The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule
by Thomas Frank
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Book Summary Information
Author: Thomas FrankEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-08-05
ISBN: 0805079882
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Book Reviews of The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule
Book Review: If You Are of a Certain Age...
Summary: 5 Stars
I am of the age, that I was actively involved in the PIRG on campus when I was in college. We were idealistic pushing for reform in public transportation and maybe some green issues. I don't remember details. Its AMAZING to realize that our little, leftist push to try to create a slightly better world, was being countered by the sycophantic madness of Jack Abramhoff and his American and South African corporate backers.
We were holding demonstrations to end apartheid, never thinking that our actions would generate massive corporate support to undermine our activities. And, yet, in hindsight, we kept wondering how these boneheads kept winning. It's easy to see. They were focused, greedy and willing to do what it takes to jump on the Reagan gravy train.
For those who didn't live through that era, there was a real sense that the Reaganomic's train was leaving the station and you'd better be on it, or your life was going to be ruined. Many of us thought a career in engineering or some other high paying field was the ticket to the promised land. But it turns out there was another whole game being played on a skewed playing field. My thinking at the time was, "Well sure I'm a liberal, but I'm in engineering, so I'll do great."
Ha!
The issues that I have struggled with as an adult, have been those that have been ruined by the destruction of the federal goverment: the lousy education my children have received, the inequity in taxation and compensation that has seen the diminution of the middleclass, our attempt to keep up with the Jones' through creditcard debt and home equity borrowing and the resulting divorce rate with disillusioned couples who see the neighbors moving into ever bigger McMansions and don't see that the game is rigged.
We laughed in 1984, and "Oohed" and "Aahed" at the Apple ad during the Super Bowl (the woman, with the hammer, with the screen, &c). What we didn't realize was that Orwell's '1984' was taking place before our eyes and through the disingenious misinformation of the conservative movement, we have been trumpeting our own demise ever since. The question now is, will the Orwellian nightmare continue for our children or can we rescue the Republic?
If, as some say, the Obama administration is our only chance to make a difference in our lifetimes: then we will fail. Liberals need to act now to return our country to a land governed by and for the people, instead of the corporations.
I think the author would approve if I ended my review with a quote from the only band that mattered:
The men at the factory are old and cunning
You don't owe nothing, boy get running
Its the best years of your life they want to steal
All these years we've been working for the clampdown. If you can read this book and come away with a different conclusion then I'm sorry, but you have been culturally lobotimized; you might as well have "DITTO" tattooed on your forehead.
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