Customer Reviews

The Bush Betrayal

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am sorry to say that I voted for George W. in the last presidential election on account of the fact that I bought into his pitch that he would move the country away from Big Government interference. Unfortunatly, as this excellent book details, it was all a fabrication. Mr. Bovard takes the major initiatives of the President and demonstrates with sickening detail that this administration is built upon a foundation of lies, bringing us closer to a totalitarian state than I would have believed possible from a Republican president. The author exposes the "Leave No Child Behind" boondoggle as a blatant attempt to wrest the education of our children from local control in favor of federal control. From the Patriot Act to the War on Drugs, Bovard demonstrates that our civil liberties are in jeopardy like never before. This book is extensively end-noted with references for every damning fact. Lest you think this is a Democratic Party sponsored hatchet job, please note that the author takes great pains to point out the complicity of the Democrats in Bush's march to a police state. The fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans these days is slight. The results of that fact are frightening.

James Bovard is a libertarian, and he focuses his scorn on the Bush Administration with laser-like intensity. Here is Bovard in his own words:

"George W. Bush came to the presidency promising prosperity, peace and humility. Instead, Bush has spawned record Federal budget deficits, launched an unnecessary war, and made America the most hated nation in the world" (p. 1).

Of course as a libertarian, Bovard doesn't see the Democrats as a viable alternative. But he's not as mad at them, because he didn't expect anything from them to begin with. As the title indicates, he took Bush at his word, and feels betrayed. Here's more of Bovard's own inimitable scorn:

"For Bush, the right to rule apparently includes the right to lie. Bush has never shown a speck of contrition for his false prewar statements. Instead, he acts like a clumsy magician who assumes his audience is too feebleminded to recognize the elaborate trick that fell into pieces in front of their eyes" (p. 5).

I'm not a libertarian, and while I agree with Bovard's harsh critique of the so-called "Patriot Act" (more like the imminent fascism act), I don't agree with his minimalist "watchman" view of government. But my message to libertarians is -- don't reward Bush's lies with another four years! Regime change in November!

This is by far Mr. Bovards finest work, and his attention to detail to back up and thus make his conclusins as graphic as they are is exceptional even for the master of documentation. While you may not like his conclusions, he leaves no room for any party to call them into question. No one ever said the truth is pretty.

In this work Bovard brings together the ideals of Thomas Jefferson as well as Jeffersons' warning about vigelance and government. James Madisons' constitutional concerns which as Bovard points out in stunning fashion were very well founded indeed.
The common sense approach to these issues that Thomas Payne would hail. And finally the sarcastic whit and ocassional humor to complete the no holds bared addressing of each topic that would bring a smile and an approving nod from Mark Twain. Not bad company under and conditions. This work should be read by one and all. If you are concerened about this nation but are not quite sure just what is wrong, Mr. Bovard has done all of the leg work and research for you and placed it in one nice easy to read book that moves along at an enjoyable pace. Truly this is a 5 star effort.

First let me say that I voted for Bush in 2000. I bought his campaign rhetoric about being for a smaller government and a humble foreign policy. I feel like I was scammed. Aside from the programs aimed at fighting terrorism Bush and the Republicans in Congress have been spending like there is no tomorrow. It's all documented in The Bush Betrayal. They passed the biggest farm welfare bill in history in 2002; increased federal education spending by 50%; and imposed a tariff on steel imports that destroyed roughly 200,000 jobs in the auto industry and related businesses, raised prices for many domestically manufactured products and hurt American competitiveness in world markets.

The author is no Bush hater either. His earlier book "Feeling Your Pain" chronicled the Clinton administration's abuses of government power with equal zeal.

This year I will be voting a straight Libertarian ticket.

James Bovard is a one-man libertarian think tank. He leaves no stone unturned in this scathing account of the Bush administration's train of abuses and usurpations. He destroys of the myth of Bush's leadership on 9/11. He uses Bush's own rhetoric against him to blast his protectionist trade policies. He rips to shreds Bush's claims about success with education policy. He meticulously lists the violations of civil liberties by the Justice Department in fighting the War on Drugs and terrorism. Bovard also takes issue with the secrecy of the administration, especially the Justice Department. He exposes the absurdities of the war in Afghanistan (while still justifying the US right to rid the country of those responsible for harboring the terrorists behind the 9/11 attack). Bovard chronicles the failures of the federalization of airport security. Conservatives can't possibly have any moral justification for the rampant spending of this Republican administration for boondoggles such as foreign aid, Medicare, farm subsidies and paid volunteers. He saves Bush's biggest blunder, the war in Iraq, for the end.

Libertarians NEED a book like this to remind them that while the Democrats are generally wrong on most issues, the Republican Party is no friend of liberty either. I would also recommend his previous book, Terrorism and Tyranny, in addition to this book for further analysis of the Bush administration from a libertarian perspective. Heck, I'll recommend all of his books and articles for those concerned with the loss of freedom in this nation.

This was certainly one of the more interesting "Bush bashing" books of 2004. In one devastating example after another (Iraq, No Child Left Behind, Medicare "reform," etc., etc.), James Bovard exposes how one Bush policy after another was built on a foundation of deception. However, this cannot be dismissed as some leftist screed. This book is part of a growing body of work by disgusted conservatives of various stripes who are shocked and awed by the Bush administration's arrogance. It is also part of an attempt to break the partisan groupthink that is corrupting the conservative movement.

Bovard's dissection of Attorney General John Ashcroft and the follies of the U.S. Justice Department would almost be amusing if it weren't so appalling. Bovard quotes from this internal FBI memo that was leaked to the press in 2003: "Extremists may also employ...body protection equipment (layered clothing...) to protect themselves during [anti-war] marches. Law enforcement agencies should be alert to these possible indicators of protest activity and report [them] to the nearest Joint Terrorism Task Force." Brovard then quotes an anonymous FBI official who opined, "It is obvious that there are individuals who are capable of violence at these events."

As Bovard sarcastically observes: "The 'capable of violence' standard justifies surveillance of anyone except quadriplegics in wheelchairs....the FBI's reference to 'extremists' wearing 'layered clothing' implies that any winter-time protests north of the Mason-Dixon line should be on the target list." Then there is the preposterous policy of not allowing people sporting anti-Bush buttons or banners anywhere near the president and herding them into Orwellian "free speech zones" out of sight and out of mind. All of this in the name of security, but wouldn't assassins or terrorists be more likely to hide behind pro-Bush banners?

During the 2004 Republican Convention in New York, the NYPD found a novel way to narrow the First Amendment. Anti-war or anti-Bush protesters who were arrested during the first day of the convention were not brought into court until the end of the convention. This was a thinly veiled policy of preventive detention. None of this nonsense makes anyone any safer from terrorism, but it is very effective indeed at stifling dissent.

What goes around comes around. Before applauding such overreaching, Republican partisans need to ask themselves the following question. How will they like it when a future Attorney General under President Hillary Rodham Clinton or President John Kerry decides to invoke the Ashcroft Standard and arbitrarily defines anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage or anti-tax protesters as "extremists" who might be "capable of violence" who therefore must be hounded into submission by the local cops or the FBI?

Bovard devotes much of the book to condemning Bush's hypocritical embrace of Big Government in the areas of farm subsidies and tariffs. Farm subsidies are basically socialism for the so-called "red states," and they are indeed rather ridiculous in an era when the typical "family farmer" is a corporation or a multi-millionaire. I don't share Bovard's automatic hostility to protectionism, but he has a point when he complains that the steel tariffs imposed by President Bush in 2002 were protectionism at its worst. If Bush and company were serious about doing something for the American wage-earner, they would have withdrawn the U.S. from NAFTA. Candidate Bush was for free trade in 2000. Then in 2002 he was for steel tariffs, and then in 2004 he was for free trade again. That amounts to two flip-flops on one issue. Of course, the real purpose of the steel tariffs was to "protect" Republican incumbents in Ohio and western Pennsylvania on the eve of the 2002 election.

However, I completely disagree with Bovard on campaign finance reform. The real problem with reforms such as McCain-Feingold is that they don't go far enough. Frankly, there should be no paid political advertising whatsoever. There should be no advertising by candidates and none by "independent" organizations -- corporate or labor, liberal or conservative. The outrageously high cost of advertising inevitably skews the debate in favor of the wealthy. Banning it would not restrict the content of speech, merely its amount. Eliminating paid political ads would inhibit the current practice of auctioning government policy and political offices to the highest bidder, and that would greatly curtail the very abuses that Bovard eloquently denounces. Let politicians and interest groups fight it out through speeches, press releases, websites, and the cable television screamfests, not through manipulative "Willie Horton" or "Swift Boat" attack ads (which are nothing but propaganda anyway).

There have been some parallels drawn between this book and Pat Buchanan's WHERE THE RIGHT WENT WRONG. The strange thing is that Buchanan and Bovard are really polar opposites. Both are defined as conservatives only in terms of Republican coalition politics. Buchanan is basically a paleoconservative (socially conservative, economically populist) while Bovard is a libertarian (socially liberal, pro-free market). One might generalize and say Buchanan is sympathetic to government intervention in both the bedroom and the economy while Bovard opposes government intervention in both spheres. (As neither a paleocon nor a libertarian myself, it's easy for me to step back and sort these differences out.) The other important difference is that Buchanan cops out near the end of his book and sheepishly praises Bush for not being Ted Kennedy, while Bovard keeps pouring it on. Yet it is awfully telling that conservatives as different as Bovard and Buchanan draw strikingly similar conclusions about the Bush reign of error.

America desperately needs a truly independent conservative movement that is not in the orbit of FOX News and the rest of the Republican Noise Machine. Bovard and Buchanan are not always perfect, but they put the likes of Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity to shame.

From "The Bush Betrayal":

"George W. Bush came to the presidency promising prosperity, peace, and humility. Instead, Bush has spawned record federal budget deficits, launched an unnecessary war, and made America the most hated nation in the world. Bush is expanding federal power and stretching prerogatives in almost every area that captures his fancy. Though Bush continually invokes freedom to sanctify himself and his policies, Bush freedom is based on boundless trust in the righteousness of the rulers and all their actions."

As with most of Bovard's books you'll want to pick it up every page or so and toss it out the window from frustration or better yet toss a few politicians and bureaucrats out the window.

Is Bovard the only one who sees all this? There is nothing in this book that is not public record. Other critics like Michel Moore snipe from the sidelines and mostly rant hysterically, but James Bovard lays out his case like I like my bourbon - straight-up.

Using the same seucessful formula as his other works Bovard lays out his case, fills in the background, applies logic and common sense then backs up every statement with an example or several; enough to make his case virtually irrefutable.

Bovard explodes the myths surrounding Bush, his war, the USA PATRIOT act, his protectionist schemes to buy votes, expansions of the welfare state worthy of Lyndon Johnson, and Bush's Department of Justice [sic].

The saddest thing about it is that after reading this you'll realize that as a whole, the Democrats are no better. They seem to be chomping at the bit to get a hold of the reins of all these new Federal powers. I'm sure the Dems will come up with even more innovative ways to expand the federal budgets and destroy our liberties - what few remain since Bush and Ashcroft effectively repealed the Bill or Rights with a bipartisan Congress enthusiastically going along.

There may be little new ground in this work, but Bovard has done a masterful job in compiling the evidence to support his contentions. His examples and illustrations are such that you are free to draw your own conclusions.

Personally I thought "Lost Rights" and "Terrorism and Tyranny" were more complete works as this work centers mainly on the Bush Administration whereas the other works talk about the Federal Government as a whole but together they constitute a wake up call to this nation and show us that we are a crossroads.

Do we take the road to fascism and tyranny or is it time to re-evaluate ourselves as nation and a people and consider what made the United States so special. Is our grand experiment in liberty finally over - liberty failed, or can we bring ourselves back from the brink and re-establish the US as a beacon for freedom and prosperity?

Remember, every other fascist and socialt nation on Earth either has already self-destructed or is already falling down the black hole. Do we allow the nation to continue along its path and try to start anew after the inevitable collapse it being to late to save it?

It's our choice. Will James Bovard is the guy sending the last SOS from the Titanic?

Read the book and make up your own mind.

Bovard has assembled 278 pages of damning condemnation of a dishonest president who has broken promises, betrayed his oath of office, broken the law, and engaged in deception as a matter of daily practice.

It is an overwhelming book, with detail after detail showing that George W. Bush is neither consistently conservative, libertarian, nor liberal in his actions. He has engaged in actions that will cost Americans trillions of dollars--from steel tariffs to farm subsidies to the Medicare prescription boondoggles that amounted to a blank check to the pharmaceutical industry. He has engaged in actions in the name of national security that have done nothing to actually improve security (in many cases making things worse), while restricting civil liberties and giving the government unprecedented powers to take actions against people without any judicial oversight.

And he's done all these things in just his first term as President.

Bovard's book covers Bush's actions in his first four years in office, describing his dishonesty on trade, education, agriculture, national security, the war on terror, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He writes from a libertarian/conservative perspective, arguing that Bush has betrayed the conservative principles he's claimed to advocate at every turn.

This is an excellent book to give to conservative friends who think Bush is a good or mostly good president. It is extensively documented, though unfortunately relies almost entirely on secondary sources (newspaper and magazine accounts) rather than primary sources. Another minor peeve is Bovard's overuse of the word "vivifies," which appears numerous times through the text. But those detract only slightly from what is a powerful indictment of a corrupt presidency.

Bush prides himself being a conservative. I think all conservatives should read the book to find out how every single principle of conservatism has been broken. It is strange that Kerry is liberal but does not act like one but Bush is conservative but acts like a liberal

If "The Bush Betrayal" serves no other purpose, it should make one thing convincingly clear: it's not just liberals who should hate our current president. Attacking Dubya from a libertarian point of view, James Bovard demonstrates just how far the Bush administration has strayed from traditional conservative principles. Covering a wide range of issues, Bovard rattles off a train of abuses that dwarfs those that caused our founding fathers to revolt. Someone with either a very low IQ or a very low opinion of the American public recently referred to Bush as a "big-government conservative," and after reading this book I can only conclude that that description makes about as much sense as calling someone a "small-government communist." In fact, after reading this book most people might be hard-pressed to find much difference between Bush and your typical dictator, aside from some vague lip service to freedom.

In chapter after depressing chapter, Bovard reveals in detail how Bush's presidency has given us one statist disaster after another. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Bush used people's renewed faith in the government to justify an unprecedented expansion of its power, an expansion that affects all of us in very real ways. Even many Republicans have spoken about against Bush's expansion and abuse of government power, but it obviously hasn't done much good as the budget deficit has skyrocketed and we've become even less free than we were under Clinton. If you've ever wondered just how useless and inept our federal government is, this book is an invaluable read.

This book should prove especially disheartening for those who think the Republican party represents any sort of legitimate alternative to the Democrats' long-standing support of big government. In fact, if anything, Bush has made the situation worse, as he seems to be in a competition to see which party can waste taxpayer money faster. Bush's continuation of farm subsidies and his expansion of Medicare have have taken literally hundreds of billions of dollars out of the pockets of Americans, with much of the money benefitting farmers and retirees who aren't exactly needy themselves. Couple these colossal wastes of money with Bush's expansion of the completely unnecessary Americorp "stipended volunteer" program, and you've got an administration so good at sticking guns to people's heads in the name of "compassion" that they could be named honorary Democrats.

It only gets worse from there, too. Steel tariffs, education reform, the Patriot Act, the War on Drugs, campaign finance reform, the invasion of Iraq, airport security, you name it: Bush's measures have made Americans less safe, less free, and less financially secure in just a few short years. In fact, it seems the only things the Bush administration has done well are robbing and terrorizing the masses, which of course is all that governments really excel at anyway. However, the Republicans are supposed to rob and terrorize less than the Democrats, not more. Big government doesn't work no matter who's running it, and that's not going to change.

So, what can be done in response to the massive waste, fraud, and corruption of the Bush years? Sadly enough, the answer is probably nothing. Those committed to freedom and limited government certainly have nowhere to turn, as it's painfully obvious that neither party will rest until America has been turned into Sweden, with all the runaway taxation such a transformation implies. As Bovard himself writes in the book's conclusion, "trying to end misgovernment in Washington merely by changing the ruling political party is like an alcoholic trying to solve his problem by switching from Whiskey to rum." Maybe Americans need to start rethinking their faith in democracy and contemplating a return to our country's republican roots. Unfortunately, that probably won't happen until it's already too late. Until then, we're probably all better off watching sports, drinking beer, and pretending the federal government doesn't exist.