Why We're Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America
by Eric Alterman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Eric AltermanEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-03-13
ISBN: 0670018600
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Viking Adult
Book Reviews of Why We're Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America
Book Review: Exactly Why Are They Liberals ?
Summary: 5 Stars
The first question this title (by a noted Ph.D., pundit, and intellectual) brings to mind is: don't they know why they are liberals. Or, shouldn't they have thought about it before they became liberals. Or, honestly, what are they - idiots. To conservatives, liberals are, quite simply, and impolitely, people who don't think or who can't think very well. So, you have to give Mr. Alterman much credit for being a liberal who is so proud, pugnacious, and intellectual that he is one of the very few in their ranks to even consider that there ought to be a reason for being a liberal beyond,for example, hating the way Bush struts and talks or their own perfect hindsight about the war in Iraq that 1) the Congress voted for and continues to fund, 2) deposed a Nazi-like dictator, 3) we are now winning after a surge which liberals said could never work, 4) still might spread democracy throughout the Middle East and 5) may, in the fullness of time be a decisive front in the on-going war on terror.
The book starts out with the admission that there is no doctrine to liberalism and so it really can't be taught or explained on, for example, talk radio the way conservatism can, but that it is, nevertheless, extremely nuanced and intellectual to the point where it just defies classification or even description. It is, in short, a critique of pure reason applied to every new issue in a creative and inexplicable way and, rest assure, a very very thoughtful way that has always yielded superior results throughout American History. Mr. Alterman's assumption seems to be that if you've got an IQ over 125 you probably "get it" and you're in the liberal club; if not, you're a dolt conservative. He would undoubtedly appreciate the Denise Richards reality show whose subtitle is, "its complicated."
To demonstrate the transcendent creativity of liberal thought, and its integral connection to the founding, the author approvingly quotes Thomas Jefferson's dictum that the gov't which governs best governs least, but then goes on to assure the reader that creative liberalism can also mean the opposite too. It all depends on the situation, and there are lots of opposing situations. The opposite presumably is the monarchical, communist, or liberal notion: the gov't which governs best governs most. "It's complicated", as Denise Richards and Mr. Alterman like to imply.
In a court room there are two sides to every issue: the prosecution and the defense. There is a reason for that which Socrates explained long ago. In this book like, admittedly, so many books there is the prosecution and the straw man, and for 400 long pages. What you get is an exhaustive stream of one sided liberal diarrhea, albeit a well done one befitting a serious minded Ph.D., but one from which it is, nevertheless, impossible to learn a thing. However, if you want to know about Rush Limbaugh's sex life or how Newt Gingrich told his second wife he wanted a divorce or any other gossip that might reflect badly on Republicans, directly or indirectly, this book is for you. It may well go down in liberal history as the comprehensive official record of the Bush years. No detail is too trivial or too irrelevant to be of interest to the author .
In the end the meandering author almost proves his point that there is no doctrine or organized philosophy to explain why they are liberals. If there was he would surely have know it and explained it, or so it seems. So, you are left with a liberal passion that can only be fueled by self-righteous hatred which in turn must be fueled by mistaking feelings or reactive judgements (toward Bush's verbal skills, for example) for thoughts or reasonable arguments.
What the author blatantly refuses to say, while claiming to be patriotic and Jeffersonian, is that he is a liberal socialist who hates America like so many liberals do. He thinks nothing of telling us, for example, how superior the countries of Europe are to our own country. American inferiority has always been taken as a given among liberals. To them the old world is the new world simply because it has more tax and spend programs. In reality, describing liberalism is no more complicated than that, but still, liberals must obfuscate to survive.
At one point the author chastises Hillary for deceptively describing herself as a "progressive" when asked if she was a liberal. He notes, very tactically, that "progressive" polls much better than "liberal" but argues that conservatives can demonize that word too with their "slander machine" so liberals might as well draw a line in the sand at "liberal" rather than "pointlessly dodge." Mr. Alterman doesn't seem to realize that his whole book is worse than a pointless dodge in that it is too fearful to even offer a definition of liberalism; yet arrogantly certain that its repugnant smears ought to result in public policy.
Conservatives since the Magna Carta have stood clearly and openly for freedom from gov't; whether it was a government run by monarchs, communists, liberals, or progressives. Mr. Alterman knows full well that he is a big gov't liberal socialist, but he also knows how badly those labels poll and how badly tax and spend gov't welfare programs poll in a country based on freedom. Rather than be honest about this Mr. Alterman completely ignores it and instead has skillfully written a 400 page personal attack on Republicans, which he must have figured was a liberal's only option given that, 1) he stands four squarely against freedom in a country based on freedom, and, 2) the unpopularity of this particular Republican President presents an extraordinary, once in a life time, opportunity for an emotional rant to sink into the minds of independent voters who flip-flop based on their current emotions .
In his grand finale Alterman assures us, inexplicably, that on "issue after issue after issue" America is really liberal, but that 59% of Americans believe gov't stands in the way of their getting ahead? He then, I swear, says liberalism is the natural political philosophy of America because it "stands for freedom of thought, science and technology, teamwork, the wisdom of the many, the sanctity of the individual, realism and yet idealism , and reform." Astonishingly, he also claims liberalism had the strength to defeat communism (even though it was Reagan who defeated communism while liberals argued for co-existence with their sister ideology for which they spied and were sometimes hung ) and is open to its' own evolution, and is patriotic but not blind to its faults.
What all that desperate milquetoast nonsense demonstrates is not that liberalism can't be defined as Mr. Alterman contended in the beginning, but that it is too anti-American to be honestly defined in America. Conservatives can at least be happy about that as they contemplate a President Obama who seemingly will capitalize on the particular vulnerabilities of President Bush - which have noting to do with conservatism- while also choosing not to explain why he is the most liberal Senator in America.
Ted Baiamonte
bje1000@aol.com
th512
Summary of Why We're Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America
The bestselling author demolishes myths about liberalism in a spirited polemicThanks to the machinations of the right, there is no dirtier word in American politics today than ?liberal??yet public opinion polls consistently show that the majority of Americans hold liberal views on everything from health care to foreign policy. In this feisty, accessible primer, bestselling author Eric Alterman sets out to restore liberalism to its rightful honored place in our political life as the politics of America?s everyday citizens.
In Why We?re Liberals Alterman examines liberalism?s development and demonstrates how its partisans have come to represent not just the mainstream, but also the majority of Americans today. In a crisply argued though extensively documented counterattack on right-wing spin and misinformation, Alterman briskly disposes of such canards as ?Liberals Hate God? and ?Liberals Are Soft on Terrorism,? reclaiming liberalism from the false definitions foisted upon it by the right and repeated everywhere else. Why We?re Liberals brings clarity and perspective to what has often been a one-sided debate for nothing less than the heart and soul of America. Why We?re Liberals is the perfect election-year book for all of those ready to fight back against the conservative mud-slinging machine and claim their voice in the political debate.
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