Well maybe you should take a moment and just read half of her book and come back with your thoughts. Even I as I was reading started to have questions and found myself looking up every citation. The easy stance is to be skeptical when your inherent belief is something doesn't exist.
My thoughts are that (for example):
1. As individuals, we should all have equal opportunities, independent of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and all the other things that are not one's choice/fault.
2. We should all be judged on INDIVIDUAL merit, and little to nothing else, wherever possible (i.e. if current tests are not good enough, develop better ones, instead of replacing tests with subjective political measures). Technocracy, not cronyism. The son should not be punished for the sins of his father, neither rewarded for his achievements.
3. Positive discrimination of a group is the same as negative discrimination of everybody else, and it should be rarely and selectively employed, with very good reason (e.g. to civilize a certain group, and bring it in line with society), not for political purposes.
4. An eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind.
5. All young people should have good opportunities (e.g. all schools are good, all children have food and shelter, the smartest and most hard-working get to go to college regardless of their background etc.). A developed country should make sure that all of its children have a chance to fulfill their true potential. even if it takes putting some children in boarding schools (for economic reasons, the same way we centralize certain blood tests).
6. Once childhood opportunities are taken care of, most adults should be on their own, based on their own merits. No nanny state. Equality of opportunities, not equality of outcomes (the latter is just a form of communism).
7. We shouldn't do onto others what we don't want done unto us (e.g. abolish filibuster, or discriminate, even positively), because tomorrow the roles may reverse.
8. The US has been great historically due to its melting pot, its Western European and Protestant heritage and (meritocratic) values. Take the melting pot away, and you'll get a conflicted country, with few things in common among citizens, possibly not even language and culture. Just look at the chasm between left and right already.
9. Like almost all countries, Americans have persecuted various minorities, overwhelmingly in the past. Historical facts should be taught in an unemotional and unbiased fashion, to avoid repeating the same mistakes. We should focus on the future, not obsess about the past (or present).
10. America is a crony nepotistic society, especially at the top, where group identity matters a lot (e.g. people shamelessly ask virtual strangers where they are from - and not their specialty board scores). At the same time, it's one of the most welcoming to foreigners who can blend in, work hard, keep their heads down, and eat crap with a smile.
11. One can't beat millions of years of Evolution. Humans act a lot based on instincts and incentives, and the best incentive is to have "skin in the game".
12. The strongest human motivator is envy.
13. The countries with the most scientifically-educated citizenry (think STEM, not social "sciences" or other forms of religion or politics) will go the farthest.
Some of these are principles and values that won't be changed, regardless how much brainwash I'm put through, either from the left or right. Others are the result of decades of life experience, hence resistant to change (i.e. one can't teach an old dog new tricks).
policeviolencereport.org
