In my opinion Kevin Phillips understands the real problems facing America better than any other Republican in America. He is also the kind of Republican who has increasingly been marginalized in the take over of the party by the far left. By no stretch of the imagination is he a liberal (though unquestionably a host of Republicans who haven't read the book will write a review here proclaiming him a liberal), but more of a classic, pre-Reagan conservative in the Russell Kirk, Peter Viereck mode. Despite being a leftist myself, I have long found Phillips to be one of the most acute analysts of the genuine-as opposed to trumped up-problems afflicting American life. In WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY he wrote eloquently of the problems of the undue influence of the wealthy in our democracy as well as the extraordinary and dramatic growth of economic inequality over the past two and a half decades.
AMERICAN THEOCRACY may be Phillips's most important book yet. I was ecstatic when I found a copy this past weekend at a bookstore that broke the moratorium and put their copies out a few days early (bookstores-especially the big chains-often get copies of books to be released on a Tuesday late the previous week, and occasionally they will inadvertently put copies out) and spent the weekend reading it. Phillips explicitly states that his goal is to deal with three of the most pressing problems in American life today, problems that surpass terrorism as a real threat. These three problems are referred to in the subtitle and are dealt with in serial order, though because the problems are intertwined the discussions spill over into one another. The first problem is our dependence on oil and the degree to which it has shaped and determined our national priorities and policies. Phillips thinks historically and understands that nothing takes place without a rich historical context. While many talking about oil and its place in contemporary society begin with the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania in the 19th century, Phillips goes much further back, discussing the way that the discovery and mastery of new forms of energy has parallels in previous economically dominant nations. In particular, he writes of the ways that the mastering of water and wind by the Dutch led to their economic ascendance in 17th century Europe and exploiting coal led to the creation of the British Empire. But he also writes of how both nations eventually lost their international preeminence, a change that could very well have begun for the US right now, which became predominant in the previous century due to its exploitation of oil. Phillips writes at length of the development of America's involvement in oil both domestically and abroad. He writes eloquently of how our preoccupation with oil, despite the protests of virtually everyone in the Bush administration to the contrary, was one of the primary causes for our adventurism in Iraq, which has not only has some of the richest oil reserves in the world but has large reserves that have not yet begun to peak, which means that it is cheaper petroleum to harvest.
Because the world's largest oil reserves are in the Middle East, and because premillenial fundamentalists harbor a host of beliefs about the fate of the world and the role that New Babylon (i.e., Iraq) and Israel will play in the end times drama, this part of the book often branches over into the many connections the area has with the aspirations and hopes of many in the Religious Right. But I was ecstatic in reading the book to see Phillips deal not only with the premillenial crowd, which is for the most part the only part of the Religious Right that most mainstream Americans are familiar, but with Christian Reconstructionists or Domionists. Christian Reconstructionists are generally not premillenialists, i.e., they do not believe in the kind of scenario mapped out by Hal Lindsey in his THE LATE-GREAT PLANET EARTH (repeatedly updated due to repeated failures of any of the events he prophesies to take place), where Jesus will return, remove all the Christians from earth, leaving nonbelievers to struggle with a host of trials and tribulations. Christian Reconstructionists believe it is the duty of Christians to strive for the founding of the Kingdom of God on earth. Although even many fundamentalists have never heard of these guys, they have exerted far more influence than many would suspect. Because they have been so far under the radar (mainly because they know that even many within the Religious Right would find their beliefs repulsive), their influence, which is considerable, has gone largely undetected. There are both extreme and somewhat more moderate Reconstructionists. The more extreme, for instance, don't merely believe that homosexuals, for instance, should be killed, but debate what the Biblically approved method of execution should be (stoning or burning are two widely approved methods). Reconstructionists hope gradually to establish a Christian Theocracy, where the Bible (and for some reason these guys are especially oriented towards Old Testament law) establishes the basis for society. The more extreme wings of this movement envision a society in which women are not allowed to work but stay home with their children (don't want children? well, too bad), gays and even heretics (i.e., nonbelievers) are candidates for stoning or burning, and we live in a nation as fundamentalist as any imagined by even the most passionate ayatollah. Milder forms of Reconstructionism sees America as being founded as a Christian nation (all on the Religious Right seem to have a completely bizarre view of the founding fathers, especially Madison) in which Christian law should dominate. Presidential candidate Sam Brownback is of this ilk.
Christian Reconstructionism is, of course, utterly unacceptable to the vast majority of Americans and it is impossible to imagine it ever gaining any of its most cherished goals. But I've been concerned that they have influenced so much American policy behind the scenes. All that needs to be done to overwhelm their efforts is to expose them to the light of day. Phillips goes a long ways towards doing this. I have read extensively about the Religious Right and politics (I was raised a fundamentalist and am a licensed Baptist minister, though I did not go into the ministry after attending seminary and divinity school) and found Phillips discussions to be well informed and balanced. I think he does a fine job of showing that the Religious Right is not a monolithic movement but a coalition of movements, many with their own agendas and concerns. He does not believe that America is in fact in danger of becoming a theocracy, but he does feel that religious influence has become extreme and unacceptable. I have to add that I do think the title of the book is a bit misleading, since he doesn't think America either is or can become a theocracy. The subtitle is a far better pointer to the book's content.
The third problem he addresses is that of our culture of debt. This does not refer merely to the deficit, but the degree to which debt penetrates virtually every aspect of our society in general and government in particular. Phillips's shows in detail the host of ways that this indebtedness threatens the national security and could endanger the most crucial social programs that the aging segment of society depends upon.
I think that between this book and his previous WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY Phillips has dealt very successfully with four of the five major problems in America today, though I think Phillips curiously fails to note the fifth. The four problems he deals with are the three in this book-the influence of oil on our national policy, the growing influence of right wing religion on national priorities, and our growing culture of debt-and the main one in WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY, the growing economic inequality in the country (I would argue that on a practical level this is the major problem). The fifth is the massively bloated military-industrial sector. When over half of all government spending goes to the military, especially when there are no other military superpowers in the world, you have a long-term recipe for economic and political disaster. I hope that Americans begin to take note of the warnings found in these books. For the most part America seems to me a distracted nation, focusing on lesser problems or pseudo problems. Meanwhile, the problems that are beginning to undermine our nation and our democracy are largely ignored. This is a brilliant discussion of three of the threats facing our nation and I urge everyone who loves America to read it as quickly as possible and then hand it on to friends.
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