr. Gingrich attempts to develop a theme of unity while he simultaneously cannot resist the urge to castigate Democrats and the Republican leadership that turned on him. After reading this book, I now understand why Mr. Gingrich is drawn to writing "alternative history" fiction about World War II and the Civil War.
Overall, what could have been a great book full of challenges and new ideas fell apart into a mess of unsupported assertions, with a dash of bitterness thrown in.
- Real Change
By A24505CR98NLLV on 2008-06-18
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich makes the case for
a proactive public involvement, as well as a
transformational one. Basically, the USA is united
on immigration, taxes, defense and freedom of religion.
Taxes can be simplified in the form of a single page
flat tax along the lines enunciated by Malcolm Forbes.
According to the author, burdensome regulations and taxes
discourage the deployment of new refineries. While new
extraction is needed, progress must be made on migrating
solar energy to households, municipal government buildings
and small businesses of every kind. The Artificial Sun
is a multi-nation fusion project making considerable progress
toward practical implementation. Coal Gasification is another
encouraging area together with wind mill power. Let's not
forget nuclear power or electric cars.
The reconstitution of the middle class will be a more
difficult problem to handle. This task can be
accomplished with increments in small business investment,
a higher collegiate graduation rate, investment in
blue collar infrastructure jobs, tax simplification,
simpler health care delivery protocols, energy
independence, new savings instruments,
simplification of the FDA approval process for new
drugs and streamlining housing codes.
The Speaker faulted the Army Corps of Engineers for Katrina.
In reality, the whole USA coastline should be reviewed
by order of flood exposure to major population areas and
the economic consequences to businesses large and small.
Let's not forget volcanic activity and the possibility of a
tsunami . Disaster recovery and contingency planning for
earthquake activity are continuing priorities.
The book states that the failure of the education system
is the death knell of the old order. In some places,
graduation rates are falling and math/science test scores
are declining. The news is not uniformly bad. Many private
schools , charter schools, targeted inner city schools and
specialized schools perform at consistently high levels.
The ultimate question involves choosing the appropriate
change agent. Is the agent of change bureaucratic or
entrepreneurial in nature ? Clearly, the largest growth
in the economy has been with small business.
The Speaker believes that the Iraq engagement required
an effective counterinsurgency, more law enforcement,
intelligence and troop strength. I would add to this
an elite commando force to penetrate the neighborhoods
on the ground. Knowledge of Arabic is a condition
precedent to success on a personal level. Municipal
accounting systems are needed to restore normalcy to
routine governmental operations in Iraq. Current troop
levels are not sustainable indefinitely. At some point,
there must be an iterative withdrawal of forces so that
Iraqi forces shoulder more of the burden together with
a small United Nations Peacekeeping Force.
Lastly, I believe that our foreign policy must achieve
a political equilibrium; such that, no one foreign
state predominates regionally to the detriment of
global security. We must achieve this goal in the
India, Pakistan, Afghanistan spheres of influence.
Next, political equilibrium must be achieved in
Iraq, Iran, Turkey and the various constituencies
bordering the Straits. An Israeli/Palestinian peace
may be possible with a political equilibrium
amongst Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and
the various subgroups of every political predisposition.
In the scheme of things, Russia must cooperate in
refusing to make available weaponry of any kind to
disturb the existing political equilibrium between
and amongst the key regional constituencies enunciated
above. The IAEA is an important boundary spanner in
verifying compliance with existing nuclear treaties and
protocols.
The work is an important contribution to the ongoing
discussion aimed at moving the global agenda forward.
The implications for action are multi-disciplinary.
The group formation to accomplish these meritable
goals crosses political party lines and philosophies.
- Excellent conclusions on what our national leaders need to do
By AOT86E19KMKOJ on 2008-07-09
This is a book that provides some excellent conclusions on what our national leaders need to do to resolve the serious issues facing our nation. Moving from the world that doesn't work (i.e. government bureaucracies) to the world that does work (i.e. free enterprise and entrepreneurship) is the conclusion that Newt provides. And, he does this by backing his conclusions with facts - surveys of the American people and data that shows why the government bureaucracies have not and do not work. If you are really interested in REAL CHANGE and not platitudes, then read this book.
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