Pajiba's Cannonball Read X commences 1/1/18.
I'm in for my seventh Cannonball, after a two year hiatus, aiming to read, and review at least 13 books for CBR10. Twitter: @hauspa
As someone who has lived a good bit of her life in the Southern United States, I realized early on that I’m a bit of an outlier in my political leanings. Though I proudly claim to be a Democratic Socialist, I quite often get pushback from even my more progressive friends as to what that means. When I saw Answering Back by David Coates in my local used book store, I snatched it up, in hopes it would help me to be more clear about my views when political issues inevitably come up.
Coates is a Political Science professor at Wake Forest University, which is not exactly a bastion of liberal progressive ideology. Despite what Fox News might say, not all colleges are rife with communist and socialist ideologues, so I knew Coates would have good reason to frame the issues he discusses without malice and to present both the conservative and liberal perspectives with honesty. He does a great job.
Answering Back was published in 2009, just after Obama’s election, so Coates took eight topics on which the right and left generally disagree and presents the conservative viewpoint for each (using much more logic and truth than can usually be found from pundits and newsreaders) and counters with thoughtful arguments as to why the progressive stance is a better choice to pursue. There are chapters on healthcare (pre-ACA), foreign policy, immigration, social security, welfare reform and other contentious issues that often foment anger and ridicule between opposing political factions, or family members, as is often the case for me.
Though many things have changed in the ensuing years, Coates book does offer some good insight into conservative thinking and his arguments provide thoughtful, calm and reasonable answers to shoot back whenever required.