
A Return to Common Sense
How to Fix America Before We Really Blow It
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Narrated by:
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Leigh McGowan
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By:
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Leigh McGowan
About this listen
A political book for non-political people from viral TikTok sensation PoliticsGirl.
Something’s gone wrong in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. We can all feel it, but if we’re being honest, most of us don’t understand it. At the end of the day, we don’t have all the facts, and if you don’t know how something works, how do you fix it?
A Return to Common Sense is a concise, no-nonsense, dare we say fun, guide to how America works and a roadmap to reclaiming a government of, by, and for the people.
If we truly want to be a land of freedom and opportunity where everyone has a shot at a good life, we must acknowledge the ideals of America are in danger, but worth saving. We fought a revolutionary war for the idea of self-governance and pursuit of happiness—we can’t just give up on it now.
To address the crisis, Leigh McGowan offers Six American Principles. Six ideals, rooted in history, that we can all agree make America, America.
1. America is a land of freedom.
2. Everyone should have the opportunity to rise.
3. Every citizen should have a vote, and that vote should count.
4. Representatives should represent the people who elected them.
5. The law applies to all of us.
6. Government should be a force for good.
Using the Six Principles as guideposts, this book will lay out suggestions for America, to not only find its way out of the mess it’s currently in, but to set a course for a future of which we can all be truly proud.
It’s time to find the courage to step out of our comfort zones and off our team benches to reboot America. If we start here, we start strong.
We can fix this, but the way forward starts with understanding.
©2024 Leigh McGowan (P)2024 Simon & Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- By: Jamie Raskin
- Narrated by: Jamie Raskin
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In this searing memoir, Congressman Jamie Raskin tells the story of the forty-five days at the start of 2021 that permanently changed his life—and his family’s—as he confronted the painful loss of his son to suicide, lived through the violent insurrection in our nation’s Capitol, and led the impeachment effort to hold President Trump accountable for inciting the political violence.
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Must reading/listening for every American who has despaired of losing our democracy.
- By Shirley Anderson on 01-06-22
By: Jamie Raskin
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Fools on the Hill
- The Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theorists, and Dunces Who Burned Down the House
- By: Dana Milbank
- Narrated by: Dana Milbank
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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From inside the chamber, bestselling author Dana Milbank exposes the petty, inchoate, and dysfunctional state of the Republican House—a confederacy of dunces racing to the bottom, without shame and certainly without the ability to get anything done.
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If you weren't paying attention
- By Jesse Porter on 10-01-24
By: Dana Milbank
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Democracy Awakening
- Notes on the State of America
- By: Heather Cox Richardson
- Narrated by: Heather Cox Richardson
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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At a time when the very foundations of American democracy seem under threat, the lessons of the past offer a road map for navigating a moment of political crisis. In Democracy Awakening, acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson delves into the tumultuous journey of American democracy, tracing the roots of Donald Trump’s “authoritarian experiment” to the earliest days of the republic.
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We’d be in a much better position if everyone read this
- By Jeffrey Schwartz on 10-01-23
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American Reckoning
- Inside Trump’s Trial—and My Own
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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As one of a handful of journalists allowed in the courtroom, for 23 days Jonathan Alter sat just feet away from the most dangerous threat to democracy in American history, watching the spectacle of the century: the felony trial of Donald Trump. Highly publicized but untelevised and thus largely hidden from public view, this landmark trial offered hope of real justice amid a grueling eight-year national ordeal and foreshadowed the drama of the 2024 presidential election.
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Good book
- By jeffrey on 03-23-25
By: Jonathan Alter
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The Hidden History of the American Dream
- The Demise of the Middle Class—and How to Rescue Our Future
- By: Thom Hartmann
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 3 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The widening wealth gap is all too familiar to many Millennials and GenZers, especially when home ownership and the lack of debt seem like faraway fantasies. And it's no surprise when they only hold about 4.6% of the country's wealth while Boomers held 22% at around the same age. So what happened to the promise of the American Dream? In this entry of his celebrated Hidden History series, Thom Hartmann uncovers the rise of the American middle class through the progressive policies of FDR, through to its downfall with the increasing privatization and economic deregulations of the Reagan era.
By: Thom Hartmann
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Prequel
- An American Fight Against Fascism
- By: Rachel Maddow
- Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it.
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The fight to keep democracy alive
- By Rex on 10-19-23
By: Rachel Maddow
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War
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward tells the revelatory, behind-the-scenes story of three wars—Ukraine, the Middle East and the struggle for the American Presidency. War provides an unvarnished examination of the vice president as she tries to embrace the Biden legacy and policies while beginning to chart a path of her own as a presidential candidate.
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Draws Connections
- By Kyle on 10-18-24
By: Bob Woodward
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Surviving Autocracy
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In the run-up to the 2016 election, Masha Gessen stood out from other journalists for the ability to convey the ominous significance of Donald Trump's speech and behavior, unprecedented in a national candidate. Within 48 hours of Trump's victory, the essay "Autocracy: Rules for Survival" had gone viral, and Gessen's coverage of Trump's norm-smashing presidency became essential reading for a citizenry struggling to wrap their heads around the unimaginable.
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Good But . . .
- By A reviewer on 06-02-20
By: Masha Gessen
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Blowout
- Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth
- By: Rachel Maddow
- Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2010, the words “earthquake swarm” entered the lexicon in Oklahoma. That same year, a trove of Michael Jackson memorabilia—including his iconic crystal-encrusted white glove—was sold at auction for over $1 million to a guy who was, officially, just the lowly forestry minister of the tiny nation of Equatorial Guinea. And in 2014, Ukrainian revolutionaries raided the palace of their ousted president and found a zoo of peacocks, gilded toilets, and a floating restaurant modeled after a Spanish galleon.
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chilling...
- By Kindle Customer on 10-12-19
By: Rachel Maddow
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On Tyranny (Expanded Audio Edition)
- Updated with Twenty New Lessons from Russia's War on Ukraine
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In this exclusive audiobook edition, which includes eight hours of new content, Snyder combines the original essays from On Tyranny with twenty new lessons that answer the questions everyone is asking about this war. With forays into history, he clarifies the causes of the Russian invasion and the meaning of Ukrainian resistance, and explains the war's connections to threats to democracy here in the United States and around the world. Linking past and present, speaking only from notes, he guides the listener into the larger moral universe of On Tyranny.
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Best book of the decade
- By Chuck on 04-21-22
By: Timothy Snyder
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How the South Won the Civil War
- Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America
- By: Heather Cox Richardson
- Narrated by: Heather Cox Richardson
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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While the North prevailed in the Civil War, ending slavery and giving the country a "new birth of freedom," Heather Cox Richardson argues in this provocative work that democracy's blood-soaked victory was ephemeral. The system that had sustained the defeated South moved westward and there established a foothold. It was a natural fit. Settlers from the East had for decades been pushing into the West, where the seizure of Mexican lands at the end of the Mexican-American War and treatment of Native Americans cemented racial hierarchies....
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Disappointing book that wasted such potential.
- By Amazon Customer on 08-07-21
Politics is Our Business
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Leigh McGowen has accomplished her research and explained brilliantly how we need to return to common sense in politics.
The need for a review of what this country has fought for, a review of civic governance, and the passionate commitment to keep our democracy is palpable. To say I loved it would be an understatement. I certainly would take the time to read this again. I highly recommend this book. It is a message every American should hear and absorb.
Politics explained in a straightforward manner
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simplicity
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The chapter on the danger of our Supreme Court. Chilling.
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A Champion of Democracy
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The warning that faces us today.
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A Must Read for Anyone in the USA
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Very enlightening
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A Plan to save Democracy with Civics.
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Politics For Dummies
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