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Liars! Cheaters! Evildoers!: Demonization and the End of Civil Debate in American Politics

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Ever since Election Day of last year, I've been reluctant to pick up a political book. Walking through the bookstore, glancing at all the antiquated and soon-to-be-discarded anti-Bush titles, titles prophesizing the future triumph of the left, even seeing the occasional Kerry-Edwards bumper sticker reminded me of more hopeful times, hopes that the election had dashed. However, I did recently pick up and read, from cover to cover, a book on politics. Liars! Cheaters! Evildoers!: Demonization and the End of Civil Debate in American Politics, by Tom DeLuca and John Buell, is a thoughtful analysis of demonization in American politics today. It traces the history of demonization in American politics, uncovering and outlining the social structures that allow for demonization of a moral and personal nature to occur. It also looks at several groups that have been targeted for demonization: immigrants, the poor. And it examines the rhetoric of demonization in the war on terror, the Clinton Impeachment, and the 2004 elections. The authors, in concluding the book, suggest how we can overcome this and live in a world that is freer of demonization. Deep, insightful, and informative, this book is a must-read for anyone mildly interested in politics.

For anyone interested in American Politics and baffled by the current acrimonious political climate pervading US politics, Liars! Cheaters! Evildoers! is a must-read. The authors offer a comprehensive and accessible analysis of "demonization" in American politics and successfully show how democracy is the loser in this process. The book is both thought-provoking and refreshing and the chapter on America's moral paradox offers a fascinating insight that should be mandatory reading for foreign students interested in American politics. Finally, De Luca and Buell advocate for a return to more civility in political debate and offer a set of recommendations for change, including a call for Rights to Opportunity that put the real issues back on track and offer food for thought, whether one is a conservative or a liberal.

Although I agree with other reviewers that this is a much-needed and thoughtful study of a serious problem in American political discourse, I found the text tough going. I suspect that previous reviewers might have some background in Political Science that I lack. Although I have a PhD from the University of Chicago, it's in a Humanities field, and not Social Sciences.

The title suggests a lively, down-to-earth volume, with a lot of specific examples, but instead the book turns out to be dry, abstract, highly theoretical, and filled with the kind of jargon academics use in communicating with one another, while shutting out the general public.

Despite this problem, the book does have many interesting insights to offer, particularly on the role president Bush's religious fundamentalism plays in his political behavior. But that's old news. Anybody who's been paying attention in the years since Bush became president knows that he and his circle are determined to turn the United States into a fundamentalist theocracy, and are succeeding at a terrifying rate.

In a televised speech, co-author Tom De Luca noted: "It's not demonization when you have the goods on somebody." De Luca's book did not succeed in changing my opinion that America is now in the hands of the most absolutely and irredeemably evil people ever to hold power in the entire history of this country-- and we DO "have the goods" on them. But the opposition (the spineless and cowering Democrats) lacks the courage to do anything with the edivence.

This book rewards close reading but be warned-- you're going to have to work to get the message!

A first rate review of the present state of discourse in American politics. "Liars! Cheaters! Evildoers" frames the decline of civility in the American public conversation in terms of American history. Clearly, however, the authors think we live in the worst of times and that it augurs ill for democracy. The remedy, the authors believe is not for the critics to offer pap, but for issues to framed with a higher regard to for fact over name calling. It shouldn't be that hard; but it does call for a bit of discipline from all parties, left, right, and the center; indeed, the center tend to be just as wedded to self righteousness, condescension and polite excommunication of the those who don't agree, as liberal and conservative partisans. This is finely honed call for the restoration of dignity and respect in the vital arena of discourse, where either the cheap or the cowardly prevail over those who would do the hard work of sustained, reasoned discourse. Destined to be classic. One of the finest books on American political life in the last 25 years.

Someone finally tells the truth and lays it out so that the rational person can "get it". This is a great read and comes highly recommended.

This book does an excellent job of putting demonization in a historical context. If you have been getting fed up with the stupidity of current political discourse you will find this book a helpful guide for understanding that this problem is not limited to either party and that there is a way out.
Jan Adler

In "Liars! Cheaters! Evildoers!" authors Tom De Luca and John Buell admirably examine the corrosive phenomena of "demonization" in American politics and the harm it has done to our civic discourse and democratic institutions. The scope of their work is breathtaking as they trace the trajectory of "political demonology" in America from its infancy as a clash between puritan conservatism and hedonistic liberalism, to its contemporary manifestation in the virulent culture wars of recent decades as "culture warriors" on both sides of the political divide disparage and demonize their foes. Delving deeper, De Luca and Buell uncover a "moral paradox" inherent in our national character that appears to fuel our need to transform political opponents into enemies. The authors contend that our political culture has now reached a zero-sum impasse engendered by the approximate parity of the two political parties as each seeks victory through mobilizing their core constituencies by exploiting wedge issues and engaging in character-driven politics. Liberals, conservatives, and moderates have all been guilty of this, while those victimized and demonized are very often the most vulnerable among us. De Luca and Buell offer a thoughtful antidote to the polarized partisanship that has seized hold of us. Their goal, a "more generous democratic politics" forged out of a new political covenant based upon true equity and opportunity, is a noble one. This well-crafted and insightful book should be read by everyone who feels strongly that our political discourse must match our best ideals.

"Liars! Cheaters! Evildoers!" by Tom DeLuca and John Buell is a welcome antidote to the shrill ideological slugfests that fill the airwaves disguised as political discourse. Their simple formula, "proper condemnation requires appropriate distinctions," is a call to end the simplistic retreat to demonization in civil debate, and demands that we aspire to, and require, a higher standard of discourse from ourselves, colleagues, elected officials and the media. This book offers valuable analysis and a hopeful conclusion to so many of us who despair of the current political climate.

Liars, Cheaters and Evil doers helps us chart a course for civil debate...not a polyanna treatise, but the importance of real debate,
calling things the way you see them based on information, reason and justice, not hysteria in which relative truth is subjected to the acid tongoue and the basist instincs, but one that tries to articulate points of view in which people of good intent can forcefully disagree in a way that promotes truth rather than inflames the worst in us. It is an ancient desire and De
Luca and Buell should be commended for risking to take up this mantel in these dangerous times.

Before reading Liars! Cheaters! Evildoers! I was certainly conscious that the tone of our political discourse has always left much to be desired. In the back of my mind, until the last few years when the demonization deepened, I assumed this was to be expected in adversarial situations like politics and we had to live with it. The last few years, though, has only left me feeling hopeless that the situation has progressed beyond the possibility of it ever being civilized.
Since reading Liars! Cheaters! Evildoers! I have become aware that there are so many facets that contribute to the current climate than I ever dreamed of. It is like trickles of water washing down from the melting snows of the mountains. A trickle here, a trickle there, and soon it unites and a mighty river flows. We seem to be in that might river now feeling a force that seems beyond our control.
That is not necessarily so. Reading the thorough and deep analysis of political demonization by Tom De Luca and John Buell will educate on all of the ways in which this situation came about. You can't solve a problem unless you first understand it. This book does that and more. It offers insightful solutions.
This is a must-read book for anyone who cares about having a country that does right by all of its citizens. We can't have serious debate over issues that affect all of us if we can't learn to be civilized, respectful of differing opinions and, most of all, to listen to each other with an open heart. Liars! Cheaters! Evildoers! is a first, and major, step toward that end.