Book Description
“Politics is stuck,” writes Bill Bradley, in this insightful, informative, and provocative book about America at a crossroads, but “idealism isn’t dead. It can be reawakened.”
What will it take to make America a better, stronger, truer country? asks the bestselling author, former Knicks star, and onetime presidential candidate. Bill Bradley believes that America is at a teachable moment when we are compelled to reevaluate our political system, our leadership, our agenda as a nation, and ourselves as citizens. With clarity and urgency, Bradley shows why the story we are being told now about who we are as a people is not true. He then offers a new story about our nation, based on America’s rich heritage and his belief in the character of the American people. Bradley explores what changes need to be made in our parties, in our politics, and in citizen activism to ensure America’s future. He asserts that the American people are ready for the truth and suggests that the party that chooses to embrace this new story will be in power for a generation.
Writing from his own experience in politics and drawing on his knowledge of history, Bradley shows how the Republican Party has built a solid pyramid structure since the 1970s, at the base of which are money, ideas, and media, whereas the Democratic Party’s structure is an inverted pyramid, with too much emphasis put on the need for a charismatic leader to hold the pyramid up. Each party, for different reasons, fails to deal with the real issues that now confront America.
This informed and inspiring call to action is addressed not only to the parties and elected leaders, but to citizens as well. Bradley proposes things every American can do to shape our nation’s future. He points out that if eighty percent of the electorate voted, instead of fifty percent, it would be the most important change in American politics since women got the vote. Now more than ever, he says, we need to embrace an “ethic of connectedness,” a combination of
collective action and individual responsibility, to solve our nation’s most pressing
problems, and he argues that the fate of all countries is bound together as never before. Writing today with the freedom of a private citizen, Bradley provides this transformative and eye-opening book about the danger and the promise of America’s choice at this crucial moment in the nation’s history.
Customer Reviews:
A "HOW-TO" for citizenship and political leadership.......2007-09-29
Why should you read this?
- If you care about our democracy and want to help make it strong again
- If you want to understand the big domestic challenges we face today
- If you want thoughtful proposals to addresses those challenges
- If you want to better the understand the Democratic and Republican parties; what makes them function, what makes them DYSFUNCTIONAL
- If you want to hear an insider's take on what makes our democracy tick, what makes it great, and what threatens its survival
This is a terrific book. If I had the money, I'd buy one for every member of Congress.
I listened to this book unabridged on audio, narrated by Michael Prichard. He does a good job capturing Bill Bradley's dignity, but to my ear doesn't quite capture his enthusiasm and passion for good government.
excellent.......2007-08-28
bradley is a truly brilliant man. the book is filled with hundreds of good ideas. hopefully he will stay involved in politics. the problem is that the people who need to read this book will not. our government is controlled by big business and greedy men with their own agendas. how soon is that going to change? i highly reccomend this book.
Call to Greatness.......2007-08-20
You'd swear Bill Bradley was running for office or dashing down court for a breakaway three-pointer. This one-time presidential contender and New York Knicks superstar writes with the energy and urgency of a man on a mission.
Read his book, The New American Story, and you'll be tempted to join him. Bradley has issued a powerful call to action--one that promises to rescue our nation from political infighting and restore America's leadership role in the world.
His is not a story of military might and moral superiority; it is the story of our nation's founding principles, written by the men and women whose active engagement at pivotal points in history assured the country lived up to its highest ideals.
We have a choice before us that could transcend our current state of affairs, says Bradley. A choice that puts country over political party, the common good over the distracting issues that divide us.
One of our nation's most admired leaders--Abraham Lincoln--knew a thing or two about bringing a divided nation together. When he was president, Lincoln would often sneak out of the White House on Wednesday nights to hear sermons of a well-known preacher at the New York Presbyterian Church. One night, an aide asked Lincoln what he had thought of the sermon. "The content was excellent. The minister had a strong voice and a good delivery," said Lincoln, pausing. "But he forgot the most important part. He didn't ask us to do something great."
Bill Bradley is asking us to do something great.
"The answers to our problems rest in our hearts as well as in our heads," Bradley says in the introduction to his book, "and until we understand that, we'll make marginal improvements, but we won't make the quantum leaps that our Founders made and hoped we would continue."
I am drawn to stories of ordinary Americans who overcame obstacles to achieve great things. Freedom fighters on the Underground Railroad. Journalists who exposed unethical business practices at the turn of the 20th century. The immigrants who built our transcontinental railroad. A country lawyer who became a United States Supreme Court Justice, America's chief prosecutor of Nazi War criminals, and the founder of international law. These are the stories I want people around the world to know about when they think of America and its unique contributions to the world. That's why my husband and I make historical documentaries for a living.
Bill Bradley's book had me from hello, or at least from the moment I read the book jacket blurbs written by David McCullough, David Halberstam, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Robert A. Caro, all Pulitzer Prize winners. Because I love history, and because I believe in the strength of our nation's collective character, I kept on reading.
There is no question the bold policies outlined in Bill Bradley's book will be hotly debated in the coming weeks. He takes both political parties to task, taking aim at the current administration's policies with the finesse of a seasoned athlete and senator. And while I don't agree with every single one of Bradley's strategies on health care, education, environment, tax reform, and national defense, if this American story is to have a happy ending, I, like all other Americans, will have to look for common ground, and make sacrifices for the greater good.
Bill Bradley has faith that, given the right information--the true American story--we will do the right thing.
Current state of affairs for the middle class .......2007-08-07
I confess I have read many other books on the current status quo and state of politics in our country before reading this book. If you have too, this may be a bit repetitive as most issues have been discussed before. What I do like about Bill Bradley's book is it is not simply a laundry list of complaints. He offers at the end of each chapter (designated to each issue) some thought out solutions. This is a good book for eye-opening for our major issues - health care, education, energy... and would recommend it to readers who want to learn more about the who, what and why our social issues are being ignored by government. I also recommend "War on the Middle Class" by Lou Dobbs or "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class -- And What We Can Do About It" by Thom Hartmann. I enjoyed reading those a little more.
Long-winded and Confusing Story.......2007-07-29
I'll confess right up front that I haven't finished the book yet, and I'll update this review when I do. I'm still slogging through lengthy, wandering passages that fail to make any points. I keep waiting for any kind of "here's a solution" or "here's what we should do" sentence, but I have yet to find one. He spends a lot of pages in the first 25% of the book telling the reader about the "story" that he says we're being told -- by whom? On every issue he seems to pick the most extreme right-wing position as representative of this "story" rather than the positions that the majority of Republicans and conservatives hold. And thus far all he's offered for his "new story" is idealistic pie-in-the-sky notions with no plan to get there. I trust that he gets there in the second half of the book.
Just one example of the poor writing and editing: In the section titled "Inequality" in chapter on The Economy, he goes on for quite a while about financial inequality, then about globalization and technological change, finally claiming that you can no longer get ahead by working hard. He then admits that that there is no way around benefiting the wealthy if you want to encourage investment. And then this sentence:
"But there is no excuse for failing to conduct rigorous oversight of and increase resources to education ... which in the long run will result in ... greater equality."
Okay, he tied it back into equality, but how did he suddenly switch from tax cuts and investing and unions to education in the middle of the same paragraph? Where did this out-of-the-blue accusation come from that someone isn't overseeing and funding education? I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with that accusation, just pointing out that it's completely out of place in any kind of logical or narrative flow.
And so goes this story so far. I'll keep at it and hope the writing and presentation of ideas tightens up. Maybe his publisher paid him by the word...
Book Description
The long-awaited final volume of Chalmers Johnson’s bestselling
Blowback trilogy confronts the overreaching of the American empire and the threat it poses to the republic
In his prophetic book Blowback, Chalmers Johnson linked the CIA’s clandestine activities abroad to disaster at home. In The Sorrows of Empire, he explored the ways in which the growth of American militarism and the garrisoning of the planet have jeopardized our stability. Now, in Nemesis, he shows how imperial overstretch is undermining the republic itself, both economically and politically.
Delving into new areas—from plans to militarize outer space to Constitution-breaking presidential activities at home and the devastating corruption of a toothless Congress—Nemesis offers a striking description of the trap into which the dreams of America’s leaders have taken us. Drawing comparisons to empires past, Johnson explores in vivid detail just what the unintended consequences of our dependence on a permanent war economy are likely to be. What does it mean when a nation’s main intelligence organization becomes the president’s secret army? Or when the globe’s sole “hyperpower,” no longer capable of paying for the vaulting ambitions of its leaders, becomes the greatest hyper-debtor of all times?
In his stunning conclusion, Johnson suggests that financial bankruptcy could herald the breakdown of constitutional government in America—a crisis that may ultimately prove to be the only path to a renewed nation.
Customer Reviews:
Nemesis, by Chalmers Johnson.......2007-10-17
This is a wonderful and insightful look at our country's foreign and military policy. It is factual and well written. It is a "probably too late" wake-up call that we are creating our own downfall both fiscally and politically on the international stage. This is the kind of information and insights that the mainstream media should be presenting, but is not. I recommend this book to everyone.
We have met the enemy and they is us.......2007-10-15
If "Lawless World" by Phillippe Sands was disturbing (see my review) then "Nemesis" is frightening. If Chalmers Johnson has a proven record for political prophecy, then in this instance I hope he is wrong.
In excruciating detail, Johnson reveals the mistakes and hubris of half a century of leadership that has led us to where we are today, a messy war, a trillion dollar national debt, and a crumbling internal infrastructure, sacrificed to an increasingly expensive empire of military bases all over the world, our "outposts" of empire.
In his book, Johnson demonstrates his contention that by interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign states, undermining democratically elected governments that were "not to our liking" and engaging in covert operations often with disasterous results to the countries involved, we often left chaos and discord as well as poverty in our wake. More often, we established a permanent presence in the form of a military base. Why do they hate us?
The question is why wouldn't they. Johnson quotes Harry Browne: "When America is no longer a threat to the world, the world will no longer threaten us."
Johnson makes a good case for the egregious behavior of the current administration being an almost inevitable result of a series of incompetent administrations, abuse of executive power, and concomitant international and domestic crises and events, many of them provoked by us via the CIA. The CIA has become the "president's private army". This has resulted in what Johnson calls the "imperial presidency".
Imperialism (the practice of acquiring economic and political hegemony over other nations) is incompatible with democracy. Johnson makes it patently obvious that the Bush administration has taken abuse of executive power to a new level. Right-wing columnist George Will has termed it a "monarchical doctrine". Left-wing commentator James Ridgeway put it, "a consistent and long-range policy to wreck constitutional government." Given the administration's disregard for both domestic and international law, Bruce Shneier, author of "Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly about Security in an Uncertain World", sees an ominous development. "The president can define war however he chooses , and remain at war for as long as he chooses. This is indefinite dictatorial power......the very definition of a dictatorship is a system that puts a ruler above the law."
The result is an impotent Congress, a confused electorate and a White House that knows no bounds.
To quote Johnson: "All empires it seems, require myths of divine right, racial preeminence, manifest destiny, or a civilizing mission to cover their own barbarous behavior in other people's countries."
One is forced to question just what temerity allows George W. Bush to claim his own brand of divine right. To quote theologian Rheinhold Niebuhr,"the tendency to claim God as our ally for our partisan values is the source of all religious fanaticism." Indeed, one is forced to consider which fundamentalism, Bush's Christian one or the Islamic is the more insidious and pernicious.
This book is a must read for anyone who is seriously interested in why our country seems to be not only hated by so much of the rest of the world, but so divided among ourselves.
Crossing the Rubicon.......2007-09-08
This book answers Michael Moore's question, "Where's my country?" The author's scholarly and carefully reasoned answer is that the constitutional republic we once had has evolved into an empire. Johnson traces the rise of militarism, the hidden and often ill-conceived interventions of the CIA and the devastating "blowback" from them, and the enormous power the United States projects through its hundreds of overseas military bases, as well as our plans to militarize space.
I found that the book explained many events that are extremely puzzling if one continues to believe that the United States is a high-minded democracy, but make perfect sense from the point of view of empire.
Johnson's conlusion, that we are on the cusp of a choice between the path taken by Rome into empire and dictatorship vs. that chosen by Great Britain to dissolve its empire but preserve its democracy, was compelling and sobering.
I would recommend Nemesis to anyone, regardless of political slant, who seriously wants to make sense of the role the United States plays in the world today, and the world's reaction to it.
On the brink of a military dictatorship.......2007-08-12
Chalmers Johnson is deeply pessimistic about the future of the US and its citizens. He sees at the horizon `a collapse of constitutional government, perpetual war, endemic official lying and disinformation and finally bankruptcy. We are at the cusp of losing our democracy for the sake of keeping our empire.'
For him, the heart of the matter is `military Keynesianism' (the US economy is mightily based on weapon manufacturing) and the goal of the military-intelligence community (full spectrum dominance over the world and in space).
But this imperial adventure is far too costly. The US spends more on armed forces than all other nations on earth combined, for more than 737 military bases in more than 130 countries. Also, space weapons are pure waste. A space shield doesn't work, because weapons cannot make a distinction between warheads and free floating space debris. `The neoconservative lobbyists are only interested in the staggering sums required.'
The US enormous military budget (of which 40 % is secret) is not paid by US taxpayers, but by foreign investors in US debt.
In the meantime, democracy is undermined. Chalmers Johnson doesn't see `any president or Congress standing up to the powerful vested interests of the Pentagon, the secret intelligence agencies and the military-industrial complex.' The separation of powers is becoming a dead letter. The legislative and the judicial branches have lost their independence.
The author is extremely hard for the current government, calling members of the Administration `desk-murderers'. For him, `putting the ruler above the law is the very definition of dictatorship.' Its TIA (Total Information Awareness) program `is the perfect US computer version of Gestapo and KGB files.' He is extremely angry with the US media, calling them `Pravda-like mouthpieces of the powerful.'
For him, what Congress really should do is abolish the CIA and remove all purely military functions from the Pentagon.
This hard-hitting book is more than a very solid warning. It is a must read for all those interested in the future of mankind.
For a view from the South, I highly recommend `Dilemmas of Domination' by Walden Bello.
Mandatory Foreign Policy Reading.......2007-07-28
If you want to read an unvarnished assessment of America's foreign policy by a scholar and former insider this book will more than suffice. Johnson evaluates the military-industrial complex, foreign policy tactics, and the imperialistic tendencies of contemporary America and how they are all contributing to our very real ongoing downfall. Johnson is not afraid to prove how our own covert and overt policies have contributed to the war and terror that plague our nation.
Amazon.com
If the 20th century was the American century, the 21st century may be a time of reckoning for the United States. Chalmers Johnson, an authority on Japan and its economy, offers a troubling prognosis of what's to come. Blowback--the title refers to a CIA neologism describing the unintended consequences of American activity--is a call for the United States to rethink its position in the world. "The evidence is building up that in the decade following the end of the Cold War, the United States largely abandoned a reliance on diplomacy, economic aid, international law, and multilateral institutions in carrying out its foreign policies and resorted much of the time to bluster, military force, and financial manipulation," writes Johnson. "The world is not a safer place as a result." Individual chapters focus on Okinawa (where American servicemen were accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in "Asia's last colony"), the two Koreas, China, and Japan. The result is a liberal-leaning (and Asia-centric) call for the United States to disengage from many of its global commitments. Critics will call Johnson an isolationist, but friends (perhaps admirers of Patrick Buchanan's A Republic, Not an Empire) will say he simply speaks good sense. All will agree he is an earnest voice: "I believe our very hubris ensures our undoing." --John J. Miller
Book Description
The term 'blowback,' invented by the CIA, refers to the unintended results of American actions abroad. In this incisive and controversial book, Chalmers Johnson lays out in vivid detail the dangers faced by our overextended empire, which insists on projecting its military power to every corner of the earth and using American capital and markets to force global economic integration on its own terms. From a case of rape by U.S. servicemen in Okinawa to our role in Asia's financial crisis, from our early support for Saddam Hussein to our conduct in the Balkans, Johnson reveals the ways in which our misguided policies are planting the seeds of future disaster. In a new edition that addresses recent international events from September 11 to the war in Iraq, this now classic book remains as prescient and powerful as ever.
Customer Reviews:
Astonishingly good.......2007-10-10
I came across this book when I was looking for the recently published book by Profs. Mearsheimer and Walt on the Israeli lobby. I was familiar with Chalmers Johnson's name, but knew nothing about his work. I just read Blowback and am eager to read the other two in his trilogy. I have a generally good awareness of the idiocy of most American foreign policy simply from reading newspapers regularly and well-researched books occasionally on foreign policy or political science or history - as well as from spending some time outside the USA at various times and in various roles.
The disparity between how the USA as an entity and through the citizens (mostly soldiers) it sends abroad to perform official roles behaves outside the confines of its borders and how the average citizen goes about his/her daily life and therefore perceives his/her country is frighteningly wide. However, I was truly stunned at the well-written, clearly well-researched and even-handed account that Prof. Johnson gives of USA policy and USA actions in regard in particular to Asia. I do not doubt the accuracy of his analysis and reporting. In support of his recounting of the utter waste of citizens' tax dollars on most military and military-related activity (so-called intelligence-gathering, covert undermining of non-dictatorial governments and the like) I noted that the Bush Administration recently (summer 2007) had one of its flunkies start blathering about the fact that the USA maintains bases throughout the world, notably in Western European countries, Okinawa and Korea even though there are no "hostilities" there.
The inadvertent raising of a pertinent issue regarding the USA military presence (in less polite words, occupation) in those countries was quickly excised from the arguments for establishing a permanent military presence in Iraq. Good point. Why does the USA maintain a military presence in these countries? Mr. Johnson's book admirably traces the why and thereby makes clear the horrible impact our presence in these countries has had on many people in the world and in turn on innocents in the USA, such as those who died at the hands of Tim McVeigh and the suicide airline pilots. It is books like Mr. Johnson's that should be on the forefront of discussion among politicians, editorial-writers and any others who attempt to make or debate policy. As the inanities, nonsense and outright lies that have no basis whatsoever in fact emanating from the current roster of right-wing, know-nothing Republicans in Congress - abetted on occasion by poorly informed Democrats - attest, the current unending propaganda regarding events and conditions in the rest of the world, notably in Iraq and in the Middle East in general, is likely to continue to overwhelm outstanding analyses such as this. I wish it wouldn't. I hope that those with some curiosity about the wonders and diversity of the world - not to mention facts about how the USA and other countries behave in the world - will discover this book as I did.
Blowback? Nah---mainly just Blow........2007-08-23
Chalmers Johnson might very well have entitled this manifestly overrated little jeremiad of gloom, doom, and rice-paddy Manchurian manifest destiny "Everything I know about Geopolitics I learned from the Golden Rule".
That's "Blowback": do unto others, O Mighty Great Satan, as you would have them do unto you. Or as the learned geo-strategist and member of the Council on Foreign Relations grandmaster funk-flash rapper extra-ordinaire Jay-Z once put it (in verse, and to a funky hip-hop beat, which is *way* more than Johnson accomplishes in this nearly cranium-anesthetizing snoozer):
"now you shoot my my dog/
I'ma gonna kill yo' cat/
just the unwritten Laws/
in Rap."
Word. Basically, Johnson is saying that all those nasty, naughty, uber-meanie things the U.S. did (or might have done, deniability, baby, deniability) in the last century (and now, yes, tiresomely the first part of the 21st century) are gonna come back to haunt us. Payback's a bizzle, fo shizzle.
Or, to dip deeply into the cliche snuffbox, what goes around, comes around. Or better still, if you're up for Chinese---4th BC Chinese---: "if you sit by the River long enough, you will see the bodies of all your enemies float by."
There: in this review, you've gotten the gist of Johnson's 'argument', and you've saved yourself the misery of having "Blowback" inflicted on you. You should be grateful.
OK: so example---we helped supply, feed, & train the Mujahadeen to fight a nasty and ultimately successful insurgency against the Soviets. The Jihadis won, kicked the Soviets out, and replaced a doddering, backward, socially repressive & economically retarded 19th century system with a---get this---doddering, backward, socially repressive & economically retarded 7th century system.
Progress? Yes. Blowback? NO! Not Blowback, not that bit anyway. Blowback was what happened when the Taliban and their buddies (including our Bon Ami et Frere Amicable Osama bin "Gin & Juice" Laden) got tired of crushing homosexuals beneath stone walls, blowing up ancient Buddha statues, and strangling dogs. Those crazy Talibs! We got 9/11, the ultimate "blowback.". Or blowup. Or something like that.
Now, it's true that Chalmers Johnson's 'idea' has a nice, simple symmetry to it, in the same way the delightful childrens' potty book "Everything Poops" does: it's, well, true. And obvious.
But seen from a different angle (say, that of adulthood), it's a bit retarded. Or, let's be kind, simplistic. It says, if you, as an Empire, or Republic, or whatever you are---if you do something, something's going to happen. Man, go tell it to the Spartans! (or Newton). Actions have consequences. If you read "Blowback", for instance, the blowback might be that you hear your brain cells scream as they die.
Take the British, who for years now have done everything they can to pretend to be a stodgier, duller, more moldy version of Canada, & what has that gotten them? Flaming gate crashers at Glasgow airport and having their Royal Marines publicly humilated and dressed by Tehran's answer to Today's Man.
But like Paul Kennedy yammering, with yen besotted yuppies back in the early eighties, that the Land of the Rising Sun was about to make us all eat sushi and do Shinto devotionals before our morning calisthenics prior to ruling the World---well, Blowback is just not all that. It's too elementary, man: it's thermodynamical.
And in politics, in affairs of state, in war and manipulation & sabotage, in all of that, it's not even necessarily true. The point being: if you're brutal enough, there will be no blowback.
Think about that for a moment: you don't even have to consult antiquity for examples where if you're willing to play around in a little bit of blood and crack some skulls, there will be no real `blowback'. Russia has ruthlessly crushed & decimated Muslim movements in its former Asian provinces and puppet states, the latest being the pathetic instance of Chechnya. And for all that, I have yet to hear Russia denounced by any imams as even a moderate-sized Satan. Hell, Russia & Iran are great buddies, so long as the latter keeps those rent checks coming on the old Bushehr reactor.
China is another great example: for more than five decades, China has occupied Tibet and taken every step possible to destroy its society and culture. For all of that, wanna know China's "blowback" from this merciless, honestly fascist occupation? The 2008 Olympic Games, a few thousand pathetic "Free Tibet" bumper sticker affixed to the bumpers of liberals' Priuses, & Richard Gere.
To dragoon Orwell's delicious little phrase, if you stomp on a man's face long and hard enough---you know, until you hear bone snap & soft tissue turns to jelly and the eyeballs pop out---there ain't gona be enough to---well, blow back.
In summary: Chalmers gets a big fat F for his stupid "Blowback" and should wear a duncecap in public.
That said, I can find one example---right here, right now!---that supports Johnson's thesis. Are you ready?
Johnson writes his tired, pathetic, dull little ratturd of a book.
In return, I gut his book like a sick fish in a quick and deadly online review.
Now that's what I call blowback.
JSG
Enlightening.......2007-08-17
The book's idea is that US foreign policy, made to win the cold war, has consequences. For instance, in '53 when we installed the Shah of Iran to act as a puppet for the West (overthrowing the democratically elected Mosaddeq because of oil) he repressed the people until he was overthrown in Jan. 1979. We'd be crazy to believe that the people who overthrew Persia's most ruthless dictator not be anti-American (since we installed that dictator). To this day I see people asking why Iran's government dislikes the US - "Do they hate us for our freedoms?" Taking this idea of "unintended consequences," Johnson talks specifically about East Asia and its history during the Cold War and after. In particular, he mentions Indonesia, Korea, China, and Japan.
I found the book very enlightening. Since 9/11 the US news and media's idea of international news coverage has been Middle-Eastern news coverage (except for natural disasters around the world and other frivolous events). Also, I went to public-school - I didn't know anything about Asia in the 19th and 20th centuries (and I took all AP history classes). So, there was this vacuum of knowledge about East Asia I had, which this book filled quite nicely.
Also mentioned in the book, briefly, are neoclassical economics, WTO, IMF, World Bank, 1997 economic crisis, Hungarian revolution, and the '73 Chilean coup as well as some other US interventions in the Middle-East.
Very informative, but drawn out and wordy............2007-08-04
This book is very informative and the first and last chapters are worth paying for the entire thing just to read them. Not the most Pro-American book I've ever read, but will give you an interesting take on things. Very in depth and revealing. Certainly shows how our American Empire can throw our weight around when necessary - and when not. Not bad, but a bit too wordy for me. Still good though.
Pull Your Head Out or Die With It In The Sand.......2007-07-17
This book deserves five stars, but I can tell you it's nothing like listening to this man speak in person. As in "Blowback" he lays it all out on the table. Sadly he says, "We just may have gone pass the point of no return." Americans now know that authors like Chalmers Johnson, Norm Chomsky, Webster Griffin Tarpley and Paul Waldman are not just over-educated nay sayers. We know that we're in real trouble, we just don't know what to do about it. If 9/11 proved nothing else, it proved that aircraft carriers, F16's, and smart bombs are useless against terrorists and apathy.
Dr. Johnson summarizes the status quo: "We have a strong civil society that could, in theory, overcome the entrenched interests of the armed forces and the military-industrial complex. At this late date, however, it is difficult to imagine how Congress, much like the Roman senate in the last days of the republic, could be brought back to life and cleansed of its endemic corruption. Failing such a reform, Nemesis, the goddess of retribution and vengeance, the punisher of pride and hubris, waits patiently for her meeting with us."
I am without the education to travel in the circles of the aforementioned authors, but I can in my own way address my fellow blue collar workers... The media has dubbed me one of America's most controversial writers. I think it's because I criticize my own party, the Republican Party, instead of the Democrats. This unorthodox approach of mine gives people the wrong idea about me. I don't hate predators. If there weren't hawks in this country, those in other countries would show up here. Do not misinterpret "Hawk" to mean I approve of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney and their Hermann Goering protégés in the Pentagon. Bush is a mouth and a pen; he's in a different league altogether than his vice president. Cheney is a vulgar, immoral, sadistic subhuman. Does that make me a Libertarian?
Customer Reviews:
Classic political process book.......2006-12-19
Perhaps only Showdown at Gucci Gulch matches The System for a true focus on how big-time policy really gets enacted - or doesn't as the Clinton health care drive shows. Whereas the Gucci Gulch focused on Reagan's 1986 tax policy overhaul success, The System follows President Clinton's efforts to revamp healthcare in America. What makes The System more representative of the political process than Gucci Gulch is that healthcare reform failed. Because of Clinton management inexperience, and Gingrich "coagulation" and scare tactics, healthcare reform never happened. That may be for the better. Clinton's plan left little to be desired, though it was not the "socialized medicine" that the right claimed it was. Still, that does not mean it was a worthy plan. The real problem, however, that scoring political success for both sides trumped the search for wise policy. Most everyone at the outset agreed that there was something wrong with healthcare, but change failed to occur. And no one is absolved of blame by Johnson and Broder: the President, First Lady, the wider Administration, Congress, the press, interest groups, and the public all allowed this to happen. Again, that doesn't mean that Clinton's plan should have been adopted, but something could have been done to better deal with the many healthcare problems plaguing the nation.
Regardless, The System is a must-read for anyone who wants to see American politics as it really exists.
CREDIBLE?.......2001-09-08
I read this book a few years ago as a requirement for my Master's degree in public administration. I read along with interest because the story that unfolded read like some sort of sordid drama, like something you might see on prime time television. It had suspense, intrigue, and some of the most stunning ups and downs. And all this from a book that attempts to comprehensively explain the hopeful beginnings and hopeless endings of the Clintons' (both Bill and more specifically Hillary) attempts to implement universal health care in the United States. Think back, if you will, to the campaign promises Bill Clinton made in his first campaign. He vowed to fight for universal health care. Many Americans like this idea, but when it comes right down to it, most Americans do not trust the government to provide their health care and also feel that government intervention in private health care makes the system... socialist. Bill wanted to change this, and when he was elected, he appointed his wife, Hillary, to chair a committee to research and implement this new universal health care system. However, this was his first mistake. The American people at that time were very suspicious and skeptical of Mrs. Clinton, feeling that she did not embody what a First Lady should be. They also felt that she had demonstrated no real qualifications for this appointment. The writers of this book document the controversies and problems brilliantly. I felt confident about the facts... until I was happily reading along (the book, despite its daunting length, reads through smoothly and quickly) and found a most glaring and heinous error. The writers were discussing the positions of Fred Grandy, who, after leaving television, went on to represent his home state of Iowa in Congress. We all know Fred Grandy as Gopher on the tv show Love Boat. But this book said that he had been a star on the show Gilligan's Island! I started to exercise real doubt and skepticism about a book that managed to get through all stages of editing with such an easily spotted error on its pages. Whatever the case, if you want to know how the plan was formed and how it was unraveled quite easily not just by opposition Republicans but also by Hillary herself, you should indeed read this. Hillary and her policy wonk friend Ira Magaziner had many opportunities to compromise on some of the points in their health care plan which would have made it an easier sell to Republicans. In fact many Republicans offered to work with Hillary and Magaziner, but the stubborn duo insisted on having the plan intact... and ended up getting nothing. As did the American people.
Our rulers speak. Pay attention, proles!.......2001-06-21
If you read this book in the wrong frame of mind, you won't like it. The wrong frame is to believe that it consists of honest reporting about the U.S. health care system, and the Clinton health bill of `93. It's mainly not reporting. It's advocacy.
The key is found in the intro, where the authors define "The System" that rules USAmerica -- which includes the Presidency, the Congress, the media ... AHH! The fact that they think the media is part of the govt., just not elected, is itself worth the price of this volume.
Taken in this vein, it is quite good. We must have a national health system like a European country's , because ... well, because they feel embarrassed that we aren't like Europe. That the U.S. was settled, predominantly, by people who WANTED NOT TO LIVE IN EUROPE is unimportant to Johnson and Broder, who know better than to take the this self-govt. nonsense seriously.
What is serious is that the USAmerican public rejects 'socialized medicine.' So instead Clinton wrapped it up in his mess of a bill, and then tried to scare us into panic over our health care, saying the system would collapse if we didn't give control of it to the govt. Not true, and Johnson & Broder know it, but hey, can't let truth stand in the way of ruling.
Frequently THE SYSTEM is unintentionally funny, too, as when the authors take a break from reporting the `horse race' political aspects of the story to criticize the media for concentrating on the `horse race' instead of the policy substance, after which they trash the only attempt ever made to discuss the policy substance (Elizabeth McCaughey's famous piece in The New Republic) and go back to reporting the horse race. You sort of wonder if they read their own manuscript.
But have some sympathy. They do mention the policy substance from time to time -- our rulers think we spend far too much money on foolish things like attempting to save the lives of premature infants. Those resources should go to more important things, like health care for "homeless, drug abusing gay and bisexual men of color." I mean, would you want to defend THAT openly?
It's also very useful in assessing the nature of liberal bias in the press. The last chapter of the hardcover first edition, on sale in 1996, told us about good Pres. Clinton's attempts to `save' the federal budget before runaway health care spending wrecked it, and evil House Speaker Newt Gingrich's attempts to `cut health care spending,' when in both cases they were trying to do the same thing -- cut the rate at which spending on health care would increase in the future. That's one way you bias coverage -- describing things in such a way as to create the desired reaction, which in this case was to get us to run out and vote Democratic.
The last chapter of this paperback edition mentions the Kassenbaum-Kennedy bill, passed by Congress and signed by Clinton. All mention of it was carefully left out of the first edition. That's another way of biasing coverage -- leave out the `unimportant' stuff that might confuse the citizenry.
And if you practice your critical thinking skills as you read, you will learn a lot about the chaotic way Clinton ran his administration, how the Democrats lost control of the House after twenty straight wins, why the bill was so complex, and other fascinating stuff.
What you won't learn how the Clinton health plan would have worked, of course. Obviously, they were afraid of your reaction if you found out. That is probably the most important information in the book.
Stunning inside look at politics.......2000-01-07
The Clinton Health Care plan was a bold, dramatic attempt to transform the American health care system to take into account the fact that while America may provide the best health care in the world, far too many of its citizens are unable to afford it. Clinton's attempt, probably the most dramatic attempt at a government program since the Great Society, failed miserably and helped to elect a Republican Congress.
The battle the voters didn't see was the important one- the battle which nearly sank the Clinton Presidency and destroyed its ambitious health care proposal. The powers arrayed against the Clinton plan were formidable and well-financed, aided by the Administration's mind-numbing blunders.
"The System" has the entire story- the high hopes, the stunning reversals, the industry's toxic reaction to reform. The Clintonites quickly found that the old adage is true. No good deed goes unpunished.
"The System" is a very good book at who really calls the shots in American government and how little power people really have against the special interests. More valuable than ten years of civics lessons.
Shows Politics As the Messy But Necessary Evil It Is.......1999-12-30
This is an excellent book for any student of the political process.
The authors are biased. They believe the Hillary Clinton health care plan should have been enacted and present their study from this point of view. Their slant is annoying. However, it ultimately does not detract too much from a very able telling of the conceptualization, selling, manuevering and strategy employed by both sides over the struggle to socialize medicine in the United States.
Although never pretty or highminded as we are taught in civics class, the book shows a democratic (small "d") system at work. Both sides had true believers who were guided by philosophy and were trying to do what was "right." Both sides had craven opportunists driven by darker more mercurial instincts. The American Congress worked to examine the issue and resolve the dispute as the framers had intended: by providing a forum for parties on both sides of the debate to hash out their perspectives and come to a resolution (one must always keep in mind that an equally legitimate action of any legislative body is to say no to proposals that are unwise or do not have sufficient political support.)
This book will educate the average citizen and fascinate the political junkie.
Customer Reviews:
Worth reading outside of class.......2007-10-03
As an undergraduate, I find newsman's assertion that I can't grasp free rider problems insulting. It's not rocket science.
Anyway, the prose is amazing, the book is chock full of fascinating historical examples, and the exposition of ideas is logical and tidy. It doesn't even strike one as a textbook upon reading. The typical dry, textbook blandness can be found nowhere.
After my class was over, we hadn't completed the book, but it was interesting enough for me to finish it on my own -- and I'm an engineering major!
Great book - one of the best in the area.......2006-10-24
I have used this textbook in my undergraduate course in American Politics for over 5 years because it is one that encourages students to use theoretical tools to think critically and to understand how government works as well as anticipate what will happen given a set of circumstances - that is what theory is all about. The rational choice perspective is presented very clearly and I have not had a student who has not gained some greater understanding of the governmental process through their reading of this textbook. Moreover, the book is rich in historical and contemporary examples. The book is not perfect, but few textbooks meet that criteria. And it is certainly not above the heads of college undergraduates, but rather interesting enough to get them engaged, and challenging enough so that their brains grow a bit rather than having material that is dummied down for them. It does have some big words in it, but students can look them up or the teacher can explain them to them... ; )
3 stars for effort, but not well-executed.......2004-06-09
Kernell and Jacobson try to combine historical and rational-choice understandings of American government in this text, but not in a particularly successful manner. The issues of collective action and free rider problems are above the heads of most undergraduates, who care about what actually happens in politics, not what a game-theoretic model in a book thinks should happen.
The writing style is also very dense. It's not particularly engaging for the reader, and the occasional cutesy attempt to insert cartoons or other stylistic improvements falls flat. The history is very interesting to someone who cares, but doesn't show the average student why history is important, why it matters that they know it in order to properly understand American politics today.
For a slightly better take on an American government textbook with a historical focus, take a look at Landy and Milkis' new textbook.
Book Description
This text distinguishes itself through its extremely accessible writing style, relative brevity, inclusion of unique topics such as tribal governments, and its focus on the relationship between government and the governed. As the authors have done in previous editions, their approach to the study of state and local governments personalizes the material, making it more meaningful to the student.
Book Description
In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Scott Ritter's War on Iraq was embraced by the antiwar movement in America even though his claims that Iraq had been effectively disarmed were ignored by both the Bush administration and the mainstream media. In the wake of the debacle, Ritter has been vindicated. Now Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector, has set his sights on the White House's hyping of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program. In Target Iran he once again sets the record straight.
This book offers Ritter's “national intelligence assessment” of the Iranian imbroglio. He examines the Bush administration's regime-change policy and the potential of Iran to threaten U.S. national security interests. The author also considers how the country is seen by other interested parties, including the United Kingdom (Tony Blair may once again be called upon by Bush to provide an international “cover” in any confrontation), Israel (the Israelis view Iran as their number one threat today), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (responsible for inspecting the alleged nuclear program).
Customer Reviews:
The story still goes on!.......2007-08-29
This book has many merits and is surely the best you can find if you are looking for a good overview of the Iranian nuclear issue up to the end of 2006. Included is the critical role of Israel, the US policy toward Tehran, the IAEA efforts (and some of its techniques) and many more. The problem is that the story is still going on and none knows how (and when) it will end. Thus I think it's rather premature to buy a book only for a synopsis of the US-Israel-Iran crisis, while new developments happen nearly every day. Mr Scott has also no comments on the possible "military solutions" (except a few lines stating that they will be catastrophic as a choice), something that I found disappointing to say the least.
A must read.......2007-06-10
The subject matter is of increasing importance for Americans and the world. Mr. Ritter once again lays open the myths that surround another nation that is very misunderstood by the U.S. government and the people. As the U.S. moves closer and closer to a possible confrontation with Iran this book becomes increasingly important for Americans to be able to equip themselves with the facts so they can see through the rhetoric that is put forth by an increasingly hostile administration.
It is essential that we are not caught ignorant once again while this administration leads this country into another blunder in the Middle East. Mr. Ritter does an excellent job laying out what the international community has done to confront Iran's intransigence, and how the U.S. has hindered and complicated matters behind the scenes and publicly. His message once again seems prescient hopefully this time his warnings will be heeded, but the only way that will happen is if American's acquaint themselves with the facts so they won't succumb to the fear tactics yet again.
The main criticisms I have with this book is its choppy narrative and the lack of sources noted. The narrative seems to bounce around a lot which can be a little confusing at times. The lack of noting his sources becomes problematic when discussing the book or the issue because you can't point to Mr. Ritter's source and say that's where he gets his information. Mr. Ritter's earlier works gives him the credibility needed to pull this off, but for those that are die hard interventionists it would have helped to be able to see the sources.
These are the reasons I could not give this book five stars, but the importance of the subject makes this book a must read. I would certainly recommend this book to everyone.
Different nation, same US Foreign policy: Regime change.......2007-05-23
Just a few points to consider:
1. Iran was determined to have Nuclear capability by 2006.
2. Ahmadinejad is all bark, and no bite (literally, since he doesn't control Iran's nuclear forces and is NOT the man with the ultimate power in Iran, whic resides in the hands of Khamenie who has declared that the use of atomic bombs under any circumstances is not legitimate under Islam).
The book is well written and not only tells you about the politics involved, but also the technology of developing nuclear capability. The chapters are very long, and I noticed atleast twice that the publisher printed "Iraq" when the author meant to say "Iran" (see top of page 200)
More pics/maps would have been nice.
Great book, but read the conclusion first........2007-02-09
READ THE CONCLUSION AND POSTSCRIPT FIRST.
This is a very important book. Based on its rank in Amazon sales (in the 4000s or so), it's being purchased by quite a few people.
But there are only ten (ten) Amazon reviews. Only ten reviews of a book that gives authoritative, on-the-ground facts about Iran's nuclear capabilities.
Why so few Amazon reviews? Here's our guess. Readers get totally bogged down in the minutiae of weapons inspection, of Mossad spy disinformation, of EU vacillation, of the UN teetering on a Security Council resolution . . ..
But who reads the entire book? It's a total drudge read until you get to the CONCLUSION and POSTSCRIPT on pages 197-219. Those 22 pages tell the whole story.
We strongly recommend that you read these pages first. After you read the Conclusion and Postscript, then go back and read the knowledgeable detail in the first 196 pages. This is a great book, showing what's actually gone on, step by step, in the inspections done by Mohammed EI Baradei, IAEA Director, and his team.
The Iranians are nowhere close to having nuclear capabilities.
This is the conclusion of Scott Ritter, one of the men who took part in the Iraqi inspections, announced that Saddam had NO "weapons of mass destruction," and was completely ignored by a war-hungry Bush administration. And Scott Ritter was completely right. We went to war with Iraq for NO REASON AT ALL.
So, read the conclusion and the postscript first. Here he says with admirable clarity what others are saying--including Stephen Walt and John Mearsherimer (book forthcoming), James Petras, and Jimmy Carter.
We need to take back our country.
Israel and America are two separate countries. Iran is no danger to the US. It's Israel's problem (if it is a threat, which evidently it is not), but, as Ritter says, "Once again [as in Iraq], the world finds itself on the brink of another Middle East war in which the United States is using trumped-up charges centered around false threats of weapons of mass destruction. . ." ( p, 201) As Ritter shows, all these false threats are being orchestrated by Israel and its friends in the United States.
Israel itself has a formidable nuclear arsenal, uninspected by anybody--IAEA in particular. And they are not even members of the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty).
Ritter acknowledges Israel's feelings of paranoia, but points out that in this case those feelings will lead to its own destruction.
And what about the United States? What could be the outcome for the US of such a war? This is the most disturbing part of the book. Anyone who is familiar with the location of Iran knows that they are strategically placed to stop the flow of a great deal of the oil that reaches the West. Result? Our economy would grind to a miserable slowdown when the price of oil goes to $150-200 a barrel. Other results, equally horrifying, are described by Ritter.
Scott Ritter is a patriot who knows what he is talking about. He has all the credentials to be credible. We had better listen to him.
We'd better listen to him soon.
The word is out that an attack is being planned for this spring. Let's hope it's not true.
A Must Read!!.......2007-02-08
While the country debates the troop "surge" the administration and its Israeli "Ally" plan the next war right under our noses. Too bad there is such little discussion of this in the mainstream press.
Ritter's book is well written and authoratative.
Book Description
In
United States v. George W. Bush et al., former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega brings her twenty years of experience and her passion for justice to the most important case of her career. The defendants are George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell. The crime is tricking the nation into war, or, in legal terms, conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Ms. de la Vega has reviewed the evidence, researched the law, drafted an indictment, and in this lively, accessible book, presented it to a grand jury. If the indictment and grand jury are both hypothetical, the facts are tragically real: Over half of all Americans believe the president misled the country into a war that has left over 2,500 American soldiers and countless Iraqis dead. The cost is $350 billion-and counting.
Customer Reviews:
laughable.......2007-09-10
Im no Bushbot, voted for the man twice. It came down to the lesser of two evils ( Gore, Kerry) as far as I was concerned. Bush is a moron, but, this is the work an evil liberal. This is nothing more than a leftist's wet dream.
A Nation of Laws.......2007-06-28
The persuasive and informative little book U.S. v Bush by retired prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega lays out a strong case for the prosecution of George Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condaleeza Rice and Colin Powell for defrauding the American people. It is of course hypothetical, but that adds to its interest and importance for the reader regardless of their political persuasion. With an introduction "A fraud worse than Enron" she lays out the basis for such an indictment; "tricking the American people into a war or in legal terms conspiracy to defraud the United States". Ms de la Vega then artfully constructs the hypothetical indictment section (conveniently printed in a gray shade for easy reference - though in my opinion the case is anything but gray), assembles a fictitious Grand Jury with an entertainingly diverse cast of characters and witnesses and marches them through her imaginary proceedings. And the verdict? Well that is left to the fictitious Grand Jury and the reader to decide.
Woven into the narrative is of course the confounding mixture of truth, spin and contradictions - and worse -consequences in which Bush et al have enmeshed themselves; she helps us to make it all out and better still she clearly shows how many times laws were broken, with -in this case - the tragic result of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives lost as well as those of over 3300 American soldiers and almost ten times that number of wounded.
The spotlight is also on many real instances where a lack of accountability on the part of an official is evident, but we also learn through her instructions to the jury that such spin may actually be illegal: "White House officals, just like CEOs, are legally required to make sure that they have a reasonable factual basis for their assertions before they make them......Moreover if they have notice that an assertion they are making is not true or even dubious, they are legally obligated to inquire further". Wow! Dream on.
Those who claim that America is nothing if not a nation of laws while at the same time supporting either the Bush administration or its actions or both had better read this book, if for no other reasons than to prepare their own rebuttals. Elizabeth de la Vega doesn't leave them much wiggle room. I can only hope that at some future date this book will be on the required reading list for high school civics classes.
Finally some people worthy of impeaching!.......2007-06-13
Elizabeth hits the nail on the head. This is a 5 star fantasy, I can imagine being in the courtroom and sitting on my hands so I don't jump up and cheer when she twists the knife!
Great book! Thanks for giving me a great fantasy...now let's visualize impeachment!
A Compelling Case.......2007-04-18
If Bush is ever brought to trial, it will prove highly costly to the taxpayers. Ms. de la Vega has presented an excellent case and series of arguments against Dumbya, aka Bush. The concept of such a trial, a case of the people against the president is certainly a very interesting one. The closest this country has ever seen of such a possibility was in 1974 when Nixon faced possible charges and indictment in re the Watergate Scandal. Still, it would be interesting to see the Bush Administration own up to the charges that have been brought against it.
This author has indeed used credible media publications to back her accounts. She has not relied on hearsay on any of these charges presented herein. Her book is clean and crisp and direct; it does not get mired in minutiae.
True, true, true.......2007-04-06
Title speeks for itself.
And the VP is still using the same reasons--say it enough and you believe it.
Customer Reviews:
Great intro to Am. Gov't.......2007-05-28
I never thought I'd be interested in gov't until I read this. It tells what the founders were thinking when they instituted this gov't we have and what their intentions were when they wrote the constitution. I thought that the gov't was here for the fat cats to sit on their butts and live off us all, but when I learned that the ppl that wrote everything had the interests of the gen. pop. in mind I thought that was pretty darn cool!
Book Description
Many Americans were shocked by the rhetoric and demands voiced during the immigration protests in the Spring of 2006. From Los Angeles to Atlanta, from Phoenix to Chicago, an estimated two million protesters marched in more than fifty cities. They demanded a blanket amnesty for illegal aliens under the banner of "immigrant rights" and insisted that rights now afforded legal immigrants should be granted to those here illegally. Anything short of that was condemned as "racist."
How could the United States have come to such a pitiful condition?
Congressman Tom Tancredo has been the only consistent voice in our government warning Americans of the dangers of failing to secure our borders and fix the nation's immigration system. Five years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. government still has done virtually nothing to secure America's borders. The government largely ignores the threats to our safety and sovereignty resulting from its refusal to fix a broken system.
What is happening on our borders is one story, but what is happening within America is even more disturbing. As would-be terrorists plot attacks on our country, vocal advocates of multiculturalism are sapping our strength from within. Together, they form a potent adversary that is as great a threat to our nation as anything we have faced in our history.
As a result, America is in the midst of an identity crisis. As a nation we no longer seem to know who we are or what we believe. Instead of "one nation under God," we are divided, confused, and angry. We need to understand how this has happened and the underlying causes that have us to this divided point.
Tom Tancredo lays out the case that unless the United States changes course, it is headed toward catastrophe. Like the great and mighty empires of the past—"superpowers" that onces stretched from horizon to horizon—America is heading down the road to ruin. Without strong moral leadership, without a renewed sense of purpose, without a rededication to family and community, without shunning the race hustlers and pop-culture sham artists, without protecting our borders, language, and culture, the nation that was once the "land of the free and home of the brave" and the "one last hope of mankind" will repeat the catastrophic mistakes of the past. In Mortal Danger is his prescription for beginning to repair the damage.
Customer Reviews:
author and Presidential Candidate Tom Tancredo in 2008.......2007-06-20
Colorado Representative Tancredo makes clear that the politically correct labeling of illegal laborers as "undocumented" is incorrect, as most of them have forged documents, forged social security numbers, and/or stolen identities - they are guilty of Felony Document Fraud in addition to having broken a number of other laws to be in our country illegally.
Tom Tancredo is also very clear that our governments failure to uphold our laws by prosecuting the employers of illegals, as well as prosecuting sanctuary communities, sanctuary cities, sanctuary states, and the officials that promote unconstitutional local amnesty ordinances are in themselves guilty of criminal offenses, not the least of which is aiding and abetting, and as such are subject to prosecution.
Amazing book!.......2007-04-19
Written in an easy-to-read language, Tom Tancredo's book is a real eye-opener.
I recommend this book for any budding conservative of any age- especially if he's our next President. If this book is his campaign statement, then we have the opportunity to elect a true American.
The issues of the US security and immigration .......2007-04-10
Congressman Tancredo does one of the best jobs I have seen tackling the all too important and all too often ignored issues of mass immigration and border security of the US. Chapter by chapter he dissects the issue of immigration and it impact on our country, our economy, our health care and the breach of security to this nation. He debunks many of the current low key patches proposed by others in government such as the guest worker program which basically grants amnesty for those who have entered here illegally by breaking the law and are rewarded for doing so. He tackles on of the biggest issues of our day, our loss of national identity in lieu of our pursuit of political correctness and "multi culturalism". He does a superb jobs of demonstrating how many illegals do not severe their bounds to their origin countries and do not make attempts at assimilation to our country and are simply here to exploit its wealth. He assets it is the US's right to decide who comes here and it should be done in this nation's best interest. He discussed how we should be proud of western civilization and illustrates many examples of how we as a society have been bombarded with the message to love all cultures and the country should suit the needs of all cultures at the loss of our own national pride and identity. There should be no hyphenated-American. My only issue is that the congressman takes the occasional political jabs at democrats (Tancredo is a conservative republican). The book would be better suited if this was avoided. Many local and state governments find themselves abandoned by the federal government when it comes to illegals and border security. It's truly an issue for the federal government and not many of our elected officials have had the political courage to resolve this problem. Our borders could very easily be secured (never 100%) so that they are not porous. The one great thing about this book is it's not just a laundry list of all the issues but offers some excellent solutions that the author is currently seeking in his elected position. A very easy read and written in simple language, every US citizen should become familiar with this subject as it could very well be our demise as a nation.
Stop playing the race card.......2007-04-06
Tom Tancredo is a fair-minded, intelligent politician who is helping to structure debate on the issue of illegal immigration for the 2008 presidential election. He cares equally for all citizens regardless of ethnicity. His goal is to preserve the American dream for present and future American citizens. I would like to respond to the lonely reviewer from Seattle who insinuates he's some kind of racist:
Quote:
"The only thing Tancredo and his conspirators in hate contribute to the discussion is racism and ignorance."
The (silent) majority of Americans are weary of the noisy, agenda-driven groups (LaRaza, Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLU, Latino activists, Mexican politicians and just general fools) who resort to playing the race card here. There is absolutely nothing racist about being opposed to people entering the country illegally and thereby depriving legal immigrants and citizens of opportunities that rightfully come with American citizenship. These opportunities are reserved for American citizens because they are paid for by American citizens with their tax dollars. Anything else is just foreign aid.
If the people we're discussing here were blue-eyed, blonde Swedes behaving identically to the current group of illegals (i.e., driving down American workers' wages, stealing Social Security numbers and identities, demanding free health care and education that citizens aren't even entitled to, re-introducing old diseases that we've nearly licked, like tuberculosis and polio, and bringing in terrifying new ones, such as Chagas disease, bankrupting hospitals and refusing to assimilate into our society. . . if these people were light-skinned Swedes, I would want this problem dealt with in an identical manner. There simply is no basis for crying racism here, and it's a dirty tactic. When citizen Latino Americans and African Americans bear the brunt of the problem of wage reduction and opportunity loss, it's a downright ridiculous assertion.
I appreciate Tom Tancredo's amazing efforts to bring this issue to the forefront where it belongs. I urge everyone here to NOT vote for Sen. John McCain who supports a "path to citizenship" for those in this country illegally and also to pay close attention to the views of the other candidates. This book is an important tool in educating the public about this enormous problem which threatens our ability to pursue our American dreams.
In Mortal Danger,The Battle for America's Border and Security.......2007-02-16
A superb picture of the turmoil America is in today.You will find yourself dumbfounded over the lack of immigration and border control. Should Congressman Tom Tancredo decide to run for the 2008 election of the precendency he shall definitely have my vote.
Books:
- The Politics of Anti-Semitism
- The Prince
- The Prince (Bantam Classics)
- The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
- The Road to Disunion: Volume I: Secessionists at Bay, 1776-1854 (Road to Disunion Vol. 1)
- The Savage Detectives: A Novel
- The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion
- The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
- The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
- Torts Personal Injury Litigation (West Legal Studies)
Books Index
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Civics
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Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower
The Assault on Reason
This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future
Values of the Game
Einstein: His Life and Universe
