CAN AMERICA SAVE ITSELF FROM DECLINE?
POLITICS, CULTURE, MORALITY

Volume II
2015-2021; 612 pages

by Carla Seaquist

“….an essayist in the great American tradition.”
— Seymour Hersh, investigative reporter

“Prescient and eloquent. Carla Seaquist is in top form.”
— Brian Baird, former member of Congress

FOREWARD

by Carla Seaquist

A ‘BREAKING BAD’ CULTURE GOT ITS PRESIDENT

IN A PLAGUE-TIME, WE NEED TRUTH AND EXPERTS

First in a series, Notes from a Plague-Time

“Carla Seaquist is an essayist in the great American tradition of plain talk, common sense, strong ethics, and an understanding that one cannot understand current politics, foreign policy or domestic travail without a deep knowledge of history. Her work is informed, readable and provocative, in the best sense—making the reader think in new ways.”
-Seymour M. Hersh, investigative reporter

“Prescient and eloquent. Carla Seaquist is in top form.” –Brian Baird, former member of Congress

CAN AMERICA SAVE ITSELF FROM DECLINE?
POLITICS, CULTURE, MORALITY

Volume I
2009-2015; 344 pages

by Carla Seaquist

“….an essayist in the great American tradition.”
— Seymour Hersh, investigative reporter

Table of Contents

  • Forewordx
  • Recovery Without a Reckoning1
  • Good Wars, Bad Wars, and Afghanistan6
  • Deep Breath, Democrats, Change Takes Time and Work9
  • Wall Street Paints a Target on Main Street’s Back14
  • The Hurt Locker: Hollywood’s Unsettling View of the Iraq War17
  • “Government Take-Over” of Healthcare? We Already Have a Corporate Take-Over21
  • Where is the Vatican’s Outrage about Child Molestation?23
  • A Mosque at Ground Zero: Desperately Seeking George Washington’s Wisdom28
  • How Democrats Can Harness the Public Anger (and Madness) for November33
  • Hope for Reversing America’s Decline: The Millennial Generation40
  • Is This a Culture That Wants to Save Itself?44
  • Define “Change”—or It’s Perpetual Pendulum for America47
  • For Wall Street: A Loyalty Oath—to Main Street50
  • Sputnik II: Relearn the Love of Learning—Now53
  • Violent Anti-Government Rhetoric Has a Target: Politicians58
  • The Dignity Revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt—and America?61
  • Fall of Spider-Man Director is Not “Stuff of Greek Drama”65
  • Republicans on Torture Post-Osama bin Laden: Defending Against Prosecution?67
  • The Mogul and the Maid: A Shift in Power71
  • Self-Criticism: A New Habit of Mind74
  • Fat Cat Pledge: “I Will Pay Higher Taxes”77
  • Critics and Other Cultural Gatekeepers: Mind the Gate!80
  • My Republican Mother Gives the Thumbs-Up to Occupy Wall Street82
  • Lost Airmen of Buchenwald: Lost Tale, Finally Told86
  • Wall Street: Brush Up Your Melville89
  • What Next, Occupy? Revise Gordon Gekko93
  • Why Can’t Art Be Instructive?96
  • Humor: There’s Funny—and There’s Symptom of Decline99
  • A War’s Premise Must Justify the Troops’ Suffering103
  • Wislawa Szymborska, Nobel Poet: An Appreciation106
  • Let’s Just Say It: As Opposition, the Republicans Are Not Loyal110
  • Not All of Us Were Mad Men113
  • In Clybourne Park, President Obama Would Be an Impossibility116
  • A Great Speech About Why America Isn’t Great Anymore (But Can Be Again)120
  • Needed: Eliot Ness, Bank Regulator123
  • Finally, the Democrats Learn How to Fight128
  • The Republicans’ No-Apology Tour133
  • Beware Theater in Politics136
  • Exceptional Nations Don’t Need to Bluster141
  • Crib Sheet for the Undecided Voter145
  • This Time, Democrats Need to Keep Control of the Narrative151
  • The Tragedy of Mitt Romney155
  • Notes on London Theater159
  • My Republican Mother Says Yes to Gun Control168
  • The Children Are Watching Us171
  • Matthew Crawley of Downton Abbey: Moral Hero175
  • Society Instructs Hollywood on “Moral Ambiguity” of Torture (or What the Zero Dark Thirty Controversy Means) 179
  • Memo to Mr. Scorsese: Women Are Heroes, Too 187
  • Get Thee to Geneva, Mr. Obama: Your Drone Strikes Make Targets of Us All194

***

Books for Our Times: Review Essays

  • The Unwinding, by George Packer201
  • Why Nations Fail, by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson206
  • Capital, by John Lanchester (a novel)212
  • This Town, by Mark Leibovich219

***

  • Obama’s Principled “Red Line” on Syria (Which, By the Way, Worked)225
  • Hatred: The Republicans’ Core Problem230
  • Dear Banks: “Giving Back” in Philanthropy is Fine, But Also Give Us Back a Financial System We Can Trust234
  • Book Review: The Italian-American Experience—Another Immigrant Story237
  • The Power of Moral Action and “Breaking Good”: Nelson Mandela and Pope Francis240
  • Memo to Robert Gates: Duty, Sir, Lies in Getting a War’s Premise Right244
  • Dear Boeing: Next Time, Try Benevolence247
  • Why President Obama Should Have Prosecuted the Bush Administration for War Crimes—and Still Can (By Other Means)254
  • Distinguishing Between Can and Should: What a Superpower Should Be Able to Do259
  • America Can Still Lead the World—with Coalitions Abroad and by
    Getting Our Own House in Order
    265
  • Soccer’s Teamwork: Something That Works (When So Much Doesn’t)270
  • Immigration Reform: Go Incrementally, Mr. Obama,and Go Before
    November
    273
  • A Critic, a Play, and Do-It-Yourself Abortion278
  • Democrats Are “Disgusted” with Politics? Boo Hoo281
  • Madam Secretary: A Reflection of “Deep” Washington286
  • Torture Report: America Conducts a Moral Reckoning. Next, Moral Repair?290
  • Free Speech vs. Responsible Speech: We Need to Talk, Again300
  • Behemoth in a Bathrobe: A Dialogue 307
  • End-Essay: Can America Save Itself from Decline?311
  •    I. The Question311
  •    II. America’s political suicide314
  •    III. America’s economic and financial suicide316
  •    IV. America’s cultural and moral suicide317
  •    V. Recovering our moral voice and compass322
  •    VI. “The moral obligation to be intelligent”326
  •    VII. Appealing to the conscientious public—again327
  •    VIII. Honoring America’s foundational ideals—and reversing our decline329

APPENDIX

  • “Risk Management, According to Moby-Dick335
  • My letter to the Editor of The (Tacoma) News Tribune342
  • My letter to the Editor of The Seattle Times343

FOREWARD

by Carla Seaquist

OPENING ESSAY

Recovery Without a Reckoning

END-ESSAY

Can America Save Itself From Decline?

AUTHOR BIO

Carla Seaquist is an author, commentator, and playwright. Since 9/11 she has focused on commentary, writing on politics, culture, and ethical-moral issues, first for The Christian Science Monitor and since 2009 for The Huffington Post. An earlier book of commentary is titled Manufacturing Hope: Post-9/11 Notes on Politics, Culture, Torture, and the American Character. She also published Two Plays of Life and Death, which includes Who Cares?: The Washington-Sarajevo Talks and Kate and Kafka.

Ms. Seaquist’s earlier career in civil rights culminated with the post of Equal Opportunity Officer for the City of San Diego and appointment to the Governor’s Task Force on Civil Rights. She majored in international relations in college (School of International Service, American University) and graduate school (School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University). Long a resident of Washington, D.C., she now lives in the “other” Washington (Gig Harbor), where she served on the board of Humanities Washington. Her husband Larry, a former Navy captain, served in the legislature as a state representative (Democrat) from 2006 to 2014, chairing for two terms the House committee on higher education.

“Carla Seaquist is an essayist in the great American tradition of plain talk, common sense, strong ethics, and an understanding that one cannot understand current politics, foreign policy or domestic travail without a deep knowledge of history. Her work is informed, readable and provocative, in the best sense—making the reader think in new ways.”
-Seymour M. Hersh, investigative reporter