Rights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political Discourse
Mary Ann Glendon
Free Press, July 1993
CG Advisory Board member Mary Ann Glendon explains that by focusing on an ever-expanding catalogue of rights, America's political discourse neglects a discussion of duties and responsibilities and most importantly, civic life--envisioned as central by the Founding Fathers.
Synopsis (from Amazon.com):
Argues that the strident language of rights that has been on the rise since World War II has stifled genuine debate, negotiation, and compromise and ultimately threatens the same liberties it seeks to protect.
Reviews:
"No one has explained more clearly why the infatuation with individual rights, in our 'law-saturated society,' prevents a searching public discussion of issues urgently in need of resolution. Mary Ann Glendon's analysis of the limits of legalism is all th more compelling because it is measured and level-headed. I don't see how any fair-minded reader can resist her conclusions." --Christopher Lasch, Author of The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Its Politics
"Of the many recent challenges to rights-based thinking, Mary Ann Glendon's book stands out for its clarity, its moderation, its appreciation of the good things that rights do, its sense of history, its compassion, and its use of comparative materials." --Cass Sunstein, The New Republic
". . .an excellent post-cold war book...[it] makes a very important contribution to the effort to find an idiom to speak of a simultaneous concern for both freedom and solidarity that Americans can begin to understand." --David Hollenback, Commonweal
"Rights Talk will be of great value to all who are frustrated by the narrow and self-centered modes of political speech in the United States. Mary Ann Glendon's familiarity with foreign legal systems gives her an unparalleled breadth of vision which expands and illuminates the possibilities for authentic communication between people today." --Justice Richard Neely, Author of How Courts Govern America
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