It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush by Joe Conason

Joe Conason, national correspondent for The New York Observer, begins the gripping introduction to his new book by revisiting Sinclair Lewis’s, 1935 novel It Can Happen Here, written in response to Lewis’ concern about the rise of Italian fascism. Using that as a prelude to his book, Conason breaks his own book into manageable sections beginning with “The Post-9/11 Worldview of Karl Rove”. In this section, Conason explores the notion that by being in a perceived state of perpetual war the citizens of the United States are being told that, for their own protection, they need to surrender their civil liberties.

The second section headed “Lawlessness and Order”, outlines the new restrictions imposed upon the American citizenry under the guise of the Patriot Act. For those of us in the working class, Conason illustrates how our corporate style of government, enables business executives and government officials to collude & pillage through the systematic removal of working class protections; the de-regulation of corporate management; the subsidizing of corporate profits; the privatization of Public service; the cutting of corporate and top-bracket taxes; and the surrender of public assets to private ownership.

The third section, “State Secrets and Unofficial Propaganda”, examines one of the strategic accomplishments of the current administration in manipulating the media to their advantage as they propagate an authoritarian national agenda. This is easily seen in the inappropriate and journalistically illicit relationship between Fox News boss, Roger Ailes, formerly a Republican media consultant, with George W. Bush and the Republicans as the public sector Fox News is used as a dedicated mouthpiece for the state. The problem with American media reporting, though, is not restricted to the blatant partisanship of Fox News but extends to a combination of compliant reporters, extreme governmental secrecy and government-sponsored propaganda that have combined to cripple the functioning of an independent press.

The fourth section, “The Corporate State of Grace”, reviews the historical partnership between corporate America and the religious right and reveals how the Party’s Big Business wing and the Christian Right manage to combine conflicting agendas with Big Business providing the money and the theocrats turning out votes for the Republicans. He goes on to note that those who find fascistic tendencies present in religious bodies should read Richard Steigmann-Gall’s THE HOLY REICH, which demonstrates how fully German Protestants and German Catholics were prepped to accept Nazi policies through their shared beliefs that included a hatred of progress, rationalism, social change, and Jews. Sadly, this same method of religious fanaticism can be seen in America today if one looks at such organizations as the KKK, which is also heralded, by a flag and a cross.

Lastly, the final section, “The Revenge of Nixon’s Heirs”, traces the careers of those behind the idea of a centralized presidential power starting with the reign of the man who asserted there should be no limits on the president in wartime to the current president who is following in those same footsteps. Conason continued by calling for process that would stop this trend toward authoritarian rule and discredit the criminal and antidemocratic practices of the Cheney-Bush making it harder for people like Cheney and Rumsfeld to, years later, come to power determined to succeed where previous tyrants have failed.

Overall Conason successfully supports his condemnations of domestic spying, legalized torture, propaganda, and all the other horrors of the Bush administration with historical facts. Conason then explains how certain factors in U.S. history and culture make us vulnerable to the tyranny of fascism with a firm assertion that fascism can indeed take root and blossom in the U.S. if Americans are not more vigilant about their freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone who questions the dangers faced by the American citizenry in light of the current Bush Administration’s trend toward an Authoritarian state or for those who want a highly organized platform from which to teach others about the dangers of fascism

[tags]It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush, Joe Conason, Fascism, Bush Administration, wiretapping, Patriot Act, propaganda, media and government, church and state, Nixon and Bush[/tags]