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A review by cjeanne99
The Grouchy Historian: An Old-Time Lefty Defends Our Constitution Against Right-Wing Hypocrites and Nutjobs by Ed Weinberger, Ed Asner
funny
informative
fast-paced
4.0
Ed Asner - aka Lou Grant to many - is feed up with ultra-right conservatives who hold up the constitution as if it is their constitution - bending the words to their own purposes. Asner tells us about the constitution by going back to the days of the Framers - putting things in context of the times - and making some salient points. At times snarky, at times a little too simplistic for me - still enjoyed the book. Plus - you get a copy of the Constitution in the Appendix.
Asner ends with these words:
It’s time now to redeem the America the Founders wanted for us:
• A government that rules by reason, tempered with compassion and advanced by science;
• That guarantees free speech in the public square;
• That respects and grants liberties to all;
• That drives big money from politics;
• That separates church and state;
• That promotes sane and civil discourse;
•That protects the most vulnerable of its citizens;
• That ensures a society of the “haves” and the “haves”;
• That its elected officials share a civic virtue, disinterested in their own advancements;
• Whose criminal justice system is more “justice” than “criminal.”
It’s time for a new age of Enlightenment. And speaking of Enlightenment—let me quote once again from Thomas Jefferson: The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government. A curtain line if I ever heard one.
Well done Lou.
Asner ends with these words:
It’s time now to redeem the America the Founders wanted for us:
• A government that rules by reason, tempered with compassion and advanced by science;
• That guarantees free speech in the public square;
• That respects and grants liberties to all;
• That drives big money from politics;
• That separates church and state;
• That promotes sane and civil discourse;
•That protects the most vulnerable of its citizens;
• That ensures a society of the “haves” and the “haves”;
• That its elected officials share a civic virtue, disinterested in their own advancements;
• Whose criminal justice system is more “justice” than “criminal.”
It’s time for a new age of Enlightenment. And speaking of Enlightenment—let me quote once again from Thomas Jefferson: The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government. A curtain line if I ever heard one.
Well done Lou.