Rediscovering America’s Soul with Mark Gerzon

Program Description

Mark Gerzon invites you to join a campaign–not Republican, Democratic or Independent– but American. Describing the different ideologies contending for the soul of America today, Gerzon provides a useful guide for leading us back to the principles upon which this country was founded. “Instead of pledging allegiance to the United States,” Gerzon says we are “pledging allegiance” to whatever political party or special interest group we belong to. We forget that “democracy begins at the moment we meet people who don’t think like us,” and is not just about having our say, but about listening well to other’s truth and finding a common ground upon which we can all stand. Gerzon advocates spiritually based political activism–stepping outside our own egos to realize that our truth is only part of the whole truth.

The author of A House Divided, Six Belief Systems Struggling for America’s Soul (Tarcher Putnam 1996), Gerzon gives reasons to feel hopeful about America’s future, and the tools to co-create the kind of America we all aspire towards.

Topics Explored in this Dialogue:

• How the media affects your ability to trust
• Six belief systems struggling for supremacy in America today and how they impact you
• Recognizing that you are a minority
• The value of listening (especially to your adversaries)
• How you can participate in the new patriotism
• Beginning your own search for common ground
• Spiritually based political activism
• The positive and negative qualities inherent in every belief system
• How cynicism has become a treasured American value
• The fallacy of expecting the “government to handle it”

Program Number: 2599                 Host: Michael Toms                   Interview Date: 9/28/1996