<p>“We’re not in a society driven by problem-solvers anymore. The country is run by special interest groups and politicians who just want money and power.” Glen Beck</p>
<p>If this statement is correct how would you suggest students prepare for their future. What colleges would help them survive in this world?</p>
<p>I’d suggest reading as many biographies as you can. Managing change (or changing priorities, if you prefer) is basic to living.</p>
<p>Not exactly related to your question, but Glenn Beck’s latest book, “An Inconvenient Book” is very, very good. It finally presents logical arguments supported by facts to disprove people like Al Gore and it approaches all sorts of issues (income gap, radical muslims, oil dependency).</p>
<p>“An Inconvenient Book” is indeed, great. Liberal mindsets do tend toward the special interest groups, imo.</p>
<p>Preparation: know what you want to do with your life and take the necessary steps to achieve that goal, do not have children until you are married, stay away from drugs, own guns.</p>
<p>How ridiculous. Again, there’s the implication that there was once some golden age when people didn’t pursue interests but just got things done. </p>
<p>Politics is always about the pursuit of interest. </p>
<p>It is also always about pursuing one’s particular view of what problems should be solved and how. Not surprisingly, people disagree about what is best.</p>
<p>James Madison wrote about it in arguing that the Constitution, which had not yet been adopted, did the best job of creating lots of small interests which would compete against each other so that no single group would dominate over a long period of time. </p>
<p>There have always been competing interests. That’s imbedded in human nature and the different views and objectives people have. Madison said that, too.</p>
<p>It’s out of the clash of interests that alliances are formed when people are ready to make trade-offs and, yes, compromises, to get things done.</p>
<p>Colleges prepare today’s students just as they always have: with the skills of analytical thinking, writing, judgment, technical abilities. The rest is up to graduates to bring their energy and effort to bear on pursuing their own work and their own view of the common good.</p>
<p>The thesis is wrong. It might apply to a few hundred elected officials, but it sure doesn’t match any company I’ve ever worked for.</p>
<p>Hint: the country is not “run” by politicians, it’s run by all of us making decisions and living our lives.</p>
<p>momfromme - I am interested in reading more about Madison’s thoughts, is that in a biography somewhere? Would be a great AP US History essay prompt lol!</p>
<p>The classic Madisonian statements are from some of his arguments on behalf of ratifying the Constitution. Madison, Hamilton and Jay wrote a series of papers in a NY newspaper under the pen name Publius. These can be found in many bookstores in a volume titled “The Federalist Papers” and they are also on-line lots of places, including [The</a> Avalon Project : The Federalist Papers](<a href=“http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed.htm]The”>http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed.htm) Federalist paper 10 lays out the argument for the importance of having many factions (interest groups) that can counter each other, and also explains how faction is part of politics and human nature. Federalist 51 argues that the checks and balances system takes advantage of the reality that people will seek power and “sets ambition against ambition,” leaving no part of the government too powerful.</p>
<p>These papers are discussed in pretty much any college American Government course, but I would hope they are also addressed in high school American history or government or civics classes. They can be picked through and read and understood by high school or college students, but because of their archaic language, they are most certainly not an easy read.</p>
<p>Two good books on Madison are “The Business of May Next: James Madison and the Founding” by William Miller and “The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the Federal Republic” by Lance Banning.</p>
<p>The most important point to keep in mind is that the founders, the authors of the Constitution, expected people to pursue their interests and values - and to view their own particular interests as akin to the common good – and built a system predicated on the push and pull of different points of view.</p>