The author is Ben Shapiro (2020).
I got turned onto this one because the author has a podcast that I enjoy very much. Up front, he is a conservative Republican, so his views follow a certain set of norms. Notwithstanding that, he is really sharp and logical in his explaining his positions.
This book is an overview of how the lefty lunatics, who he terms Disintegrationists, push ideas that deviate deeply from the founding principles of this country and undermine efforts to move the ball forward. He poses this argument by contrasting his views (which he describes as Unionism) on American philosophy, culture and history against the way such matters are portrayed by the other side.
His view is that this country was founded on the basis of individual rights that preexist the government, and that such rights should trump government power and pure majoritarianism. The Founding Fathers specifically strove to create a system where the government only had "powers enough to do what we would not mind it doing were the government controlled by those who disagree". In other words, that "governments are instituted to protect rights, not a majority's definition of the 'good'". Equality before the law might be the most succinct way to explain it.
On the other side, the Disintegrationists seem to believe that because there are disparities between people, which is of course nature, that equality before the law is actually unequal, and therefore prefer something that resembles equality of outcome. Disparities are at all times treated as a systemic problem and chalked up to discrimination -- the evidence of such discrimination simply being the existence of inequality of outcome. Natural rights do not exist, instead rights are simply what the government gives us. It leads to growing entitlements, at the expense of actual rights in the name of the "common good", and the loss of equality before the law. It means that free markets can be interfered with in the name of economic fairness, that free speech can be infringed upon because someone might be offended. It means that what is good and moral is entirely subjective and dictated by the whims of the majority at any time, a foundation that can lead to tyranny.
Shapiro is clear that America's is not without its tragedies and dark moments -- but the basic point is that the light outshines the dark, and the mistakes are overcome over time. Racism still exists, but it is a problem that becomes less pronounced and prevalent with every generation. Income inequality exists, but even the poor now are better off than they were a generation or two ago. To suggest that anything short of perfection is unacceptable is to deny progress. It also is to deny history and to suggest that the only answer is disintegration, which is not an answer at all.
