Assault on reason

At the time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 per cent of Americans believed Saddam Hussein was linked to 9/11

Voters in Ohio, when asked by pollsters to list what stuck in their minds about the campaign, most frequently named two Bush television ads that played on fears of terrorism.

We live in an age when the thirty-second television spot is the most powerful force shaping the US electorate's thinking, and America is currently in the hands of an administration less interested than any previous government in sharing the truth with the citizenry. Related to this, and of even greater concern, is the administration's lack of interest in the process by which the truth is ascertained - including open inquiry, in which unexpected and even inconvenient facts can lead to unexpected conclusions.

How did the US get here? And how much damage has been done to the functioning of American democracy and its roles as steward of its own national security and guardian of the wider world?

Drawing on a life's experience in politics as well as on the work of experts across a broad range of disciplines, former US Vice President Al Gore, author of An Inconvenient Truth, has written a farsighted and powerful manifesto for clear thinking about the vital role of reason in a healthy democracy.