I, Citizen: A Blueprint for Reclaiming American Self-Governance

by Tony Woodlief

Overview

This is a story of hope, but also of peril. It began when our nation’s polarized political class started conscripting everyday citizens into its culture war. From their commanding heights in political parties, media, academia, and government, these partisans have attacked one another for years, but increasingly they’ve convinced everyday Americans to join the fray. 

Why should we feel such animosity toward our fellow citizens, our neighbors, even our own kin? Because we’ve fallen for the false narrative, eagerly promoted by pundits on the Left and the Right, that citizens who happen to vote Democrat or Republican are enthusiastic supporters of Team Blue or Team Red. Aside from a minority of party activists and partisans, however, most voters are simply trying to choose the lesser of two evils. 

The real threat to our union isn’t Red vs. Blue America, it’s the quiet collusion within our nation’s political class to take away that most American of freedoms: our right to self-governance. Even as partisans work overtime to divide Americans against one another, they’ve erected a system under which we ordinary citizens don’t have a voice in the decisions that affect our lives. From foreign wars to how local libraries are run, authority no longer resides with We the People, but amongst unaccountable officials. The political class has stolen our birthright and set us at one another’s throats. 

This is the story of how that happened and what we can do about it. America stands at a precipice, but there’s still time to reclaim authority over our lives and communities. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641772112
Publisher:	Encounter Books
Publication date:	12/07/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Tony Woodlief is executive vice president at State Policy Network, a nationwide community that cultivates and supports state-based organizations working on behalf of citizen freedom and self-determination. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Michigan, and is an award-winning columnist whose work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, American Conservative, and Governing magazine. He lives with his family in North Carolina. 

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Introduction 1

1 The Great American Con 11

2 The American Sphinx 21

3 American Partisans 35

4 The Pragmatic American 49

5 Scientists, Mad and Political 75

6 The Monster Comes to Life 91

7 The American Panopticon 105

8 Through a Glass Darkly 121

9 The Spoils of War 137

10 The Incredible Shrinking Legislature 147

11 The Imperial City 155

12 A Return to the United States 171

13 Recovering American Identity 185

14 A Manual for American Self-Governance 207

Acknowledgments 225

Notes 227

Bibliography 249

Index 267

Editorial Reviews

Tired of the idiotic Team Red vs. Team Blue spitball fight? Americans share more common ground than we are led to believe by a political class and a corporate media that would have us at each other's throats—and Tony Woodlief explains why localizing politics and loving thy neighbor can help heal our ailing country.” —Bill Kauffman, author of Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette

From the Publisher