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Explorers Foundation ••• home page

Glyphs ••• list of fragments of Freeorder

Investments ••• a table of all investments

freeorder ••• the concept & vision

America 3.0 Institute: http://america3.org — devoted to the book, contains excellent comments and reviews

Glenn Reynolds, July 19, 2015: http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/210903/

Glenn Reynolds, USA Today, May 20, 2013 — this was the first review to be published

www.usatoday.com—2324597 "Future's so bright we have to wear shades"

Daniel Hannan, September 5, 2013, Telegraph, London

"Daniel Hannan is a writer and journalist, and has been Conservative MEP for South East England since 1999. He speaks French and Spanish and loves Europe, but believes that the European Union is making its constituent nations poorer, less democratic and less free."

A new way of thinking about America's future, July 19, 2015, Eva F. Kosinski, a ***** review on Amazon.com

Jon Bishop’s review of Yuval Levin’s The Great Debate, January 31, 2014

The last paragraph makes it evident why this qualifies as a review of America 3.0.

Curtis B. Greer, Amazon, October 9, 2013

An American compromise predicting real "Hope & Change", not scam "Hope & Change": I rated this book 5 stars because for an America being intensely divided by dysfunctional warring political ideologies the idea that our fundamental and unique American character will emerge from the morass is uplifting and inspiring. The author takes us back to the foundations of our culture and shows us what influenced us to be what we are today. He lays out the seeds of a future and extrapolates a possible result that takes advantage of the strengths of our unique society, our individuality and our diversity.

David Swindle, pjmedia.com, September 11, 2013 [added to this list Oct 6, 2013]

"The gradually intensified fever-pitch fear-mongering on the Right is both unnecessary and emotionally destructive. People get burnt out by staying in a constant state of crisis. Concrete solutions and practical ways to overcome America’s problems over the course of the next 30 years – not just thinking in four-year election cycles – are needed instead. And it turns out they’re now available.

Mike Lotus comments on David Swindle's review:

A remarkably interesting review, from a viewpoint not common. Swindle is worth reading. -leif

John Fonte, National Review, September 16, 2013

www.nationalreview.com—e-pluribus-bonum — America 3.0: Rebooting American Prosperity in the 21st Century — Why America’s Greatest Days Are Yet to Come, by James C. Bennett and Michael J. Lotus (Encounter, 264 pp., $25.99), and Native Americans: Patriotism, Exceptionalism, and the New American Identity, by James S. Robbins (Encounter, 250 pp., $23.99)

A nation of immigrants - but, asks Fonte, "assimilated to what?" — and, what difference does it make?

"In a long bibliographical essay, the authors of America 3.0 explain that their book is the product of ten years of research into the cultural foundation of America."

anthropological-historical analysis … work of French anthropologist Emmanuel Todd — significance of American type of nuclear family

racialist theories discredited: authors make it clear that 'when discussing “Saxon roots,” they are talking about culture, thoroughly distinct from race or ethnicity.'

'America 2.0 was “great in its day. But it is over.”'

Instapundit link to and brief comment on the Fonte review, September 22, 2013

David DesRosiers, Washington Times, September 11, 2013

David Ronfeldt, Two Theories blog, September 5, 2013

"America 3.0 illuminates significance of nuclear families"

Ronfeldt describes his research this way:

"How and why four major forms of organization — tribes, hierarchical institutions, markets, and networks (TIMN) — affect social evolution. How and why people's space-time-action orientations (STA) affect their mindsets."

Peter Saint-André, on David Ronfeldt's ideas

Arnold Kling, Library of Economics and Liberty, September 2, 2013

Tom Donelson, Texas GOP Vote, July 22, 2013

Michael Barone, Washington Examiner, July 2, 2013

T. Greer, Scholars-Stage, June 9, 2013

Interesting exchange, in the comments, between Mike Lotus, others, and T. Greer.

Amazon's link to all reviews of A3.0 on Amazon

Karl Gallagher, September 24, 2013; & response by Mike Lotus

A How To For the In-Progress Transition: America 3.0 is the book I've been waiting for. Bennett and Lotus take a hard look at the USA's current situation and propose a solid plan to get us out of the mess: the Big Haircut. In short, go through the whole list of the government's debts and programs and slash them down to something affordable, spreading the pain evenly. Defaulting on bonds, means-testing social security, reducing civil service pension, eliminating corporate subsidies and tariffs, ending tax deductions--do it all all. It'd take some brave politicians to push through but it beats the possibilities if we just let things continue until a collapse.

They describe America as going through an agricultural (1.0) phase, then reorganizing as an industrial (2.0) society with the traumas of the Civil War, union struggles, and the Great Depression. Now America 2.0 needs to transition to 3.0, hopefully much less painfully than the last transition. They start out with a detailed scenario of how a 3.0 nation might look. I suspect we're unlikely to come close to that, mostly because there'll be some unexpected event or technology that sends us in another direction, but I think I'd be a lot happier living in their vision than our current set-up.

They make lots of practical suggestions for implementing the transition. I have a mixed response to them. The suggestions to reform defense procurement are solid--then again, almost anything would be an improvement over what we've got now. I was amused to see that some of their suggestions for domestic defense boiled down to the kind of state guard organization I'm a member of. I'd be all for expanding that into widespread militia training.

Lexington Green (Lotus) responds: Thanks, Karl. We did not have time to elaborate on the state guard for domestic defense. It is a big subject that could really be a small book unto itself. We hope to say more in future writings. Agreed that the real 2040 will be lots different. Too much will happen between now and then that we cannot possibly know about. The idea is to focus on positive developments and cultivate them, clear away the obstacles, and have a vision of the future that is both hopeful and achievable. If we start having debates about which happy and exciting future we want to live in, that will be all to the good.

Tom Hopkins, September 15, 2013

The future, through our past: American exceptionalism is a much discussed topic of late, but rarely has the nature and origins of this exceptionalism been as thoroughly and approachably summarized. In charting where America is going, Bennett and Lotus dig into the distant historical sources of American cultural, political and economic institutions, to provide evidence for their optimistic predictions regarding where America will be com 2040.

Readers familiar with Bennett's earlier Anglosphere Challenge will find much of the source material familiar. David Hackett Fischer and Alan Macfarlane, whose works were a key part of that previous book, are still prominent here, although their use is much more focused on the American branch of the English-speaking family. Those not familiar with The Anglosphere Challenge will still get a proper summary of many of the core ideas that book puts forward, which should prove revelatory to the uninitiated.

A new and fairly substantial addition to the author's previous line of thinking is the addition of Emmanuel Todd's studies on Family structure, which adds a great deal to the overall argument put forward by the authors. The nature of the unique family structure of the Anglo-Saxons, and its subsequent propagation in the multi-ethnic settlement of North America, is perhaps the book's most interesting observation.

However, while historical analysis is heavily featured, the core of the book is forward looking. Moore's law, and the techno-optimism of thinkers like Ray Kurzweil, heavily influences the authors' thinking. What do the revolutionary technology of distributed manufacturing and the ubiquitous communication capability of the internet, tied to our cultural inheritance, mean for the future of America?

Structurally, the book begins with an optimistic summary of America, circa 2040. Following that is a summary of the origins of American culture, and a historical breakdown of the two previous versions of the titular America 3.0 conceit. Following this is a description of the logical policy implications of the previous observations. The book ends with a fantastic bibliography, citing not only references, but also an explanation of why each reference was used.

In summary, while this book may be interpreted as libertarian, it is not explicitly partisan. Those expecting a blame-game based on current politics will be disappointed. The focus is longer term, and fundamentally cultural. If the assumptions of the authors (an ancient cultural inheritance continuing into the future, and the emergence of disruptive technologies that give that culture a key advantage) hold true, than we are likely to see the bright future that they predict unfold.

MOC, September 14, 2013

A clear and inspiring vision a future for the US: Unlike Bennett and Lotus, most futurists become enamored with a few technological breakthroughs, and then predict how radically different the world might be over the succeeding decades. Most such work does not hold up well over time(although they are interesting to read). The truly great futurists, such as Orwell and Huxley, reflect upon how society might change, and how technology might enable or derail that change. 1984 is a reflection upon the growing power of government, the increasing surveillance they create, and their ever more effective use of propaganda. Readers of this review take note: Bennett and Lotus are not professional futurists, but neither were Orwell or Huxley. At some level, their observations about the US hearken to Tocqueville: history may regard them as similarly insightful. Not all visions of the future are dark: Bennett and Lotus possess a very typical and very powerful American optimism and confidence about its future. They are certain to be wrong on many points, both social and technological; but they have already been proven prescient in both of these domains as well. Will the US of 2040 be the one they envision? Almost certainly not, but they may well be closer to the mark than anyone else who has written about the subject.

Mark Frazier, August 15, 2013

A Lewis & Clark expedition into the coming decades: A little more than two centuries ago, Lewis and Clark returned from their journey to the Pacific with a vision and maps to help later explorers. Jim Bennett and Michael Lotus have performed a similar service by exploring the far shores of America's next era, and sharing brilliant - and practical - insights on our transit to the future. They show how an overlooked source of our values - a longstanding and nearly unique pattern in family relationships - explains much of our past success in navigating new territory, and equips us culturally in surprising ways for adapting to challenges and opportunities to come. In the coming decades, they argue, brushes with national bankruptcy and the transition of work life in a largely do-it-ourselves economy will usher out the era of America 2.0 and its machinery of reckless favor-giving. Yet Bennett and Lotus make clear that we have tangible prospects at hand, economically and politically, to make the transit in positive-sum ways. Americans in the year 2040 are likely to look at the authors with admiration and appreciation for this trailblazing work.

Richard F. Weyand, July 21, 2013

You know the trees, now learn about the forest: An important and insightful book. There are literally tens of thousands of books written about American history, the Industrial Revolution, the coming "Information Age", or geopolitics. These are all books written about trees: America 3.0 is written about the forest. Tracing the cultural heritage of America from Germanic tribes through to the present, and discussing how it adapted to the Industrial Age, allows the authors to project how that culture will adapt into the Information Age. Many of the facts in this book a reader of broad interests will already know, but he will not have previously read a book that so satisfyingly connects this prior knowledge together into a cohesive vision of where we are and how we got here, and what that means about where we are going. I think no such other book exists. The first 19 pages of the final chapter, "Defense and Foreign Policy", alone are worth the price of the book. Highest Recommendation.

Dan Kunze, July 12, 2013

Very thoughtful book: I had some time on a recent flight to France so I decided to knock down America 3.0. It was a pleasant and fast read. Before my review, full disclosure.

I am a friend of Mr. Lotus. I had the pleasure of meeting him several months ago here in Madison and we had lunch together. I showed him my farm property, as well as my business. I didn't really know it at the time, but I am sure Mr. Lotus was smiling a bit inside. As he toured my life a bit, I imagine that he saw a lot of America 3.0. Our friendship doesn't mean that I wouldn't pan the book if I thought is stunk, but I felt that this bit of information should be put out there.

Also, I am not an academic or professional writer, but just a guy who reads a lot of history, runs a business, and takes care of his family. I am sure that I read some parts of the book wrong, and my book reviews aren't the best. This review is likely too short and doesn't dive into the book too deeply - for two reasons. One is that I only have so much spare time, and the second is that I don't want to ruin the book for those who haven't read it yet. So here goes.

As I began to read the introduction I had to keep reminding myself that this is a book that is very large in scope. When I say that, I mean that the book talks about the big picture, and speaks in terms of decades, not one day. This was a recurring theme and I had to keep reminding myself of this. When I read something that I perhaps disagreed with, my reasons were usually very small in scope, and I had to remember that this is a book that is talking about cross generational change, not current headlines.

The book is well written for non historians, for the most part. Some of the parts (specifically the law section) were a bit dry for the average Joe, but in general, I think this book is accessible for most of the general population. This quote from the introduction gives a taste of what I mean:

"Note that the use of the word "Germanic" for these barbarian tribesmen is the accepted scholarly term. It should not be confused with the German speaking peoples of Europe. They went down a different cultural path from the English speaking peoples. Nor should the word "Germanic" be confused with any modern German political regime."

This simplicity in explaining what could be confusing terms for those who aren't familiar with them was, I thought, a nice touch in the book.

The basic premise of the book is that we have gone from a simple, agrarian based economy (America 1.0) to a massively industrial economy, with an overly intrusive, cumbersome and bureaucratic government (America 2.0) and that we are at a turning point right now, to America 3.0, which will feature a nimble economy enabled by sweeping changes in technology to allow Americans to be more productive wherever they are, whenever they want. The authors note that there was a lot of pain when the US moved from the America 1.0 model to the America 2.0 model and that there will be a lot of pain as we move to the 3.0 version. I believe that the authors underestimate the amount of pain just a bit.

One theme that runs through the book, and one that the authors use to base their optimism on is the American Nuclear Family. The only problem I see is that the family unit has broken down quite a bit, and is basically non existent in certain cities and strata of society. The book does take into account that certain parts of the country may be left behind in the transition from 2.0 to 3.0, but I believe if this happens that there might be actual physical pain involved. Not that we haven't gone through this sort of thing before, but I think the book doesn't delve deeply enough into what could happen, say, if Upper New York state divested itself of New York City, for instance. Then again, I need to keep reminding myself that this is a big picture book, and that events that look big at one time (does anyone remember the Boston Marathon bombing?) will just salt away into history as blips on the screen.

I work in wholesale distribution, and noticed that the book is very retail centric. This is, of course, to be expected, but is worth noting. I will give the authors a pass on this, as most people don't even understand what a wholesaler does, and it would take up valuable time in the book to try to have a deep conversation about how our complex economy works, and how America 3.0 would apply to so many different types of businesses.

I am glad that the authors believe that America will never repay its debts, and that a lot of people will be getting a haircut in this deal eventually (the authors called it "the Big Haircut").

The section on the English Inheritance, while interesting to me, might be a bit dry to the average, non history liking individual. I understand that this section is essential, but I had read a lot of it before in books like Albion's Seed (that the authors refer to) and other books on the subject.

The authors make their case very well in the book. The foreign policy stuff at the end didn't really interest me, but ymmv.

The book ended rather abruptly and went into the bibliographical essay. I would have liked to have seen a little ending chapter of at least a few pages to tie everything into a nice package.

Overall, I really liked the book, and my criticisms are pretty minor in the big picture. I hope that the authors are right, and that "America's greatest days are yet to come".

James McCormick, May 28, 2013

What's Next for America -- And Americans: Almost ten years ago, James Bennett wrote the The Anglosphere Challenge, outlining the deep social, legal, and historical ties of the English-speaking world. He proposed that the unique personal and inter-governmental relationships created across that world would keep certain countries out in front of global technological change, cultural "soft power", and economic development. The term "Anglosphere" has since entered common usage in political science and public commentary ... sometimes with scathing dismissal, but more often as a useful synonym for the common law countries that remain relentlessly influential on almost every aspect of global human life.

Now Bennett, and his co-author Mike Lotus, return with a timely deeper look at Anglosphere culture seen through the prism of American social and economic history. America was formed from an agricultural society with British culture traits (America 1.0 in Bennett & Lotus' parlance). It faced a dire economic crisis in the 19th and 20th century as it accommodated industrialization, urbanization, and the shrinkage of the independent farming population. Yet this crisis created an America 2.0 of urban/suburban life, of big business, big government, and big military. Somehow a nation of farmers had transformed themselves into something dramatically new, but with familiar patterns of individual and family behavior.

In 2013, a very rocky world economy (fraught with bubbles of all kinds) has got all of us worried about what comes next. For Bennett and Lotus, however, a new version of America (version 3.0) is already on its way. They predict a dramatic and substantial change in American culture, the domestic economy, and the way the country engages with the wider world. Bennett once wrote of the Anglosphere "challenge" in two senses: the challenges it faces AND the challenge it presents to the wider world. Now America 3.0 describes the domestic and foreign challenges America faces in its move from industrial giant to "what's next." Because of America's global influence, every other nation will be watching how Americans respond to the second great economic crisis of the nation's history. And will be adjusting accordingly.

Unlike many commentators, Bennett and Lotus are very optimistic about the America's ability to make the shift from one version to the next. They call upon history and sociology to identify the peculiarities of American culture that have been adopted by people from around the world who move to the US and become distinctively American. And they use that sociological insight to extrapolate how America might make its transition to version 3.0.

First they outline a positive scenario for America in the coming decades, contrasting it with a more dystopian outcome if the country can't adapt to new realities.

Then they trace the ancient (1500 year) roots of the Anglo-Saxon "absolute nuclear family" and show how it underlies the cranky independence and individualism that sets Americans (and much of the Anglosphere) apart from other world cultures.

Then they show how these personal and family traits first influenced the formation of America in the 18th century, and its adaptation to urban and industrial life in the 19th and 20th century.

Finally, a substantial portion of the book is dedicated to outlining the current economic and cultural challenges of America (both foreign and domestic) and how they can be resolved or ameliorated by engaging the core appetites for freedom that Americans have ... for independence in choosing a mate, a place to live, what to do with one's assets, and who to associate with (in work, civil society, and play).

Readers may well quibble with any individual policy prognostication by the authors (which can get a little wonkish) but America 3.0 offers an insight on the deep individual and family expectations in America that reach back many centuries. This seems like a more productive way to guesstimate how Americans, as a people, will respond to the challenges of America 3.0. This book will appeal to those thinking about a positive ways for America to move forward, while remaining recognizably "American." It also identifies the language and concepts that will resonate with citizens to encourage them to tackle the challenges of a new version of America.

zenpundit, May 26, 2013

The Next Big Conservative Book: I am confident that this deeply researched and deeply reasoned book is going to make a big political splash, especially in conservative circles. Every so often, a "political" book comes around that has the potential to be a "game changer" in public debate. Bennett and Lotus have not limited themselves to describing or diagnosing America's ills - instead, they present solutions in a historical framework that stresses the continuity and adaptive resilience of the American idea. If America"s "City on a Hill" today looks too much like post-industrial Detroit they point to the coming renewal; if the Hand of the State is heavy and it's Eye lately is dangerously creepy, they point to a reinvigorated private sector and robust civil society; if the future for the young looks bleak, Bennett and Lotus explain why this generation and the next will conquer the world. Bennett and Lotus bring to the table something Americans have not heard nearly enough from the Right - a positive vision of an American future that works for everyone and a strategy to make it happen.

Leif Smith, May 26, 2013

Well reasoned optimism about America: We can build something good on the virtues prized by Americans. How will we do it? Why will it be possible to do it? America 3.0 answers these questions with novel insights based on largely unknown research into the effects of family type on large social forms. It proposes a way forward in which realism and idealism strongly support each other. I run an organization that provided financial support for the writing of this book, and regard both authors as personal friends. Needless to say, then, I regard this book as important reading.

Peter Saint-André, May 25, 2013

Understanding America: This book is essential to understanding America. The authors go far beyond more superficial analyses of the things that make Americans different from other peoples around the world, even from our cultural cousins in England, Canada, Australia, and other parts of the Anglosphere. Building on co-author Jim Bennett's 2007 book The Anglosphere Challenge, Bennett and Lotus amass an impressive amount of evidence from history, anthropology, and allied disciplines to carefully explain where we've come from, where we are, and where we're going. Integrating those insights with current technological and societal trends, they look ahead of today's challenges to weave a deeply optimistic vision of the American future -- if only we have the foresight to transition to the next phase of our economic history (driven by pervasive entrepreneurship among the middle class), the courage to complete some necessary and reasonable political reforms (focused on more open and decentralized decision-making), and the confidence to accept and project our founding principles both nationally and internationally. Truly must reading for all Americans.

Human Nature vs. Libertarian Ideals | Cato Unbound, by Arnold Kling, Mar 12, 2014

Daniel Hannan

Daniel John Hannan (born 1 September 1971) is a British journalist, author and politician who is a Member of the European Parliament, representing South East England for the Conservative Party. (from Wikipedia "Daniel Hannan")

blogs.telegraph.co.uk—a-secular-miracle-set-the-english-speaking-peoples-apart (a video talk)

Kipling, "What Say the Redds at Runnymede," a poem commemorating the signing of Magna Carta, Runnymede, Surrey, June 15, 1215: Kipling Poem: What Say the Reeds at Runnymede?

Full text of Magna Carta: Magna Carta

"Daniel Hannan: Channeling America 3.0!" August 30, 2013 by Lexington Green

"The Anglosphere miracle," by Daniel Hannan, October 2013

An excerpt from the forthcoming Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking People Made the Modern World (Broadside) www.newcriterion.com—The-Anglosphere-miracle-7709 [thanks Mike Lotus]

Inventing Freedom, a new book by Daniel Hannan, November 2013:

Holland 3.0: Dutch King: Say Goodbye to Welfare State, Amsterdam, September 17, 2013 (AP)

Sounds like "Holland 3.0" — About the welfare state, the King said, 'In its place a "participation society" is emerging, in which people must take responsibility for their own future and create their own social and financial safety nets, with less help from the national government.' — I wonder if he's read Jim's and Mike's book? -leif

Encounter Books — the publisher's page for America 3.0

Anglospherists (Facebook) — Lotus and Bennett comment as "The Anglospherist"

Chicago Boyz — Mike Lotus blogs here as "Lexington Green"

America 3.0 | The Next Phase in American History — an older blog by the authors

Albion's Seedlings — interesting material from James Bennett and others, posted 2004-2007