Paul Nevins
- Location
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Birthday
- October 29
- Bio
- Paul Nevins is the author of a timely and controversial new book. Entitled "The Politics of Selfishness: How John Locke’s Legacy Is Paralyzing America "(Greenwood /Praeger/ABC-CLIO), the book examines American culture from the perspective of political theory. The questions asked include: Are the political and legal systems of this country on the verge of implosion? Why can’t self-regulation of the market economy work? Why are American labor unions and employees virtually powerless to effect change in the workplace? Why has economic inequality continued to grow and poverty become intractable in the United States? Why do lobbyists and special interests now exercise disproportionate influence over public policy? Why is America’s public education system dysfunctional and why does it fail to educate our citizens in contrast to Western Europe? Why is lawlessness so pervasive in this country?
The "Politics of Selfishness" directly addresses a number of the questions which dominate contemporary American politics. The book attempts to provide answers based upon a coherent perspective which is admittedly outside the paradigm of what passes for conventional political discourse in this culture. The book examines the reasons for the inability of the political system of the United States to address, in any meaningful way, the problems which underlie the questions asked, despite the evidence of widespread suffering, disillusionment and anxiety among the American populace. Nevins’ book also predicts, based upon the existing evidence which is examined, that, if left uncorrected, things are likely to get even worse.
The author explores a theme which runs throughout American history, politics, economics and law. The central thesis of this important and unconventional work is that the United States has begun to experience a number of profound, interrelated problems that are caused, both directly and indirectly, by the country's dogmatic and often unconscious adherence, collectively as a political culture and individually as Americans, to the political philosophy of John Locke. That ideology, which is the bedrock upon which the American liberal democracy has been founded, asserts that human beings are by nature solitary, aggrandizing individuals. Hence, preoccupation with the self in all of its manifestations and attributes - as opposed to the whole, the public interest - has become the primary focus by which political, economic and societal decisions are made. Consequently, the preferred form of social and political relationships with others, including the state as the organized expression of political society, is solely contractual and is designed primarily to protect private property in all of its forms.
"The Politics of Selfishness" provides compelling historic and contemporary evidence that U.S. institutions, at all levels, are failing because of the country's uncritical embrace of the anti-social individualism which is John Locke’s legacy. A
Paul L. Nevins of Boston has been a trial attorney in private practice since 1982. His areas of concentration include public and private sector employment law and litigation, related civil rights and constitutional law claims, business disputes, and related tort and contract claims. He is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar, Federal District Court for Massachusetts and First Circuit Court of Appeals bars . Mr. Nevins is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the American Association for Justice and the National Employment Lawyers Association ( NELA ). He is also member of the American Bar Association, and serves on its national advisory committee.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Paul Nevins taught History and English in the Boston Public Schools 2. He also taught the "National Street Law" project, and a moral development curriculum which he created based upon his work with Dr. Lawrence Kohlberg. In addition, he served as a consultant to the Education Development Center. While teaching, Mr. Nevins served as a member of the Executive Board of the Boston Teachers Union, Local 66, AFT/AFL-CIO, as the first chairman of its desegregation committee, and he was a delegate to the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers. Mr. Nevins is a former member of the Executive Board of the Citywide Education Coalition, where he served as chairman of its personnel and grievance committee.
Paul Nevins served as a conscript in the United States Army from 1968 to 1970 as a personnel specialist and as a German language translator-interpreter. In 1969, he was a founder and first chairman of GIs for Peace at Fort Bliss, Texas. This was the first organization of active duty soldiers who publicly opposed the Vietnam War.
Nevins earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Suffolk University. He received a Master's Degree in Politics from New York University, with a concentration in Political Philosophy and Methodology of the Social Sciences. He wrote his Master's Thesis on the politics of T.H. Green. He later graduated from Suffolk University Law School and received a Juris Doctor Degree.
Mr. Nevins resides in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. He is married to Virginia E. ( Davis ) Nevins. They have two daughters, and a grandson and granddaughter. Attorney Nevins is a member of the Dean's Advisory Committee for the College of Arts and Sciences at Suffolk University, and the Alumni Board of Directors for the College of Arts and Sciences.
MY RECENT POSTS
- What If Obama Were
Small-Minded As Oklahoma's
Senators?
May 22, 2013 03:12PM - Suicides Climb While Friedman
Recycles Social Darwinism
May 06, 2013 12:28PM - Is Senator Cornyn Aiding And
Abetting Terrorism?
April 21, 2013 04:28PM - Will The Terror In Boston
Challenge Our Open Society?
April 16, 2013 08:22PM - Shouldn’t Teachers Help
Children Learn To Reason?
April 15, 2013 09:20AM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “Tom Cordle, you are
quite right that Hobbes and
Adam Smith
both spoke of the
Comm…”
May 24, 2013 05:54PM - “Gordon Osmond, President
Obama's political vision may
be much
too timid for my
po…”
May 23, 2013 11:11AM - “Jack Heart, I don't
understand your rancor. I
juxtaposed the
comments of the
pope…”
May 07, 2013 11:28AM - “skypixeo, I don't
understand your comments. We
know from
studies in the
sociology…”
April 22, 2013 10:25AM - “Thank you, AJ . I assure
you that neither I, nor my
family,
nor my neighbors,
nor…”
April 21, 2013 06:20PM
Paul Nevins's Links
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
In the aftermath of the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma on Tuesday afternoon, President Obama immediately signed a disaster… Read full post »
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
In a recent news story in The New York Times, (“Suic… Read full post »
Is Senator Cornyn Aiding And Abetting Terrorism?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
This past Wednesday, the United States Senate r… Read full post »
cross-posted at politics of selfishness.com
On a nearly perfect spring afternoon in Boston, the city… Read full post »
Shouldn’t Teachers Help Children Learn To Reason?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
Most Americans are at least vaguely familiar with the data that shows that, at almost every level, school children in the Uni… Read full post »
An Easter Message
updated and reprinted from a 2011 posting
For Christians throughout the Christian world, Easter is the apex of the liturgical calendar. In the iconography of the Christi… Read full post »
Will Austerity Prolong U.S. Economic Misery?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
Radio commentator and writer Thom Hartmann, among other progressives, has correctly observed on a number of occasions that there is no evidence whatsoever that austerity measures… Read full post »
Pope Francis and Congressman Ryan
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
From all accounts, Pope Francis is a humble man. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he is the son of Italian immig… Read full post »
Ronald Reagan’s Policies Are Still Killing Americans
cross-posted at politics of selfishness.com
A study released on March 3, 2013 by the journal Health Affairs reported a decline in life expectancy for women in about 43 percent of th… Read full post »
The Death Throes of a Movement or a Cuture?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
The Boston Globe reported this past Saturday that Maine Gov… Read full post »
How Do Our Values Define Us?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
As a people, Americans like to think of ourselves as pragmatic, h… Read full post »
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
During the 112th Congress, which was in existence between January 3, 2011 and January 3, 2013, the U.S. Senate, in the face of threatened Repub… Read full post »
The War Against Americans
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
According the Congressional Research Service and military histori… Read full post »
Will Evil Be Allowed To Triumph?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
The senseless slaughter of twenty small children in Newtown, Connecticut and six adults is not the first ac… Read full post »
Congress Votes To Purge Lunatics
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
Filibusters Only Promote Gridlock
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
In so very many respects, from separation of powers a… Read full post »
Hoarders or Sharers?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
Mitt… Read full post »
The Myth of Romney's Bipartisanship
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
Throughout this presidential campaign, Mitt Romney has claimed that if he is elected President, he will re… Read full post »
Is FEMA a Stalking Horse for Socialism?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath illustrate, far better than any political debates or television advertise… Read full post »
How Will GOP Victories Help White Guys?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
Current polling survey data indicates that the… Read full post »
Shall We Corporatize Public Education Too?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
From its earliest beginnings in a 1647, when the Massachusetts General Court required every town in the colony with a population of more than… Read full post »
Will Austerity Hasten Revolution?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
Today’s edition of The New York Times chronicles the turmoil and misery that has been precipitated by continuing turmoil in the… Read full post »
Is Islam at War with Modernity?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness
Those who write the narratives usually control a culture’s coll… Read full post »
The Lessons of 9/11
Cross-posted at politics of selfishness.com
Yesterday, we commemorated the tragic events… Read full post »
Thomas Aquinas, John Locke and Paul Ryan?
cross-posted at politicsofselfishness.com
Until recently, Congressman Paul Ryan repeatedly expressed his admiration and enthusiasm for the writings of Ayn Rand and he is reliably reported to have required that all… Read full post »
Salon.com