Karl Albrecht
This book will shake up America’s national conversation as no other book ever has. With a guest introduction by esteemed journalist Major Garrett, best-selling author and strategic thinking expert Karl Albrecht takes a fresh new look at the American Republic-from the big-picture systems perspective. In this ground-breaking book, he offers a dramatically new perspective on the World’s Most Admired Republic. This book can help all Americans-and friends of America-who want to understand our Republic and its history, and who want to take their thinking beyond the everyday political fist fighting that dominates our national conversation these days. It can help young people especially, by offering them a more positive and thoughtful way of thinking about politics and the future of their country.Albrecht identifies the 10 essential components of a successful republic; reviews the fascinating historical events-and people-that have made our Republic a model for the world; and sets out a robust agenda for rethinking each of those major components for the future. He uses the metaphor of remodeling to tell the story. Just as you might need to remodel a beloved old house you’ve inherited, we need to update, rethink, and remodel many features of the Republic we’ve inherited if we hope to see it survive the difficult and dangerous times ahead. For example, he tackles head-on the difficult problem of taxation-how we can rethink our revenue system to make it more fair for everyone and still provide enough funds to operate the Republic. You may find his innovative solution surprising and intriguing (hint: we stop taxing people and start taxing transactions). He introduces us to the mind-stretching concept of 'the Commons'-the shared environment that the Republic must care for and manage intelligently. The Commons, as political philosophers define it, refers to the natural environment plus the 'built' environment-all of the infrastructure we humans have installed for our own benefit. Albrecht argues that corporations have a special role in the Republic, and should operate according to principles of shared benefit. He declares the necessity of making the Republic a shareholder, figuratively speaking, in every publicly held corporation. He explains the 200-year Corporate Exemption, which has allowed corporations to benefit from the resources of the Commons without paying anything for using them; and to profit at the expense of damage to the natural environment. He makes the case for a figurative license fee, paid by each corporation for its use of the Commons; and a dividend to the Republic as a silent shareholder. He fearlessly scrutinizes all 10 of the key components of our Republic as it exists today, and shows how to rethink many of our policies, practices, and traditions that no longer serve us well. Each of the 10 main chapters ends with a 'fix-it' list of specific changes to the laws, the Constitution, and the way government works. 3
