Taking America Back (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "I LOVE AMERICA..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, Boy Scouts, Federal Reserve (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's time for a revolution, declares Farah, co-author of This Land is Our Land: How to End the War on Private Property and founder of WorldNetDaily.com ("an independent newssite committed to...reporting on government waste, fraud and abuse"). In this fiery volume, he calls on Americans to embrace God, get government out of their lives and clean up the moral wasteland he feels the country has become. Beginning and ending with a firm belief in the Constitution and the power of religious faith, Farah stakes out a rigidly populist view of reform as he rails against conservatives and libertarians alike (while reserving special venom for liberals) for undermining the country's strength, its moral core and the "revolutionary creed of freedom and responsibility" on which it was founded. Indeed, Farah feels that the federal government is "intentionally encouraging and spreading immorality" and "turning us into slaves." His proposal for change includes, but is not limited to: abolishing the income tax and the IRS, withdrawing from all international treaties and institutions, repealing all gun laws and ending federal funding for schools, the arts, conservation, housing and agriculture. What's left, you ask? Farah calls for churches and religious institutions to assume a broader role in molding the national character, including actively censoring the entertainment industry and having a direct role in education and family life. There's certainly a choir out there to whom Farah can preach, but most readers will find both his positions and his rhetoric uncomfortably extreme.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

In Taking America Back, Joseph Farah provides readers with an opportunity to better understand the root causes of America’s political and social decline. He also tells how the founders’ vision for America is still appropriate for today’s postmodern world. Farah encourages Americans to rededicate themselves to constitutional government and the moral principles on which this country was founded. Taking America Back is about more than just how to think about the problems overwhelming our country; it is also about what to do to make them right.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: WND Books/Thomas Nelson; 1st edition (February 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785263926
• ISBN-13: 978-0785263920
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #931,588 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Powerful Book Because the Truth is Divisive, March 11, 2004

By	Greg Perry (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The reason that some are uncomfortable with Taking America Back is understandable - in the same way that theives are uncomfortable when police approach them. The guilty among us do not like truth pointed out when that truth uncovers our weaknesses, sins, and fears.

I've read other reviews of Taking America Back and the one thing that strikes me about the negative ones is the name-calling and the veiled threats, but no substanative alternatives. That kind of reviewer generally doesn't want an alternative because he prefers the status quo.... An America that has become a post-moral nation where anything goes (except morality and Judeo-Christian values).

Joseph Farah does not only describe today's America. If he did that, then this book would mirror so many others. Instead, he also prescribes. And his prescription, how to take America back so that right and wrong are once again honored, is a prescription that WE KNOW works because for 200 years, that prescription made America the greatest nation on earth.

The status quo elites and the ones who feed off them will attack this book because they no longer see right and wrong as having meaning. They do not want America as a world leader anymore. They livelihoods often depend on their very dependence upon our nation remaining weak, immoral, and deteriorating with every border crossing, every government school that fails once again, every abortion mill that pumps out another 4,000 murders a day, and the worship of every religion on earth imaginable as long as that religion excludes the Biblical model.

37 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a how-to manual but it won't be easy, February 21, 2003

By	e denison (Santa Barbara, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This book will make you think. It should inspire you to act now. It is certainly not like any other book you've read lately. Joseph Farah actually lays out a plan for regaining the liberties we have already lost. It is a radical plan but considering the breathtaking loss of liberties we as a nation have already suffered at the hands of our government, it willl take a radical plan to get us back on track. I could hardly put it down and have already started to reread it.

A previous reviewer called it "fascism wrapped in an American flag". I don't see how that person could have even read the book at all. The dictionary defines fascism as "A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism." This entire book is about empowering the people to begin to take back power that's already been lost to the government. It exalts individual rights
and personal responsibility. Calling it "fascism wrapped in a flag" is just inflammatory and is exactly the opposite of Farah's vision for this country.

I only hope that Farah's book in fact does spark a revolution in people. One that will embolden us to fight to regain the liberties we've already lost. Sadly I think what Farah suggests is just too much work for the average American who likes to talk freely about what's wrong with the country but when it comes to taking any action well... that's another story.

38 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Farah offers bold prescription for America, February 25, 2003

By	Inquiring Mind (China Grove, NC United States) - See all my reviews

Joseph Farah zeroes in on what is wrong with America. He might surprise a lot of people in revealing who the American people need to take America back from--our beloved federal government in Washington, DC. Civil War buffs will get some strong hints from this book as to why the eleven states of the old Confederacy seceded from the Union in 1860-61. The problem is a national government that is out of control. Farah offers a lot of ideas about what we who value our freedom must do to take America back. He says that the process must begin with a lot of Americans on their knees fervently praying to God for help. Farah is a deeply religious man and he makes no apology for it, despite liberal claims that it destroys his credibility. Ironically, he concludes that ultimately, if all else fails, there is only one solution left--secession. He is not the first American thinker of this generation who has recently suggested secession as a possible remedy to exorbitant federal power. The problem is that the national government has, for many years now, ignored the Constitution and assumed many powers it is not entitled to by the Constitution. Quoting heavily from the Federalist Papers and other writings of the Founding Fathers, he shows that they fully intended to limit federal powers to those few the Constitution delegated to Congress. The states, on the other hand, received the power to take care of most of the issues that directly affected the people in their daily lives. The 10th Amendment to the Constitution, the most ignored item in the Constitution, makes it clear where most political power is supposed to lie--with the states and with the people. Instead, the federal government, under the control of liberals from both parties (many of whom call themselves conservatives)has unconstitutionally established its control over almost everything that we do. State governments have been reduced to little more than extensions of the federal bureaucracy. A few examples of federal power exercised in total violation of the Constitution, according to Farah, include control over education in the states; the creation of the Federal Reserve System, a privately owned banking system that enriches and empowers a few bankers at the expense of the many; and the income tax, the 16th Amendment not withstanding. If Congress was to repeal every law it has passed that violates the Constitution, it would have little time to do anything else for several years. That would be a blessing. Farah says that everytime Congress passes a law, "we the people" lose more of our freedom. When was the last time Congress repealed a law? By the way, a major part of the federal power grab has come from the Supreme Court legislating. The courts have absolutely no Constitutional power to legislate. There are a lot of court decisions that need to be repealed, too. The Founding Fathers set up a system of checks and balances intended to protect the people from the government. Farah points out that the check of last resort left open to the states and to the people was and is secession. He believes that it is a legal option that is still open to all 50 states (despite the Civil War). That is not as far fetched as it may seem. Secession is certainly the last option. There is much to be done before that point is ever reached. But Joseh Farah builds an irrefutable case for the contention that there is some serious taking back that must be done. Otherwise, the American people will wake up some day and realize that they live under a far greater tyranny than anything King George III ever threatened the 13 colonies with. Thomas Jefferson wrote that a little revolution every now and then is a good thing. Farah agrees. This is a book that should be read by every American citizen, especially every politician. Let the taking back begin.