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The Last Days of Democracy: How Big Media and Power-hungry Government Are Turning America into a Dictatorship

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The following review was recently posted on the Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-hoenig/are-we-in-the-last-days-o_b_52123.html:



There are those who take umbrage with the suggestion that President Bush's tactics are comparable to Hitler's. Yet, Elliot D. Cohen and Bruce W. Fraser show the similarities between the two men in their recent book aptly titled, The Last Days of Democracy: How Big Media and Power-Hungry Government Are Turning America into a Dictatorship. The authors write, "In Nazi Germany, there was a systematic program of indoctrination and brainwashing in place. Radio, newspapers, movies, and all other forms of media were carefully monitored by the government to make sure that the German people read, saw, and listened to only what the Nazis wanted the people to read, see, and hear. There was also an officer of disinformation (a "minister of propaganda")--not unlike our own Karl Rove--whose job it was to make sure journalists toed the Nazi line."



Cohen and Fraser do not pull any punches: The index cross-references the president with the word dictatorship. Over the top? Well, let's see: If he behaves like a dictator and rules like a dictator, well then...the cross reference is justified. What is just as culpable, though, is the media allowing the President's actions to go unchecked.



The book is not a liberal attempt to bash a conservative president. Instead, it's a warning for all Americans, and the title says as much. The reader is reminded that the media has "become a docile lapdog of government" while "failing at keeping Americans informed." Unfortunately, it's a matter of preaching to the choir here on the Huffington Post, especially since the appendix includes this site as one of the few independent online news sources. However, one wonders if those who stay tuned to Fox News, CNN or any other corporate-owned news source realize that the bottom line is what determines "newsworthy" without having the public's interest in mind.



Just a few decades ago, how we got our news was radically different. This was all the more apparent when I was watching a recent documentary in honor of Walter Cronkite's 90th birthday. One moment in history that the program recalled was when Cronkite reported on CBS Evening News that there wasn't a role for U.S. troops in Vietnam anymore. Former President Lyndon Johnson responded, "That's the end of the war."



Often, Cronkite is praised for his journalistic integrity. How sad that he has to be an anomaly. Yet, reporters today should remember that it wasn't so much the man, but the message he carried that made the difference. After all, "that's the way it is" meant simply that, rather than, "that's the way we want it to be."



Now when the mainstream media reports from Afghanistan, Iraq, or anywhere around the world, including here in the United States, it is in cooperation with the government. How different it was when Cronkite was reporting to how it is now where reporters kowtow to the administration without questioning its actions. Americans have to work especially hard to get to the truth in order to make informed decisions. We have to educate ourselves to see the difference between propaganda and real news. The question is, are we willing to do so? Or will we surrender, like A.J. Soprano, because it's just easier to do so?



Many people are still talking about the last episode of The Sopranos. For me, the scene that had the most impact was when A.J., who had begun to take a political interest in the world around him, reverted to his apathetic state. Slouched once again on the couch in front of the TV, he laughed at footage of rappin' Rove dancing with David Gregory. Like A.J., many Americans find that it's easier being entertained rather than investing ambition.



The Last Days of Democracy is an unsettling albeit informative book. Instead of cowering in hopeless fear of "what if," it provides ways to combat what could be the inevitable. In other words, independent journalists must do the work the mainstream media has abandoned, since the authors caution, "Without a functioning media, there is no stopping government from divesting us of our freedom."

THE LAST DAYS OF DEMOCRACY: HOW BIG MEDIA AND POWER-HUNGRY GOVERNMENT ARE TURNING AMERICA INTO A DICTATORSHIP surveys how Constitutional promises and premises are being eroded by both private and federal special interests. The author is director of the Institute of Critical Thinking: his title charts events and places a call to action for any who value democratic ideals, and is perfect for both high school and college-level debates and collections strong in American political and social issues.

Elliot D. Cohen is the first person that you can turn to when wanting a heavy opinion on a topic that is on the minds of most people. Whether he is bashing republicans or democrats, he is surely going to toss out the excessive statistics. With his own personal website and Ph.D, his job is classified along the lines of an ethicist, political analyst and a media critic. Highly recognized, he is a first prizewinner of the 2007 Project Censored Award. Project Censored's subtitle on their website says it all, "The News That Didn't Make The News."
This author is all about uncovering hidden and atrocious stories that the media fails to distribute among the public. There is always talk amongst society about how biased the media has become and how you can never get a neutral viewpoint, and "The Last Days of Democracy: How Big Media and Power-hungry Government Are Turning America into a Dictatorship" is by far no exception to this idea. However, his most recent books are "Critical Thinking Unleashed" and "Ethics and the Legal Profession" that analyze other aspects of personal and social obstacles that people face every day.
As the editor-in-chief of the "International Journal of Applied Philosophy", ethics editor for "Free Inquiry" magazine, and the author or editor of many books in journalism, professional ethics, and philosophical counseling, it is no wonder he was able to create books that talked highly about philosophy and obstacles the normal person faces daily.
Another prominent topic brought up in his books, however, is politics and the media. Cohen is quoted almost directly into this book saying: "The media was conceived from the start to be an adversary of government, to serve as a watchdog of the people, but this noble guardian of democracy has lost its teeth and has now become a docile lapdog of government." The perfect visual was needed to create the perfect mood in a book that informs the American people of the danger in government control over our media. Cohen teaches us that government power is not something to be taken lightly when it threatens our freedoms and our rights.
America needs reawakened journalists to understand that stepping up and being apart of something bigger than yourself is what is needed the most. According to the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists, under "Seek Truth and Report it," it is quoted: "Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. And they "should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know." Having read Cohen, we come to realize the openness that is needed in the newsrooms of CNN, Fox News and CBS.
In full detail, Cohen gives us the inside look into the republican regime that occurred these past eight years and some of the secrets that we failed to be notified about. The Bush administration set up a great precedent for destroying American rights that the Obama administration is carrying on. Although this book was completely one sided in tearing apart the republicans, looking for more information about the author showed that he is a writer that looks into both sides of ideas and issues which is what our nation needs.
His pride in journalism cannot be matched by those who are afraid to speak out against the fact that we as a people, are not informed by what our government is up to. Cohen states bluntly, "Democracy implies autonomous rule by the people. People cannot decide freely if they are not adequately informed. They cannot decide freely if government controls the flow of information they receive." Can this not be any truer? How do we know we are getting the truth when the government, republican or democrat, can monitor our monitors?
Is it just the government controlling our lives more and more or is there something else? What about our consumption that is turning us into materialistic beings? It is big corporations that own our news programs, therefore: "One of the most pernicious illusions that has been created for popular consumption, and an illusion that makes it all the more difficult to see the deception that permeates our lives, is the idea that Americans are radically free, that we are always free to make a meaningful choice regardless of the `information' we receive." Big business needs to be put away with and not allowed to control our media and consumption. As a society, we feel that we have control over what they make when in all reality it is completely opposite.
A dictatorship, as in stated in the title of this book, may certainly be around the corner if everything Cohen claims and backs up is correct. With a government that runs its people like puppets, manipulation is easy, and the people are uncaring to the issues anything can happen. Are we going to stand by and let it happen?

American's should always applaud a book like this, speaking truth to power, the only purpose of which is to inform a duped public. But, of course, the public doesn't realize it's duped. While Plato's Cave is very relevant, there is a little too much time spent on the media itself. In addition to the mass suggestion of the government-controlled media, other techniques of subtle mind control are equally powerful, such as the establishment's rewriting of history (Oswald did it; Pearl Harbor was a suprise, etc.) and control of the language (surge, cut and run, if we don't fight them there we'll have to fight them here, etc). These tactics and George Orwell are emphasized in a similar book, Don't Weep for Me, America: How Democracy in America Became the Prince (While We Slept).

While people experience immediate "crimestop" at the word "dictatorship" to describe an American government, there simply is no better term for a political system where the president can execute signing statements (at will, to infinity). The ignorant public has no concept of this inherent subversion. Authors Cohen and Fraser do an excellent job explaining why dictatorship is a more appropriate term than democracy, and they are right on the money. They also provide great sources and analysis to support the stolen elections of the past several years (though they're very naive if they think a Gore presidency with neo-con handler, Joe Lieberman as Veep would have made any difference.

Their "illusion of freedom" sums it all up. That's what America has become in the 21st century.

I heard all these arguments before. During the era of Bob Dillon songs and flower power, but here this is no excuse. They are being loose with the facts, not providing evidence for any agruments, and not drawing conclussions without any facts to back them up at all. At best they are naive, at worst they are drawing upon the work of Karl Marx to agrue in favor of communisism.