The author makes a couple of statements that have me positively kvelling:

"American progressivism has sometimes led to excesses.  Government bureucracies can sometimes get bloated and take shape in ways that don't work well.  People who think they can remake the world anew in their idealism sometimes do make mistakes."

Wow!  I mean, WOW!  Isn't that a great reality-based statement to make?  I love it!  Would we hear any of the modern-day conservative authors be this self-reflective?  If you know of one let me know, because that'll be the next author I read.

Or how about this?

"Just as religion founded on the ideas of a man who believed in the Golden Rule and Matthew 25:31-46 can be corrupted or twisted by conservatives hundreds or thousands of years later on, so, too can the original idea of America created by Paine and Jefferson be corrupted and twisted.  But their actual words, just like those of Jesus and other religious prophets who preached love and compassion, keep coming back, unfiltered to new generations and inspire them to keep fight for progress."

Swoon!

I'm pretty naive about this sort of stuff, but I certainly welcome Lux's way of putting it all out there.  He goes back to the Declaration of Independance and frames the progressives' role in forming and influencing this country up to the present day.

I'm always interested in why people say what they say and believe what they belive and this book is a boone in understanding many of the progressive ideas and ideals that still inform the movement, even today.

So what are YOU reading..?