Customer Reviews

It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Fascist Mussolini once described fascism as simply Big Government & Big Business working hand in hand.
Joe Conason describes Sinclair Lewis's book, "It Can Happen Here", extremely well. In the book the newly elected president with has advisor, seize upon an economic crisis to aggregate more & more power to the White House. The Adminstration proceeds to turn Congress into an advisory board, as they start appointing political hacks to the courts. Acting on the assumption that constitutional procedures are a dangerous hindrance to executive powers, the administration swiftly begins to dismantel them. The U.S. Government begins to conduct business in near total secrecy (controlling or, at best suppressing the media). The country is eventually bankrupted while the wealthy few at the top grow even more wealthy. Any citizen who dares to question the new order is brought before a military trbunal to answer charges of treason. The book ends with the utter suppression of dissent, the complete nixing of the Bill Of Rights, the establishment of labor & dentention camps, and the violent suppression of labor unions & political rivals.
The author gives us pertinent background to Lewis. For instance,Lewis had been married to Dorothy Thompson, who had been expelled from Berlin by the Nazis a year earlier and quickly became America's most outspoken critic of Fascism.
After providing an excellent backdrop to the rise of Hitler's power the author bring us to the present and not so perfect present/future:
Our very corporate style of government, most appropriate to a corporate state, where business executives and government officials can collude & pillage without concern for the troublesome checks and balances of a constitutional democracy. The White House imperative to remove protection for consumers, workers, & soldiers. Deregulate corporate management & subsidize corporate profits. Privitize Public service. Cut corporate and top-bracket taxes. Surrender public assets to private ownership.
A very prescient work. Imperative for a public that should and must understand the message:
TO BE FOREWARNED IS TO BE FOREARMED !!!!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!

While I agree with some of the other reviews that state much of this information is available elsewhere, it was nice to find it in a well written book nicely packaged together.

The book begins with a nicely written piece on the Sinclair Lewis book "It Can't Happen Here" and compares the current administration to that in the Lewis book. The author then begins a tour of the cast, which include all the favorites: Bush, Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and dozens of others, many of whom were players in the Nixon and Reagan administrations.

Descriptions are provided of the actions taken by this administration to create a perpetual war, so that the power of the President can become unitary. There is also thoughtful commentary of how the religious right and the corporate right got together behind Bush.

The book is not flattering to most of the participants, and it is scary how close we were to having a theocracy in the United Sates. Although many people have battled to keep this from occurring, it seems as if it was the self destructive work of the current administration that kept us free from that occurrence.

This book is recommended for any thinking American, and should be required reading for every voting American. This book would also be a good background book for those thinking the President should be impeached. The book is well researched, documented and written!

If you read a lot of newspapers every day, there probably won't be a lot of new information you'll learn in this book. But most of us don't--and even for those who know many of the facts, Conason's compelling story of how our government is being transformed into the opposite of what the American Revolution was fought for is necessary reading as we go into one of the most important elections in our history. Read this book and then consider where the different candidates stand--not on the War, not on stem-cell research--but on the fundamental qualities that made America the greatest nation in the world. Conservatives probably think they're going to hate this book, but conservatives more than anyone need to see how their principles have been hijacked to create the biggest, most intrusive government ever.

Joe Conason nails the Bushies. Richard Nixon claimed that he "was not a crook." His link to this administration is clear and Conason shows us the old Nixon boys in detail, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rove as they attempted to give George W. Bush imperial powers with their campaign of lies and deceits.

This secretive administration has tried to trash the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Hopefully, it's not too late to stop them. Americans are starting to awaken from our national nightmare, the Bushies.

Conason really drives home the need to link authoritarian thinking to other elements of fascism (such as corporatism, cronyism, and other corruptions of good government).

Of the group, I fear authoritarianism most of all, because it demands blind adherence to X, whatever X is deemed to be. Authoritarianism is ultimately classist as well, because it divides the world into an elitist class of relativist-thinking Machiavellian authorities, and a class of those who are meant to be nothing more than blind followers of the authorities.

That speaks greatly to the fools they deem the followers to be, and reflects poorly on the educational "reforms" executed by this administration, most to indoctrinate authoritarian thinking and the shut down of critical thinking and questioning abilities, anything that might lead one of those blind followers to stand up and say "the emperor isn't wearing any clothes."

So-called "faith-based" initiatives are also a thinly-cloaked attempt to further indoctrinate authoritarianism and blind-goose-stepping, by setting up strict hierarchies of patriarchal authority all over again, like the Divine Right of Kings, reining in the empowerment of women, anything that might lead to free-thinking dissent.

The TRUE IRONY of all of this persuasion process is that the so-called authoritarian elitist class are deep relativists, far more postmodern than most intellectual postmodernists.

As an avid reader of Joe Conason's pieces in Salon, I was especially anxious to read his new book. But, while well written as always, the book is just a warmed over version of many stories told before about the Bush administration by Conason and many, many others

The book started well enough, with a gripping introduction. In it, Conason related the background and plot of "It Couldn't Happen Here," Sinclair Lewis's pre-WWII satirical warning about the possibility of fascism coming to the US. Lewis's president starts a pre-emptive war with Mexico, controls he media and relegates Congress to an advisory body, among many Bushian parallels. But sadly, when the introduction ended, so did my interest in this book.

For those who have never read about the Bush-era shenanigans and outrages, Conason's work might be a tonic. For those of us who have read John Dean's "Worse Than Watergate," Molly Ivins' and Lou Dubose's "Shrub" and Al Franken's "The Truth (With Jokes)," this book repeats information we already know.

For those who don't read, the book might have value. Conason outlines the autocratic impulses of the Bush administration, its fetish over secrecy, its lack of interest in global agreements like the Geneva Conventions, its desire to create a perpetual state of war through which it can divert the public's attention. Conason describes the machinations of Karl Rove and the workings of the ultraconservative Federalist Society, which has contributed Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito. He tells of the dissembling of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the federal-friendly rulings of purported states' rights champion Antonin Scalia. Conason treats us to a few brush strokes of the Bush Administration's evil trinity of neoconservatives, religious fundamentalists and avaricious business interests.

If this is all news to you, by all means buy the book. Otherwise, there is not enough detail - new or old - to hold your interest or justify the expense.

This book is a review of the excesses, assumptions, arrogance, and mostly ineptitude of the Bush administration that evoke memories of fascistic regimes of the past. The author makes the comparison with the Sinclair Lewis book of 1935 that was concerned with the rise of European fascism, but that really adds little.

The Bush administration is an amalgamation of neoconservatives, big business, religious fundamentalists, and supporting cast  lawyers in particular. Though their views are somewhat dissimilar, the author shows that the net result is disdain for average people, laws and regulation, honesty and openness, tradition, etc. The device of perpetual war, that is, the war on terror and now the Iraq war, is used to justify presidential actions that flaunt international standards and even our own Constitution. Yet the arrogance, dishonesty, and sheer ineptitude of the Iraq war, Katrina response, and domestic spying, to name only a few situations, are now undermining the Bush presidency.

Little in this book is new. Perhaps the interlocking networks of fundamentalists, businessmen, and lawyers may not be well known. A discussion concerning the possibility of fascism needs to be more broadly based. What is the nature of American society that would permit the rise of authoritarianism? The author seems to make the assumption that the highhandedness of the Bush administration is mostly out of step with the American public. An inconvenient fact is the election of Bush. One would have thought that an imperial presidency is out of step with our democratic traditions and would be soundly rejected  certainly when given a second chance in 2004.

In turning an eye to American society, the author should have noted that America is a land where business values are ascendant. Shopping is now considered to be the ultimate expression of democracy, not participation in government. Business considerations dominate in the mass media and have tremendous influence in our educational institutions. Business interests pretty much dictate electability to higher office. Free trade and privatization are now the watchwords of political and business elites, much to the detriment of average Americans. The supposedly democratic medium of the Internet seems not to have limited the dominance of corporate values and agenda, while supposedly empowering citizens.

It may be that we are moving to a social state that, if not actually fascist, is fascist-like. The future may be far more pernicious than the excesses and bumbling of the Bush administration that the author catalogs. Given current social and political trends it is entirely possible that it can happen here.

The great irony of the Bush administration is they have spent so much time and money on trying to craft the appearance of competency that they seem to have left nothing for actual governance. The author writes that, "the Bush administration spent $1.6 billion on public relations and media contacts between January 2003 and June 2005" This includes paying journalists for positive coverage and in one infamous incident illegally creating a reporter and running her phony reports on local news stations. And as the coup de grace the Bush administration has had the entire Faux News network to spread its propaganda 24/7. More and more evidence is accumulating that the White House has spent the last 6 ½ years using every apparatus of the government available to illegally push the Republican agenda and shore up the base, all at tax payers expense. From vetting scientists based on political affiliation to giving out money through the Faith Based Initiative program to garner votes, literally everything is done in order to entrench Republican power. And what has all this energy and money achieved; one of the most unpopular presidents in American history and an administration that may well go down as the most incompetent ever.

I've always said about Bush that he's leading the wrong country. He is much better suited to a South American banana republic. It's very difficult to run a modern, wealthy country with the White House's brand of crony capitalism which probably explains why the administration spends so much money trying to convince everyone they're doing a bang up job. Bush has managed to surround himself with people who take the concept of a Unitarian Executive very seriously and believe that George W. Bush is literally unbound by Congress, the Supreme Court and even the Constitution or Bill of Rights. The Bush administration has consistently chosen political hacks over qualified candidates for appointments even in the rebuilding of Iraq. It seems the president has taken the term `serving at the pleasure of the president' to heart, believing that his appointments are given their positions to serve HIM and if they displease him they should go. The concept that the president serves the country and appoints qualified people AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE to do the best job they can seems completely lost on this president.

My biggest question at this point is what is the goal? Bush has less than two years left as president (unless he knows something the rest of us don't) and it looking increasingly likely that the next president will be a Democrat. Those who promote the idea of the Unitary Executive certainly don't want this privilege extended to a Democratic president. The Bush administration seems woefully shortsighted which may be the saving grace for the country since their incompetence seems to be driving a stake right through the heart of the GOP. Their ham handed approach to consolidating power may end up be more of a wake up call than an actual long term threat.

This kind of book is like shooting ducks in a barrel. The Bush administration is such a train wreck that you could write a single short sentence on each of the White House's blunders, lies, crimes and ethical lapses and easily fill up a book. Joe Conason is not an investigative journalist like Ron Suskind or Seymour Hersh. What Mr. Conason does is collect and comment on information available to anyone and for this I have to remove a star because it's a lot easier to analyze information than to gather it. There is very little in this book that I hadn't already heard although I do pay closer attention to current events than most. I'll give this book a solid 4 stars because it is a good compilation of facts supporting the authors contention that authoritarianism can certainly manifest itself despite the safeguards set up by our countries framers.

Those who find fascistic tendencies abundantly present in religious bodies are often thrown the example of Hitler's alleged opposition to religion in general and Christianity in particular. This ignores much scholarship (by such historians as Richard Steigmann-Gall in THE HOLY REICH, AND Friedrich Heer in DAS GLAUBEN DES ADOLF HITLERS (The Faith of Adolf Hitler) which demonstrates how fully prepared German Protestants and later German Catholics were to accept Nazi policies and doctrines. It was because both religious Christians and Nazis shared a hatred of modernity, progress, rationalism, social change, and Jews.

When Fascism comes to America it will indeed be heralded by a flag and a cross: remember the KKK?

Whatever errors Conason may make in his perfervid enthusiasm for finding the Republicans essentially fascist in doctrine, he is certainly correct about them in general.

This is the most forthright and incisive book on the Bush administration's lies, deceptions, subversions of the Constitution, and secret and illegal activities that I have read. Conason has a way with not only words but an ability to organize and present the damning facts in a clear and decisive manner.

He begins with a sort of reprise of some of the points made by Sinclair Lewis in his famous novel about the fascist threat to America in 1935, "It Can't Happen Here." Some of the parallels are stunning. For example:

"Buzz Windrip, a charismatic politician with little intellectual curiosity but great capacity to appeal to the regular guy, is elected president." George W. Bush could play this part.

"Windrip regularly expresses contempt for the press (except for the newspapers of the ultraright Hearst empire)..." Murdoch's media empire including Fox News fits nicely.

"Windrip is entirely the creation of Lee Sarason, a brilliant, ruthless strategist and advertising man..." Karl Rove fits.

Windrip "exudes a syrupy compassion for the white, Christian, middles-class family while proclaiming a staunch moral and patriotic conservatism. He often mentions that he has read the Bible at least a dozen times." Bush doesn't read that much, but he does hold daily pray sessions that everybody on staff is tacitly required to participate in.

"His most important supporters are the nation's religious fundamentalists, notably a radio preacher with millions of followers who hails Windrip as God's chosen leader, and the country's wealthiest businessmen, who understand that he is their wholly owned instrument despite his populist rhetoric."

"Soon after taking office [Sarason and Windrip] seize upon the genuine economic crisis besetting the country to arrogate more and more power to the White House. Windrip turns Congress into an advisory body and starts appointing hacks to the courts."

"His government conducts business in near-total secrecy, acting to suppress or control the press while the Hearst media serve as propaganda outlets...lavishing praise upon the president and all his works, including his plans for a preemptive war on Mexico." (The quotes are from pages 5-7.)

Throw in George Orwell's prediction of perpetual war in "1984" in order to control the population and increase centralized power, and we can see that our Bush nightmare has all happened before except then it was fiction. Now unfortunately it's all too real. In this regard, Conason recalls James Madison's statement: "No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

And that brings us to Chapter 1, "The `Post 9/11 Worldview' of Karl Rove." Karl Rove, clearly has read his Madison (and Machiavelli too) and as one of the two brains behind Bush (Cheney is the other) he knew that the best way to increase the power of the presidency and to ensure Bush's reelection was to start a war. As Conason reports, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rove, and Bush begin planning for the invasion of Iraq as soon as Bush was installed in the White House. In a most revealing insight into the neocon mind, Conason recalls conservative columnist "Irving Kristol's 1989 essay on the Grenada invasion, used by Reagan to draw attention away from the disastrous terrorist bombing of a marine barracks in Lebanon. `The reason we gave for the intervention--the risk to American medical students there--was phony but the reaction of the American people was absolutely overwhelmingly favorable,' Kristol gloated in retrospect. `They had no idea what was going on, but they backed the president. They always will.'" (p. 29)

Mickey Herskowitz, one-time Bush family confidant, summed up the Bush attitude with "Start a small war. Pick a country where there is justification you can jump on, go ahead and invade." Herskowitz quotes Bush as saying "One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief. My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it....If I have a chance to invade, if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency." (pp. 29-30)

The really chilling thing here is Bush's complete and utter disregard for anyone's life--our soldiers, Iraqi citizens--who cares? Bush only cared about self-aggrandizement. His motivation was purely the will to personal power and glory. Such a man is easily manipulated by people like Rove and Cheney.

Conason goes on to describe how Bush, Cheney, Rove, and Attorney General John Ashcroft circumvented the Constitution and bullied both the press and Congress into giving them what they wanted. He details how corporate America and the evangelical right wing co-conspired to move this country terrifyingly close to an authoritarian state. The amazing thing about all this information is just how public it really is. (Conason provides copious endnotes.) Yet how little does the general public understand about what is going on, and, to be honest, how little does the average person care?

The real legacy of the Bush administration may be the tremendous increase in presidential power that he achieved through such chicanery as the use of "signing statements" on bills he has signed, basically saying the president as commander-in-chief has the power to do what he likes regardless of what this bill says. In inaugurating what is now called "the long war," Bush has shown subsequent presidents the way to greatly increase their power. I suspect that future occupants of the White House, be they Republican or Democratic, will not be able to resist using such methods. Unless somehow Congress can be strengthened, the checks and balances that the Founding Fathers created will disappear and we will have an authoritarian state led by an imperial president with immense power. That is the Bush Legacy.