Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 320.550973
EAN num: 9780849911729
ISBN number: 0849911729
Label: W Publishing Group
Manufacturer: W Publishing Group
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 312
Printing Date: 1994-09
Publishing house: W Publishing Group
Sale Popularity Level: 2324413
Studio: W Publishing Group
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Product Description:
Dr. Ralph Red, executive director of the Christian Coalition, American historian, and political strategist, explodes the distorted caricature of religious conservatives as poor, uneducated, and easy to command. Instead, he describes a new coalition of Americans -- concerned about their children and the nation's future -- who have caught the attention of an alarmed electorate with a call for a return to time-honored values and common sense.
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Rated by buyers -
Ten years after the "emerging faith factor" of the subtitle, I finally picked Ralph Reed's Christian Coalition declaration off my shelf of "books I need to read." From this distance, the book takes on an interesting twist. The hothouse fervor of the battle between Christians and Clinton (to boil it down, perhaps unfairly or unwisely, to its essential elements) seems almost quaint now that we are nearly through the George W. Bush era, and the Clinton we speak of now is Hillary and her 2008 Presidential candidacy.
Reed does a good job listing the pain points of the pro-family Christian movement, and documenting what a conservative Christian government would look like. One flaw in his writing is that while he correctly acknowledges the cultural and spiritual roots of many of the problems (and solutions) Americans faced in 1994 and today, he then describes the amelioration of these problems based on the political policies of the Christian Coalition. Sorry, Ralph, you can't have it both ways--no political policies or programs, even wise and good ones like you propose, can address the spiritual problems you document. Reed quotes the well-known aphorism "All politics is local", but neglects the more important eternal truth that "all religion is individual"--only God can cure the spiritual sickness that starts in the heart of each individual and is multiplied out to the society where we individually live together. The cure is worked in the heart by God, not in the culture by man.
Writing before 1994, early in the Clinton presidency, Reed is too sanguine in his belief that Clinton's raunchy behavior and bad governance would either bring him down or lead to massive Christian political participation and change of the political landscape of both parties. As events proved, neither happened; Clinton stared down his self-imposed problems and served out both terms, escaping a bitter impeachment battle.
Looking forward (from 1994) Reed accurately predicts the changing media landscape (internet and mushrooming cable outlet options), but on the economic side he misses the still-to-come tech boom that was just taking off in 1994 before cycling back to bust after 2000.
What is interesting from 2007's perspective is also how he missed the real impact of this new media era on politics. He predicted new levels of participation in party politics based on new acess to politicians and the political process. What appears to have happened, and Reed as well as most other prophets and observers of the last decade have missed, is the use of "social computing" or "Web 2.0" for the individualization of communication. The new communication channels, rather than making people more outspoken in group participation, have divided the group into many "me's"--everyone has a Face book wall, a blog, a web site.
This will in the long run, have greater political implications, but probably not the ones that Reed foresaw in 1994. But Reed did correctly predict that politics was entering a period of chaotic shifts based on the cultural divide and communication diversity he saw coming. In 2007, we are still following the runoff of that deluge of change to see where it will lead.
Rated by buyers 
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Reed's book comes across as the effort of an ambitious angry young man who being frustrated with the course of political and social events in the US, has decided to take it upon himself to mold the nation in his imagined image of what it should be at any cost.
Reed appears to have great potential but his sentiments are misplaced. Reed (a professing Christian) drifts from Christianity to Capitalism as if they are one in the same. He is a true reflection of the upper middle class Sunday Christian who is in church on Sunday and out for his personal conquest and gain the other 6 days of the week.
In my opinion the book is the long version of any political talk show where folks put forth their side at all costs while disparaging those who oppose them no matter how vaild their points may be.
Reed is a man of controversy. Found guilty of plagarism while at the University of Georgia, Reed was fired from the school newspaper the "Red and Black". He has also in the past been accused of election rigging, and has close ties to casino gambling.
Maybe Reed and others best put forth the case.
"I want to be invisible. I do guerrilla warfare. I paint my face and travel at night. You don't know it's over until you're in a body bag." Ralph Reed.
"His M.O. is to tell evangelical Christians that his cause of the moment, for which he has been hired, is their religious duty, and therefore they need to write regulators, turn up at meetings, or whatever. As an evangelical myself, I resent Christianity being used simply to help Reed's business." - Bob Irvin, former Republican leader of the Georgia House of Representatives
"I used to tell people he was going to be either President of the United States or Al Capone. Whatever he did, he was really good at it." - his mother, Marcy Reed
Rated by buyers 
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There seems to be a movement in the US to silence any political opinions that are informed in any way by religious faith, especially if that faith is a Conservative version of Christianity. Those who would silence people of faith from speaking out politically may be a very small group, but their numbers may be growing, and they will certainly become more vocal as President Bush begins his second term. This is one of the key issues Reed addresses in "Politically Incorrect", a book that is timely in many regards even though it was written about a decade ago. Reed points out that the great social movements of the last few centuries had a strong religious dimension, and in many cases were spearheaded by persons motivated by their religious faith. Reed goes on to lay down a common sense prescription for some of the ills he sees in society, and effectively argues that the right to pursue these goals should not be denied to people simply because they are guided in part by religious faith. Some humour inserted somehow would have been welcome in Reed's work, but his book is otherwise a solid effort worthy of the reader's time.
Rated by buyers 
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An excellent resource for anyone of any faith becoming involved in the political process. Also handy for those interested in starting or enhancing their own grassroots political organization.
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