With his two latest books, American Dynasty and Wealth and Democracy, Kevin Phillips has perhaps rightly earned the prestigious moniker of America's leading analyst and critic. Now, in his new edition, doom and gloom, some 480 pages long, Kevin Phillips attacks three overlapping, growing forces that threaten to rain on the parade of the American way of life. American Theocracy: The Dangers and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century is still great value at $26.95 retail because it's really three books in one, with enough threads interwoven between the very different but often interconnected substances that help illustrate the coming perfect storm.
As a former Republican strategist and observer for more than 30 years, Kevin Phillips has a keen sense of the current political and economic landscape. In contrast to his dominant historical perspectives, the author is able to succinctly show in his book how past world powers, from the Roman to the British empires, faced and failed in the same critical circumstances now facing the United States at the beginning of the 21st century. America's theocracy shows that virtually every world dominant power is lured by the sirens of global overreach and eventually falls into the traps of resource depletion, debt flight, and militant religion wars.
In Part I of American Theocracy, Kevin Phillips looks at the consequences of our preoccupation with oil, past and present. The book argues that American dominance has been derived from our use and effective use of a newly usable form of energy on the world stage. While other nations were trapped in their inertia of coal, wind and water infrastructure, America quickly realized the versatility of this black gold and took advantage of the nation around it. In fact, with only five percent of the world's population, Americans still consume over 25 percent of the world's oil. But supplying this precious resource has always been a problem. The US theocracy points in particular to the Second World War waged by Japan and Germany to secure control of this vital fossil fuel for modern economies. The book tries to explain that America itself has been heavily involved in its own petro-imperialism in the last century. In addition, the lifeblood of our economy is increasingly difficult to find and obtain, even as world economies demand more. One little-known fact in all of this, as other reserves in the Middle East are depleted, is that Iraq is the last major reservoir of oil on the planet. And all this still practically unused, close to the surface. The US theocracy describes how Iraq was never able to extract much of its oil, with UN sanctions in the 1990s, the war with Iran in the 1980s, and so on. With a thinly disguised cloak of spreading democracy and fighting terror, it's no surprise given our history of petro-imperialism in the Middle East and the fact that (US) corporate profits are estimated at one trillion dollars. who pumps it up that we find ourselves with soldiers in Iraq.
Further complicating matters is Part II of this book, which examines the unprecedented rise of evangelical religion and its growing influence in American politics, particularly under President George W. Bush. Kevin Phillips believes Republicans have an apocalyptic view of the world and are trying to shape domestic and foreign policy around fundamentalist religion. This undue influence of faith over reality and religion over (prudent) reason has resulted in inept politics that serve only to weaken our respect, prestige and effectiveness in the world. This zealous support has brought us into collision with much of Islam, ironically expanded the ranks of terrorists, not to mention many other miscalculations, and put us in danger of a self-fulfilling prophecy. American theocracy describes how we threaten our future because virtually every war is fought over resources or religious ideology. We seem to be short of the former and overabundant of the latter.
In Part III, the American theocracy asserts what is the traditional hallmark of excessive world power: over consumption and massive public and private debt. Huge trade deficits, trillions of dollars in national debt, and financial speculation, exacerbated by the influence of big business and Wall Street in Washington, only exacerbate the problem. The Republican Party, once an icon of sound fiscal policy, has abandoned its ideals by putting the financial health and future of our country at the whim of other countries in order to finance and maintain our status quo around the world.
American Theocracy: The Dangers and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century is not without its critics. Many believe that Kevin Phillips is biased and bigoted in his perspective when addressing the concerns he has about the Christian Right and its influence in America today. Others may feel that he is not always accurate in his facts. But that's to be expected when stirring the pot, and not necessarily always politically correct. Considering the importance of work
You must be logged in to post a comment.