Recommendation: Winning the Future by Newt Gingrich

What is conservatism? Am I a conservative? Why are there so many problems in America today? How can we fix those problems?

If you've never asked yourself any of these questions (or any variation of them), you need to. If you have, Newt Gingrich's Winning the Future is an absolute must-read book for you. According to Gingrich, America faces five grave threats today:

1. that Islamic terrorists and rogue dictatorships will obtain nuclear/biological weapons
2. that God will be driven from public life
3. that America will lose its patriotic sense of self
4. that America's economic supremacy will yield to China and India through failing schools (particularly in science and math)
5. that an aging America's demands on government programs will collapse the system

Conservative principles can overcome these threats, but entrenched political and media systems are standing in the way. Gingrich is one of the chief architects of the Contract With America that swept Republicans into power in 1994 based on the principles of fiscal responsibility, tax cuts, welfare reform, balanced budgets, stronger national defense, and increased innovation. It worked, in a big way.

Unfortunately, America (including the Republican party) has fallen away from those principles in the time since, especially in recent years. The purpose of Winning the Future is to detail a 21st Century Contract With America, returning to those same principles that brought such huge peace, prosperity, and progress to America in the mid-90s. Gingrich details many crucial topics, with loads of details, statistics, and evidence to back up his arguments, including:

- the ideological struggle with radical Islam
- Social Security
- the centrality of our Creator in defining America
- reigning in rampant judicial tyranny
- patriotic immigration
- patriotic stewardship
- health care
- balancing the budget
- energy independence
- healthy living
- making government work for Americans instead of against us

Gingrich begins with ruthless self-examination of America today, then applies history (I learned more about our national history from this book than from my high school education) and tight analysis to formulate real solutions that can -- if we have the will to insist upon them -- radically transform and improve life for every man, woman, and child in America.

Read it.