Reimagining Our American Republic: A Commonsense Vision for Uncommon Times

by Peter W. Frey

Are you concerned about the current political polarization and serious economic and social uncertainty in the United States today? 

Peter Frey’s powerful, fresh, and fair-minded book, Reimagining Our American Republic: A Commonsense Vision for Uncommon Times, provides solid reasons for hope and a clear direction forward.

After educating readers on the background of the issues affecting America today and examining political problems passed down from previous generations, Frey offers detailed, thoughtful proposals—both practical and provocative—on how we can alter the way we govern ourselves and restructure our government in areas from education and voting rights to healthcare and defense—all while staying true to the intentions of the Founding Fathers.

Frey’s book is a call to action to the growing number of Americans—including young people—who are ready to understand and face the critical complexities of the present-day situation and take action to move our country beyond them. 

Frey presents straightforward and optimistic proof that there are judicious solutions at hand. The book will energize readers, encourage discussion, and inspire anyone who is eager for new ideas, honest change, and making a positive impact on our country during these historic times. 

As Frey asks in the book, “If not now, when?”

Frey is a published author, research scientist, and professor emeritus at Northwestern University.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Ebooks

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 5, 2019

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

A book that disguises its lack of thought and knowledge with pseudo academic language while simply parroting the New York Times opinion page.

It's quite telling what some people call common sense. Mr. Frey thinks common sense is simply doing what is convenient for the democrat party today. This certainly reveals the Frey is completely ignorant of the Republican Party, political independents, and those who belong to the minor parties.

Democrats might enjoy this, but it is certainly not a primer for national unity or anything like it.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a goodreads giveaway.

Author Peter Frey has examined the current dysfunctional situation in the American political system and presented a well-reasoned approach to correcting many of the issues preventing progress on such important issues as taxes, the economy, entitlement programs such as Social Security, and the voting system. He does not discuss incremental changes that simply amend the current system. Rather, he advocates a complete overhaul of how we govern our society. Some of his suggestions would be considered extreme by many people; others would be opposed by the established political parties because it would limit their ability to retain control. However, all of them are thought-provoking and well reasoned. It would be possible to agree with some but not others, but implementing even a few of his ideas would bring about enormous change for the better.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is concerned about the current state of affairs in American politics and interested in finding remedies for the various issues confronting us today.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book as part of GoodReads' First Reads program.

This book is a discussion of the many things that are wrong with America at this time, as well as practical discussions on how to fix the problems. Some of the problems include the Electoral College, the lopsided representation caused by small states like Wyoming having the same number of senators as large states like California, the misrepresentation caused by gerrymandering, problems with the Supreme Court and others. I tend to agree with most of what the author says and his solutions. However, many who are more conservative will not agree at all, and probably won't even read this book. That's a shame, because we really need to stop with the tribalism in this country and have honest, open discussions on all the things that are wrong and what can be done to remedy them.

[Gail]

I knew I wasn't reading Thomas More, so it wasn't a satire, but still....I found myself arguing throughout the book, so maybe that's a good thing except I didn't get a response! While Frey's ideas may sound good, he seems to forget Big Government looming over all. For example, his idea of employers and employees paying into a fund from the time they begin work to be held by the government from which the individual will draw after retirement (replacing social security) totally ignores the infamous "lock box" of the social security program. Overall, my reaction as I was reading was that it read very much like a research paper.

[Cristie Underwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the author had some great ideas on how to improve our Country, I found some of his opinions to be unrealistic. It was an interesting read and one that can spark conversation on how we can begin to move forward as a Country.

[Thereadingbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-imagining Our American Republic: A Commonsense Vision for Uncommon Times by Peter W. Frey

Peter Frey made some good points to ideas that can be implemented though they will not be easy to do it is still feasible. I think common sense has went out of the window and people are just ingrained into stagnate ideas. Now more than ever everything is polarized into extremes on both sides politically. I do believe both have valid opinions to some extent but extremism just isn't going to solve anything all it will do is cause people to do irrational things. What is more concerning to me is the religious aspect of the extreme that religion should determine our fate. Our for fathers wanted a separation of church and state and now we blurred the lines to the point that they are intersecting into one. This is causing further separation and the likely hood of any solid changes to happen is just not there at this time.

I still have hope though it is waning that the young people of today will use the power they wield to force the changes we need. I am an opponent of money out of politics and term limits. No politician should be there forever two terms for senators and maybe four terms for house members. Funding for campaigns should be done by tax dollars and everyone getting equal money across the board for campaigns.

I feel like we have been here before in history where the money movers are making all the decisions and the we the people are just pawns in there influence. The misinformation of information itself is a major issue if people would really listen and sit down to ideas then they would have more agreement then disagreement. Whenever I have talks with people who do not politically see it the way I do I always start with the many things we both agree on and then I point to that most things we don't is literally a sliver of things and those are the things that should be fought in compromise giving each sides ideas to solve a problem to get a bill that is middle of the road.

I enjoyed the book and hope at least some ideas are going to move forward in the future but with the turmoil that is in our politics today I just don't see it. I think people from both sides of the isle should read the book think about the ideas in the book and build upon them to generate ideas that will work for the majority not the minority.

Thanks to Netgalley and Greenleaf Book Group for a free copy of this book for an honest review. The opinions expressed are my own.

[Christine Polli · Rating 4 out of 5]

**I received this book from the goodreads Giveaways**

It took me a while to get to this book, so apologies to the author for a delayed review!

As I read this book, I looked up the author to see what there was about him. I was curious to his political affiliation, but there was no information available. I'm imagining many people would say he is a Democrat and/or liberal. I wanted to read this with a balanced mind set. I honestly could not tell what his affiliation is and that worked for me in this book.

I thought this book was incredible. Peter Frey addresses several issues that are in desperate need of attention. I appreciated that he starts the book with a brief history of the Constitution and what the Founding Fathers intended. He gave a clear, reasoned summary which leads to some of his suggestions for solving the issues we have today.

Each chapter is a different subject or area of need: voting laws, economics, defense, taxes, partisanship, clean energy, healthcare etc. In each chapter, Frey gives a synopsis of the current situation then provides practical solutions.

I was astounded at some of the statistics included in this book. We need so many changes in our Government! I thought Frey's solutions were well thought out and practical. Some would seem easy to accomplish; others will take a great deal of cooperation from different branches of government. I only disagreed with some of his ideas in genetics. But I think he presents a good place to start talking and exploring ideas. Lawmakers need to read this book.

[Zachary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book through a giveaway. I tried to read it then, but couldn't do it. I recently decided to push through it. After a few chapters and skimming through the rest of the material I determined it was not worth my time. Many of my issues with the book fall under these categories:
-Book largely relies on secondary rather than primary sources. Some of those are reputable books, but there are also a lot of footnotes pointing to Wikipedia. Many other assertions are made with no backing
-I assume Dr. Frey is intelligent, however, he clearly has had no legal training and has not put in sufficient effort in his research to compensate for his lack of training. Because of this, his legal conclusions are often wildly off base. (This isn't just a matter of differing opinions, justices ranging from Scalia to Ginsburg would not agree with most of his legal analysis, whether or not they agree with him as a policy matter.)
-Primarily due to the faulty research, Frey comes to conclusions and provides solutions that fail to align with reality.
I will say, the book makes some valid points and identifies some significant issues that America would be wise to address, but not enough to redeem this book.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book touches on the author's ideas on how to solve issues from gerrymandering to taxes to education to welfare, health care and more. It could be retitled “The World According to Peter”! I’d say most of his recommendations are on the liberal democrat end of the spectrum but not all of them. It's also a bit simplistic (which makes it very readable) but I think the author's ideas are great fodder that hopefully will lead to necessary and engaging public dialogue. I can’t wait for the release of this book so I can read more reviews and critiques on his recommended policies. This would make a great book club read for those who want to discuss real topics effecting the future of our democratic capitalistic nation.

As an aside, I appreciated the mini-history recap at the beginning of the book that quickly explained the genesis of our government and some of the policies discussed in each chapter. I haven’t had a civic’s lesson in many, many years.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an early release in exchange for an honest review.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wealth of possibilities

Per FTC rules, I received a free copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaway program.

This book contains a significant number of changes that could be made to the governing process of this nation that would enable a greater civic participation and lessen the apathy of the voting populace. There are also some ideas that may be a bit too novel for the current citizenry, but merited or not, they deserve consideration. It is in all respects a commonsense approach to the problems of our republic, though certainly many may not see it that way. Still we should grapple with these ideas and concern ourselves with creating a better nation within whose structures we are capable of adapting to a wider world.

[Kelly Knapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I heartily disagree with Fray's findings and his reimagining, he writing was easy to follow and interesting. However, I did not agree with several of his premises, most notably that of doing away with the electoral college, as the smaller states still have needs that conflict greatly with larger states and that of his interpretation of the founders intention behind the 2nd amendment. Still, some of his ideas have merit and a great debate could benefit our knowledge of the role government can have to better our country.

[Argum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won a free copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads.

Overall good comprehensive plan touching on many key areas of reform, but some areas are presented without much logic or defense. Definite slant to many of the ideas presented making the lack of supporting arguments more problematic. Still many of the proposed solutions do hold some interesting promise minimally as conversation starters. Writing style has nice flow without devolving to conversational.

[Kath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks, Goodreads!

It is important as a civilian of the United States to exercise our right to vote and be well-informed on the issues. This book allowed one to think about the various issues going on in the US.

This book reinforced the idea of keeping an open mind and keeping up to date with various topics.

[Mary O’Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be a great in-depth look at some of our republic's strengths and problems. Kudos to Mr. Frey for thinking outside the box for some of the fixes. Highly recommended in these challenging times.

[Vincent Schaefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway

Excellent read. The author offers clear suggestions to today's pressing issues. I thought it was well researched and detailed. Highly recommended

[Catherine O'Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoughtful look at out times and challenges. Frey offers some unique solutions. Recommended reading!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unique read

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not perfect but this author has some very good ideas on how to fix our country