120 pages
5 X 7 1/2
978-0-8061-3944-9
$14.95 Cloth
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A Letter to America boldly faces the question of how long the United States, with
only six percent of the world’s population, can remain a global superpower. University
of Oklahoma president David Boren explains with unsparing clarity why the country
is at a crossroads and why decisive action is urgently needed. He draws on his experiences
as the longest-serving chair of the U.S. Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence
and as a state governor and leader of a major public university.
America is in trouble because its people are losing faith in the country’s future.
What the country needs, Boren asserts, are major reforms to restore the ability
of our political system to act responsibly. We have shared values, and we should
use them to replace cynicism with hope and the determination to build a better future.
Bipartisan cooperation on behalf of national interests needs to replace destructive
partisanship, and we should not rule out electing a president independent of both
existing parties. We must fashion a post–Cold War foreign policy that fits twenty-first-century
realities—including several contending superpowers. We must adopt campaign finance
reform that restores political power to the voters, rather than special interests.
Universal health care coverage, budget deficit reduction, affordable higher education,
and a more progressive tax structure will strengthen the middle class.
Boren also describes how we can renew our emphasis on quality primary and secondary
education, revitalize our spirit of community, and promote volunteerism. He urges
the teaching of more American history and government, for without educated citizens
our system cannot function and our rights will not be preserved. Unless we understand
how we became great, we will not remain great. The plan Boren puts forward is ambitious
and hopeful. It challenges Americans to look into the future, decide what we want
to be and where we want to go, and then implement the policies and actions we need
to take us there. A Rhodes Scholar, David Boren is President of the University of
Oklahoma. A former governor of Oklahoma, he served as U.S. Senator from Oklahoma
from 1979 to 1994 and chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1987
to 1993.
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