THE END OF AMERICA
Letter Of Warning To A Young Patriot
By Naomi Wolf
Chelsea Green Publishing 2007
White River Junction, Vermont

Soon President George W. Bush will have left the oval office and many if not most Americas will breathe a sigh of relief, a good number will kneel and give thanks. I suspect that the overwhelming majority of decent, thinking Americans will say ‘the system is working’, ‘we have democratically elected a new administration’, ‘the pendulum will swing back and all will be well with the world’, even if they themselves did not bother to vote, they remain steadfast in the belief that all is good for American democracy.

But sadly all is not good with America, and those who believe it is should read this book.

With a title The End of America the casual observer might assume this to be an anti-American book, in fact this is the most pro-American book I have reviewed in a long while. It is both patriotic and revolutionary, it is conservative in that it calls for a return to the beliefs of the founding fathers, and calls on all Americans to return to first principles. Many trust the post Bush administration will be able to reverse the drift from democracy, Naomi Wolf author of the best selling The Beauty Myth is sceptical, and she calling on all citizens to defend democracy and the American way of life against a creeping fascism.

To many, if not most Americans, the claim that America is evolving into fascism is a little hard to take. Mention fascism and we conjure up visions of jackboots, goose-stepping, black shirts, and World War Two with its millions dead. Clearly a definition is required, Wolf takes as a starting point the Columbia Encyclopedia definition of fascism a philosophy of government that glorifies the state and the nation and assigns to the state control over every aspect of national life…. Its essentially vague and emotional nature facilitates the development of unique national varieties, whose leaders often deny indignantly that they are at all fascists.

Wolf identifies ten steps that in whole and in part represent a shift to non-freedom at each step she presents its historical echo from Mussolini’s Italy in the 1920’s; Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Germany in the 1930’s all evoked a frightening correspondence. Some might say, she draws a long bow, this would be a superficial reading, we might not like the parallels, but they are real and frightening, the Germans were good people too, we must never forget that, yet they too were drawn slowly and irrevocably into a the quagmire of dictatorship.

In total they represent a totalitarian top ten: Invoking an external and internal threat then establishing secret prisons, developing a paramilitary force, outscoring much of the traditional role of government, surveillance of ordinary citizens, infiltrating democratic organizations and citizens' groups, arbitrarily detaining and releasing citizens, targeting key individuals, restricting the press, casting criticism as "espionage" and dissent as "treason", from then on it is only a small step to widespread subverting the rule of law. The fascist shift is a protracted process; the keen observer understands that the shift to a fascist dictatorship does not happened overnight. The Germans and Italians did not wake up one morning to a dictatorship, and if they did few would be over concerned by the prospect, for most people life goes on unaffected, they can still watch the ball game, go to the movies and send out for a pizza, lets be honest for most people a comfortable lounge chair, a good feed and a cold beer is as much as most people look forward to after a days work, crumbling civil liberties are the concern of others.

The Founding Fathers, even though they were mostly wealthy, educated, land and slave owners, did not mean for powerful men and women, remote from the citizens, with their own agendas, or for a class of professionals to perform the patriots' tasks, or to protect freedom. They meant for the ordinary people to be forever vigilant. Recently The New York Times (22/04/08) reported a survey of teenagers by the education advocacy group Common Core found that 30% did not know that the Bill of Rights guaranteed freedom of speech and religion, and fewer than half knew that the Civil War took place between 1850 and 1900. Nearly 20 percent of respondents did not know who the U.S. fought in World War II. A clear case, of over attendance at that esteemed institution of higher learning, Fox News, they graduate as malleable, sleepwalking candidates for the new American fascism.

The challenge to democracy from corporate interests and their ideological think tanks; they seldom sleep, at each set back they recoup their forces and return to attack the from a different direction, political sleazes lurking waiting in the shadows waiting to pack rape democracy while proclaiming its virtues. What is it in the American psyche that permits corporations and governments to engage in such hypocritical activities, often bordering on the illegal, whilst affirm allegiance to noble aspirations? Naomi Wolf believes America has little time to repeal the laws and roll back the forces that can bring about the end of the American system.

In all dictatorships, as in war, the first causality is truth, targeting the free press begins with political pressure—loud, angry campaigns for the news to be represented in a way that supporters the group that seeks dominance. Attacks escalate to smears, designed to shame members of the press personally; then editors face pressure to fire journalists who are not parroting the party line. A caste of journalists and editors who support the regime develops, whether out of conviction, a wish for advancement, or fear. And there is much to fear.

It has become common practice to subcontract much of the traditional tasks of government, the tasks normal performed by citizens are a part of the democratic process yet the greedy have found way to make money and gain influence, it is common to see private security firms, private armies and a host of functions performed by private corporations that collectively form a danger to democracy. People say let the lawyers, the scholars, the activists and politicians worry about that, they understand the constitution better then we do. That is the problem, they do understand the constitution and distort democracy to advantage themselves, they claim it is more efficient but it is not democratic. With the America dream morphing into nightmare long before 9/11. For those of us who over the years have witnessed with no small amount of sadness the destruction of those good things about America, those fine words of the Declaration of Independence, the speeches of Dr Martin Luther King Jn, and the cries on the street as expressed in America’s culture, this book is a stark warning.

Already America has traveled some way down the road to fascism maybe it is already too late. But don’t let us place all the blame George W. Bush; he is an easy target, long before George Bush the system had let Americans down. They were let down in the 1930’s when Henry Ford, branded an ‘industrial fascist’ by the New York Times, used the machine guns he’d installed on the roof of his Dearborn factory to kill four and wounding scores of hunger marchers in the early 1930’s. They were let down again in the 1940’s as ten’s of thousands of American citizens of Japanese origin were jailed without trial. Later Senator Joseph McCarthy waged a witch-hunt worthy of Salem trials. Americans were deceived after 9/11, with the smoke still rising from the twin towers President George W. Bush said ‘go shopping,’ he could just as easily said, ‘go mosey on down to the Coliseum they’re feeding deviants and troublemakers to the lions, lighten up, enjoy, buy some popcorn, and relax, while I go about the business of restricting civil liberties, authorizing illegal phone taps and suspending habeas corpus’. I could go on but what is the point American are being let down today by a government beholden to ruthless mega-corporations.

Freedom is not some abstract concept to be discussed in academic circles, or something the government gives you. You are born free. Freedom is a birthright. As soon as we take freedom for granted we have already lost it. People scarcely understand how the precious freedom and liberty are. When freedom and liberty are as common as air they are taken for granted, and people seldom talk about freedom until they start to loose it.

There is an American folk song that says in part

Freedom doesn’t come like a bird on the wing
You have to fight for it, fight for it
And each generation has to do it all again

Failure to understand and act could bring about the End of America.

The End of America is rising in the New York Times bestseller list despite many reviewers refusing review this insightful book. A vindication of her claims, but that’s democracy folks.

There is a scene in the movie Cabaret (a remake of the I am a Camera of the early 1950’s?) where the Liza Minnelli character and friends stop for lunch at a roadside beer garden in the German countryside. As they enter a lone young member of the Hitler Youth brown shirted, blonde hair and blue eyes, a archetypal Arian, starts to sing The future belongs to me, he sings alone until gradually he is joined by the diners in turn, mothers, fathers, girlfriends, middle class tradesmen, a military man, the music swells into an emotionally charged crescendo that made the hair on the back of my neck rise. The only one silent is an old man; head bowed, saddened, he rests on his walking stick, as he realizes he has no future. This scene has stuck to my mind over the years, in the hands of a lesser director it could have been crass, morbid, even sentimental. It remains one of my most memorable and moving cinema experiences. That’s the movies, I hear you say, sure it’s the movies, however if we fail to recognize the danger, if we allow our freedoms to be gradually whittled away, if we turn away to what is going on under our noses, a similar fait could await us. Fascism should it come to America will not be with bully boys goose-stepping in black shirts carrying swastikas, it comes American style, smartly packaged by smooth talking men in suits, some will no doubt be the most trusted men in the community. But be warned they will take away freedom and democracy whilst extolling its virtues.

This book is a call to action, maybe the last chance to restore the semblance of freedom as envisaged by the founding fathers it fitting that I end with The Pledge of the American Freedom Campaign and contact details.

The Pledge of the American Freedom Campaign

We are Americans. We do not torture, imprison people without charge or legal recourse, allow our phones and e mails to be tapped without a court order, and above all we do not give any President unchecked power above the law and Constitution.

I pledge to fight to protect and defend the Constitution from the President's assault.

The Constitution protects American freedom. With checks and bal¬ances, and basic legal rights, it has prevented tyranny and safeguarded our liberty. Yet today, under the pretense of the "war on terror," the White House is dismantling the Constitution, concentrating power in the President, and undermining the rule of law.

I here by join the American Freedom Campaign to educate my neighbours about the threat and urge my representatives to confront and correct these abuses of our America

Appendix

'The American Freedom Campaign

Throughout history, Americans, faith in liberty and justice been tested, and we are living in such a time today. The American Freedom Campaign is a nonpartisan alliance of citizens aimed at restating nine basic American principles:

Fully restore the basic right to trial, habeas corpus, for everyone accused of a crime;

Prohibit torture and the use of secret evidence;

Prohibit the detention of American citizens as "enemy combatants" without proof of criminal activity on the president's say so alone

Prohibit the government from secretly breaking and entering our homes, tapping our phones or e mail, or seizing our computers without a court order, on the president's say so alone;

Prohibit the president from kidnapping, detaining, and torturing abroad;

Prohibit the executive from claiming 'state secrets" to deny justice to victims of government misdeeds, and establish legislative executive committees in the Congress to rule on the withholding of information on claims of "executive privilege" which obstruct Congressional over sight and an open government;

Challenge the constitutionality of signing statements, where the president seeks to disregard duly-enacted provisions of bills, by empowering the House and Senate to challenge them in court;

Prohibit military commissions except in places of active hostilities where a battlefield tribunal is necessary to obtain fresh testimony or prevent anarchy; and,

Amend the Espionage Act to permit journalists to report on classified national security matters without fear of prosecution.

For additional resources on what you can do as an individual and to learn more about the issues addressed in End of America, visit these websites:

American Freedom Campaign www.americanfreedomcampaign.org

Chelsea Green Publishing www.chelseagreen.com

American Civil Liberties Union www.aclu.org

Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org

The Center for Constitutional Rights www.ccr ny.org