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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Trifecta of Imperial Doom
Title: American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century
Author: Kevin Phillips
American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century, penned by lapsed Republican Kevin Phillips, is an interesting and informative read. Nevertheless, the thesis of the book can be summed up in a simple syllogism.
Major Premise: All empires crumble.
Minor Premise: The United States of America has become an empire.
Conclusion: We’re going down, friends.
Phillips’ book excoriates the Republican coalition that has dominated American politics for the past several decades, unified by an unhealthy reliance on oil, radical religion, and ballooning levels of national and consumer debt. If these three trends continue unchecked, Phillips argues, we’re heading for a massive meltdown. I read American Theocracy months and months ago, long before the home mortgage crisis, $125/barrel oil, and the advent of Mike Huckabee. Given the events of the past few months, Phillips just might have a point. It’s a little (ok, very) frightening.
This book is chock full of facts piled upon facts piled upon more facts. My sieve-like memory has retained very few of them, except for the general outline of how imperial Britain, the Netherlands, and Spain exhibited symptoms similar to the United States’ current woes before fading into (relative) imperial obscurity. And the chapters that outlined the history of the oil industry in the United States were surprisingly gripping, full of political shenanigans and examples of our cultural and social reliance upon black gold. In fact, Phillips was so effective in illustrating the United States’ reliance upon oil, and the dire consequences that may hold for our future, that even I began to have an imperial hunger for places like Iraq. If the President was determined to invade Iraq and wreak havoc, the least we could have done was secure cheap oil to feed our addiction! (Don't worry, I snapped out of it soon.)
Phillips’ arguments are appealing and appear to make sense, but I don’t consider myself sufficiently informed to judge whether he’s correct or not. That’s a job for history and better economists than I. Still, my view of the upcoming decades is hardly rosy. The United States might not slip into Phillips’ predicted headlong decline, but we may as well be prepared for the possibility.
A recent editorial by Phillips reminded me that this review was long overdue. I don’t really expect my fellow Ragers to read this behemoth of small type and doomsday commentary, but the article is brief and gives you the general idea.Labels: commentary, evil empire, non-fiction, politics
posted by Elizabeth at
7:30 PM
2 Comments:
"months and months ago"?? What the hell took the post so long?? SPELL CHECK?? Maybe you should just stop reading until your writing has caught up. It should only take you four or five years.
5/21/2008 10:00 AM
First of all, be nice to Elizabeth, Reyn. I have.. you know what? I'm not about to confess how many books I've read that I haven't reviewed lately. When you get to the point where you stop reading because you don't feel like reviewing, drastic measures need to be taken. Plus it's so much more fun to review books you hardly remember!
Secondly, my favorite part of this post (and all that you really needed to write, I think) was:
"Major Premise: All empires crumble.
Minor Premise: The United States of America has become an empire.
Conclusion: We’re going down, friends."
6/01/2008 10:02 PM
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