Book Review: What Works - Common Sense Solutions for a Stronger America

Political books are a dime a dozen. They mostly follow a familiar pattern. If written by a liberal then everything a conservative stands for is bad. If a conservative is writing the book then they use the book as an opportunity to rail against liberals. Too often politicians are focused on scoring political points and preserving power rather than finding solutions to problems.

What sets syndicated columnist Cal Thomas' latest book What Works: Common Sense Solutions for a Stronger America is that it provides exactly what the title promises: common sense solutions that seek to solve America's problems rather than score points for a particular political party or viewpoint.

What's missing from our political discourse is an agreement among our leaders to work together to seek solutions that work and that can be supported by a broad public consensus. Ironically, many of the solutions to our most pressing problems are things that in the past we have tried and used successfully. A brief look back at our nation's history (which Thomas helpfully provides) shows that some of the solutions have already been created. We only need the courage to actually try them again.

The other most compelling message of the book is that our solutions do not necessarily need to come from Washington, D. C. In fact, many solutions can be found in the vibrant laboratories of state government. By embracing innovation at the local level we can find a way to solve our most pressing problems.

Regardless of your political point of view you are likely to find much to agree with in What Works. I highly encourage you to read it and see that the solutions that we seek to our everyday problems are right in front of us - if we only have the courage to break out of our tired political ruts and look for ways to improve the common good.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”