One woman's quest to understand the roots of America's social contract ... and how to fix it.

Every systemic problem in the U.S. I've ever reported on comes back to the imbalance between individual success and the common good. In my opinion, it’s the fatal flaw in America’s social contract. I've been digging into the roots and consequences of that very American flaw for years and it’s what I’ll be exploring in this newsletter.

Well actually, it’s what I’ll be researching for who knows how long and every week-ish, I’ll share what I learn. Things you can expect to see here: random thoughts about The Enlightenment and the impact it had on the formation of America and American identity, how that all intersects with the construction of race and gender, how it all flows into climate change and other social issues. I’ll also be looking at how the idea of a social contract evolved in other countries.

Some weeks I’ll read books by well-respected rightwing thinkers to get a handle on the conservative and libertarian views of the social contract, others I’ll read socialist and Marxist thinkers on the subject. We’re gonna do the reading together, and maybe we’ll learn something about how we got here and where we might go next.

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