Overview

Aligning Values and Politics argues that empowering individuals for self-actualization is an indispensable tool for attaining freedom; therefore, politics must align with the promotion of self-actualization. Private property rights have in the past helped people to develop skills, but such rights were abused. Once these rights are combined with an ethics of responsibility, the book opens the doors to a nonpartisan analysis of income inequality, inheritance, race relations, abortion and governance. The book argues that the American government is engaged in producing ""bread and circuses,"" inducing people into living vicariously. Using the ideas of Immanuel Kant, the authors claim that we can return to a civil society that values independence rather than entitlements.

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Gendre and Sanchez challenge American citizens to rise up to better versions of themselves, individually and collectively, by questioning the pursuit of mere happiness and pleasure and striving instead for self-actualization built upon Kantian ethical principles. Rejecting the tired dichotomies and slogans of Left and Right, Republican and Democrat, and Us against Them, Gendre and Sanchez challenge readers to reconsider their assumptions, political and economic loyalties, and self-awareness in the light of historical lessons and moral principles. If you are looking for a book that you will agree with across the board, you should pass by on the other side. If, instead, you seek to be challenged and stretched in your thinking about economics, politics, and the purposes and limits of government, this book is for you. -- Charles Anderton, co-author of Principles of Conflict Economics: A Primer for Social Scientists The authors explain how President Kennedy's simple injunction 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country' has been turned on its head-by both major political parties. Worse yet, an inverted and perverted injunction has become the ethical norm in our public school system, especially for the most talented children in it. In a short, readable book, the authors spell out the ethical values that they believe will help a new generation of Americans create a more gratifying sense of purpose for themselves and their educational institutions. This compelling book could be the basis for the teaching of Philosophy to an increasingly content-empty high school curriculum, elevating the kind of thinking needed to preserve and build up from what is left of our civic culture. -- Dr. Sandra Stotsky, professor emerita, University of Arkansas Oftentimes philosophers operate with little knowledge of economics and economists ignore ethical arguments. Gendre and Sanchez are to be commended for their efforts to overcome that bifurcation. Their use of Immanuel Kant as a moral framework for understanding and critiquing modern American society leads to a wide range of interesting insights and provocative policy recommendations. -- P.J. Hill, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Wheaton College

Oftentimes philosophers operate with little knowledge of economics and economists ignore ethical arguments. Gendre and Sanchez are to be commended for their efforts to overcome that bifurcation. Their use of Immanuel Kant as a moral framework for understanding and critiquing modern American society leads to a wide range of interesting insights and provocative policy recommendations.--P.J. Hill, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Wheaton College

Author Information

Michael Gendre has taught philosophy and ethics in colleges in and near Boston, as well as abroad. He sees Kant and Aristotle as compatible theorists for an ethics of responsibility. Nicolas Sanchez is past Chairman of the Economics Department at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA. His expertise is in the field of property rights and institutional analysis.

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