Part I: Replacing a failed philosophy. America the practical ; The fixation on correctness ; Back to basics : allocate scope of responsibility ; How correctness causes failure and alienation ; Forty years of marginal reforms ; Unworkable political ideologies

Part II: Four principles for practical government. Give responsibility to identifiable people ; Restore accountability to public culture ; Governing institutions must govern ; Revive the moral mandate ; Profile of a practical society ; Who has responsibility for change?

Appendix: Ten principles for a practical society.