An intellectual history of American conservativism since the New Deal.
The New Deal fundamentally changed the institutions of American constitutional government and, in turn, the relationship of Americans to their government. Johnathan O'Neill's Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism since the New Deal examines how various types of conservative thinkers responded to this significant turning point in the second half of the twentieth century.
O'Neill identifies four fundamental transformations engendered by the New Deal: the rise of the administrative state, the erosion of federalism, the ascendance of the modern presidency, and the development of modern judicial review. He then considers how various schools of conservative thought (traditionalists, neoconservatives, libertarians, Straussians) responded to these major changes in American politics and culture. Conservatives frequently argued among themselves, and their responses to the New Deal ranged from adaptation to condemnation to political mobilization.
Ultimately, the New Deal pulled American governance and society permanently leftward. Although some of the New Deal's liberal gains have been eroded, a true conservative counterrevolution was never, O'Neill argues, a realistic possibility. He concludes with a plea for conservative thinkers to seriously reconsider the role of Congress―a body that is relatively ignored by conservative intellectuals in favor of the courts and the presidency―in America's constitutional order. Conservative Thought and American Constitutionalism since the New Deal explores the scope and significance of conservative constitutional analysis amid the broader field of American political thought.
Author(s): Martenson, Chris;
Edition: Revised Edition
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc;
Year: 2023
Language: English
Commentary: Approach to Facing the Future of Our Economy, Energy, and Environment
Pages: 355
Tags: Approach to Facing the Future of Our Economy, Energy, and Environment
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I How to Approach the Next Twenty Years
Chapter 1 The Coming Storm
Chapter 2 The Lens
Chapter 3 A World Worth Inheriting
Chapter 4 Trust Yourself
Conflicts of Interest
You Are the Ultimate Truth-Teller
Instincts Can Save You
Head and Heart
Part II Foundation
Chapter 5 Dangerous Exponentials
More on the Concept of Exponential Growth
Speeding Up
Making It Real
Surrounded by Exponentials
The Rule of 70
Your Exponential World
Chapter 6 Problems versus Predicaments
Chapter 7 An Inconvenient Lie
Chapter 8 Complex Systems
Systems—Open versus Closed
Economists—Closed Minds
Our Complex World
Chapter 9 Our Money System
Full Faith and Credit
How Hyperinflation Happens
Money Creation
A Quick Anecdote on People’s Understanding of Money
Back to Our Story
The Fed
Two Kinds of Money—One Exponential System
The Trouble with Future Claims on Wealth
Chapter 10 What Is Wealth?
The Hierarchy of Wealth
Money and Wealth
The Nature of Wealth
Part III Economy
Chapter 11 Debt
What Is Debt?
Levels of Debt
Debt Distorts GDP
Good Debt and Bad Debt
The Crisis Explained in One Table
The History of Debt
This Time Is Different
Too Much Debt
Debt’s Massive Assumption
How It Unfolds
Chapter 12 The Great Credit Bubble
What Is a Bubble?
Bubble History
Bubble Characteristics
A Bubble 50 Years in the Making
Withering Heights
Chapter 13 Like a Moth to Flame
The Moths
The Flame
Quantitative Easing
The Central Bank’s Reign of Error
Chapter 14 Fuzzy Numbers
Administrative Bias
Inflation
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
And All the Rest
Chapter 15 Crumbling Before Our Eyes
The Story of . . . Concrete?
Summing It Up
Part IV Energy
Chapter 16 Energy and the Economy
The Master Resource
Energy Budgeting
Net Energy
The Economy and Energy
We Live Like Gods
Chapter 17 Peak Oil
Petro-Realities
Bombshell! Saudi Arabia Fesses Up to Peak Oil
It’s Not “Running Out”
Find First, Then Pump
A Global Peak?
Oil and GDP
The Oil Production Output Gap
Peak Exports
The Ugly Power of Reverse Compounding
Chapter 18 Shale Oil
Shale Oil—Amazing Technology, but Expensive Oil
Shale Oil—Game Changer or Retirement Party?
Fledged on a Cliff
International Shale
Chapter 19 Necessary but Insufficient
Simple Math
The European Energy Disaster of 2022
The Reality—Time, Scale, Cost, Limits
The Nuclear Option
The Coal Story
The Alternatives—Solar and Wind
Biofuels
Natural Gas
Hydrogen
Conclusion
Chapter 20 Why Technology Can’t Fix This
Fact 1: Technology Does Not Create Energy
Fact 2: Transforming Energy Is Expensive
Fact 3: Energy Transitions Take Time
Why Technology Can’t Fix This
Part V Environment
Chapter 21 Minerals
Quantity and Quality (Again)
Economic Growth and Minerals
The End of an Era
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Gone with the Wind
Chapter 22 Soil
Do We Heat or Do We Eat?
The Important Difference Between Soil and Dirt
Exporting Nutrients
The High (Energy) Cost of Low-Cost Fertilizers
Soil Erosion and Desertification
Conclusion
Chapter 23 Parched
Running Dry
What Lies Beneath
Exporting Water—The Food Story
The Food Bubble
Energy and Water
The Future of Water
Chapter 24 All Fished Out
The Oxygen You Breathe
The Great Thiamine (B1) Mystery
The Bottom Line
Chapter 25 What Do You Mean We’re Running Out of Sand?
Part VI Convergence
Chapter 26 Where Have All the Insects Gone?
Chapter 27 The Bumpy Path to 2030
The Foundation
The Economy
Energy
The Environment
“Unsustainable”
Convergence: The Timeline
This Time Is Different
Part VII What Should I Do?
Chapter 28 The Good News
Technology
Food
Energy
Economy and Money
Population
A New Narrative
The Good News . . .
Chapter 29 Closing the Book on Growth
Chapter 30 What Should I Do?
Simpler, Harder, and More Expensive
Becoming Resilient
Re·sil·ience
The Bare Minimum
Where to Live
Insufficient, but Necessary
Set Targets
Being in Service
Step 0
The Importance of Community
What’s the First Thing I Should Do?
Chapter 31 Build Up Your Capital!
Home
Cry Once
Health
Nature Connection
Mastering Stress
The Spiritual Side
Wealth
The Great Wealth Transfer
The Scarcity Mindset
Protecting Your Monetary Wealth
Build Your Knowledge and Skills
Use Time Wisely
Community Capital
Local Culture Matters
Finding a Culture That Serves You
Conclusion
Appendix
Notes
Index
EULA
