The Centrist Manifesto

Charles Wheelan

Apr 2013 · W. W. Norton & Company

About this ebook

A vision—and detailed road map to power—for a new party that will champion America’s rational center. From debt ceiling standoffs to single-digit Congress approval ratings, America’s political system has never been more polarized—or paralyzed—than it is today. As best-selling author and public policy expert Charles Wheelan writes, now is the time for a pragmatic Centrist party that will identify and embrace the best Democratic and Republican ideals, moving us forward on the most urgent issues for our nation.

Wheelan—who not only lectures on public policy but practices it as well (he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2009)—brings even more than his usual wit and clarity of vision to The Centrist Manifesto. He outlines a realistic ground game that could net at least five Centrist senators from New England, the Midwest, and elsewhere. With the power to deny a red or blue Senate majority, committed Centrists could take the first step toward giving voice and power to America’s largest, and most rational, voting bloc: the center.

Ratings and reviews

This book is actually about 15 pages long. The rest of the pages are the author repeating himself. Never gets detailed or specific. Not sure what the author was trying to accomplish. It just describes non commitment, vaugeries and generalized sloganeering.

America needed this manifesto. Mark my words, if we pull it off this book will be as widely read as Paine's Common Sense for decades or even centuries to come.

Repetitive but reasonable political approach argued for here, though not as easy of a feat as the author blithly admits.

About the author

Charles Wheelan is the author of the best-selling Naked Statistics and Naked Economics and is a former correspondent for the Economist. He teaches public policy at Dartmouth College and lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, with his family.