Customer Reviews

Reaganism and the Death of Representative Democracy

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

 

 

This writer makes some good points relative to government's responsibility to protect the people from unbridled capitalism. However, he goes way too far in trying to trace our current economic troubles to Ronald Reagan. Also, do not make the mistake of confusing this author with the brilliant syndicated African American columnist Walter E. Williams, and Amazon errs in suggesting a link between their writings. Walter E. Williams would find much in this book antipathetic to his own beliefs. Walter Williams is no Walter (E.) Williams.

FYI, I thought I was getting some kind of unique political insight from Walter E. Williams, unfortunately I was wrong. This is not the author I expected. This book is not about freedom and personal responsibility. It is another proponent of mob rule. Without the middle E. you do not get an excellent author.

I bought this booking thinking that it would be an interesting read on a view contrary to most about Reaganomics. However, the author as another commentor said, goes way to far in trying to blame everything wrong with America on Reagan, also he stretches his connection with events to Reaganism to the extreme. Quotes and theories are taken so far out of context it is laughably inaccurate. The book wsan't as interesting as I had hoped, more of a leftist rant on our mid-right nation.

Some people throw it one-star with the hopes you wont buy the book. FoxNews told them that. Excellent read. One of the best political books of all-time.

I too, looked at this book because I saw a link from a page of a book by the brilliant libertarian Walter E. Williams. I got the book out of the library, and decided to give it a shot.

I can't say that I have read the whole book. Frankly, I doubt anyone has been able make it through this unspeakably badly-written garbage. Georgetown U. Press prints schlock like this? Pathetic!

What I fiound most annoying is how completely predictable the book was. The claimed connection between Reagan and George W. Bush, the LEAST conservative president in the history of the US, is just one example. The author obviously doesn't what Conservatism is, outside of the NYT definition: "everybody we don't like".

This history/critique of the last generation of American politics makes central the shift in public institutions since the onset of the era of Reaganism. The drift toward the right and the systematic attack on the New Deal obviously have their roots earlier, but it is the interval of Reagan ascendancy that reshaped the American governmental system in a decisive, and destructive manner. The creation of a plutocracy using all the tools of propaganda to make that seem a populist initiative is the most insidious aspect of the operation. Trenchant analysis, and unafraid to face the facts.