I’ve been reading again. Man! I just love reading. Unfortunately, there just isn’t as much free time what with kids climbing on me and house needing cleaning and all that ordinary stuff. My friend gave me a gift card for the bookstore and I am just itching to use it. The problem is… which book(s) should I get?! I walk into a bookstore and can just spend hours there poring over different books of all genres. SO MANY BOOKS – SO LITTLE TIME!
Well, I did find the time to read this book, The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf. Ms. Wolf is a big time political writer. She wrote The Beauty Myth, a major study on feminism and also worked as a political consultant for Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
It was an easy read; I tore right through it. And I was captivated the whole time. Every so often I would say to myself, “Yep, that’s happening now!” Very motivating stuff. My biggest criticism is that she does tend to generalize politics into two categories, Democrats are good / Republicans are bad. Unfortunately I don’t see it this way. Politicians are bad and power corrupts. The only way to make a difference is to look beyond the political labels and find the real patriotic statesman (or woman) who will truly let American’s be truly free. Clinton did his fair share of moving this country toward fascism and tyranny. It’s not just Bush. In my opinion, they are all crooks working together to take away our God given liberty. (Except Ron Paul – my own shameless plug for this very different man in politics).
Funny enough I watched the Star Wars saga right after reading this book. Let me tell you – there was a parallel. Naomi Wolf maps out the predictable steps of ALL would be tyrants. And then I watched Senator Palpatine work his way legally through the Senate to make himself the evil and tyrannical Galactic Emperor. (My favorite line is Senator Amidala lamenting, “So this is how liberty dies – to thunderous applause.”)
Here are the steps that Naomi maps out for us:
1. Invoke an external and internal threat.
2. Establish secret prisons.
3. Develop a paramilitary force.
4. Surveil ordinary citizens.
5. Infiltrate citizens’ groups.
6. Arbitrarily detain and release citizens.
7. Target key individuals.
8. Restrict the press.
9. Cast criticism as “espionage” and dissent as “treason”.
10. Subvert the rule of law.
People, we are well on our way to the end result. It’s a scary thought. But it is our duty to take action. It is our right and responsibility to ensure our own freedoms, or we will lose them all. This is a guide to make us aware so that we are able to do our part as citizens and patriots of this country. Naomi Wolf even ends the book with a call to action, “The Patriot’s Task”.
“So it turns out we really are at war–a long war, a global war, a war for our civilization. It is a war to save our democracy. Each one of us needs to enlist. We have no one to spare.”
If you’ve got time, watch Ms. Wolf speak on this topic. It’s a bit long, about 48 minutes. But it’s worth watching. And read the book. It goes into much more detail then her discussion.
Parenting & Education 
Yes, The End of America is an excellent read. It is very powerful and has motivated myself to start working against such government oppression.
You mentioned two things that I must comment on. First, you say “power corrupts”. Now, that phrase was more or less orignally said by Lord Acton, a British historian of the late 19th century. He says: “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In short, power doesn’t corrupt everyone. There still is hope.
Also, you commented on Ron Paul. Yes, Ron Paul has many good ideas that I agree with; and he has informally quoted Ms. Wolf on numerous occasions. However, be careful when idealizing him as a perfect candidate to turn the country around. Ron Paul has several ideas that conflict with the ideas this book portrays, most importantly his desire to get rid of the 14th amendment (as a solution to immigration). That is an very dangerous policy, because it gives the government power to chose who they will protect under the exclusive dome of citizenship. Just dwell on that for a moment.
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/border-security-and-immigration-reform/
Otherwise, keep posting and keep America free!