We the People: A Call to Take Back America
by Thom Hartmann

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• ISBN13: 9781882109388
• Condition: New
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Book Reviews of We the People: A Call to Take Back America

Book Review: Hartmann's Call for an American Revival
Summary: 5 Stars

Hartmann is a scholar of early American history with a solid grounding of the philosophy of the Founding Fathers, which he effectively utilizes in drawing important differences and parallels between the early days of the Republic and now. A highlight of this informative work is his valuable insights comparing the Patriot Act of the Bush administration and the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by the Federalists during the administration of President John Adams. Then, as now, attempts were made to squelch opposition as journalists fighing the principle of power immersed in the hands of the privileged few, and allying themselves with the new Democratic Party led by Thomas Jefferson, were arrested and put in jail. The Federalists sought to maintain the very monopolistic practices against which colonists rebelled with the Boston Tea Party, which was the first major act in breaking the stranglehold of Britain's East India Company.

Striking parallels emerge as Hartmann compares the current practices and long-term goals of the Republican right and previous forms of government such as Feudalism, German Nazism and Italian Fascism. While spokesperssons of the right recoil at the associatiion of such totalitarian practices alongisde what they term conservatism, Hartmann contends that Bush-styled Republicanism marks a strong departure from traditional conservative thought. He cites the stated goal of rightist tax advocate and stanch Bush ally Grover Norquist to "drown government in the bathtub." Hartmann notes that Feudalism, Nazism and Fascism bore the similarity of of merging cumulative corporate wealth with a central government. Norquist and other Bush disciples seek to destroy protections traditionally enjoyed by the citizenry, leaving them every bit as vulnerable to a government-corporate elite as were vassals in the Middle Ages.

A frightening corroboration of this viewpoint has been realized. Not that long ago the world's leading corporation was General Motors. Its employees enjoyed the benefits of a Union Shop promulgating safe and healthy work standards, along with a satisfactory minimum wage, medical care, sick leave, and retirement benefits. Currently the largest corporation is Walmart. Its economic dominion is exemplified by the temporary worker stripped of benefits. This enables an all-powerful employer to subject employees to long, burdensome word schedules devoid of the protections and benefits enjoyed by the General Motors work force.

Hartmann sounds another alarm bell in the face of a frightening current trend. In writing about the dangers of theocracies as manifested in the past, Hartmann warns us a about the dangerous trend in this direction as currently observed in the Bush presidency. The very messianic message carried by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels to the German people concerning Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, which was destined to endure for a thousand years, is being delivered by Bush and his evangelical Christian base. Televangelist Pat Robertson recently stated that Bush was certain to win reelection "in a walk" because he is the handpicked emissary of God. Bush told Bob Woodward in an interview that, prior to invading Iraq, after he had been asked if he had requested advice from his father, who was president during the first Gulf War, he responded that he had sought counsel from his "other father," meaning God. With the Christian right so strongly anticipating Armageddon, a pervasive danger exists that entrenched evangelical beliefs will override efforts to achieve peaceful compromise in the Middle East and harness to most sophsticated nuclear weaponry alongside primitive religious beliefs.

Not only does Hartmann make a convincing case for political change and restoring America from a nation dominated by corporate elitism to the democratic tradition embodied by the principles of Jefferson, James Madison and Thomas Paine; he provides grass roots recommendations for citizens to coalesce toward their goal. He cites numerous organizations on the Internet and in America's cities, towns and villages that are dedicated to restoring traditional American democratic principles. As Hartmann notes, the prevailing corporate monolith must be effectively challenged with vigilant, intelligently focused citizen action, and cannot wait for direction in the traditional party structure. A new group of dedicated Americans needs to emerge in the twenty-first century and commit themselves to the restoration of democracy in the same tradition of the Founding Fathers of 1776.

Summary of We the People: A Call to Take Back America

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