5 stars I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley. I didn't love it, and I don't feel terribly hopeful now that I've read it, but I cannot say there's anything wrong with it. It's educational and easy to read and understand. Hartmann goes back in time to demonstrate the various times the oligarchy of the United States attempted to trample over democracy. He explains in a way that I'd never before heard, the Confederacy was a group of oligarchs who compelled the poor southerners to fight for them to continue to make huge amounts of money, and he explains how the invention of the cotton gin was largely to blame for this. It was fascinating. He also covers some important points that are not revelatory, but useful to have in one place. "Oligarchies find debt one of the easiest ways to control their citizens, particularly where there are laws that criminalize failure to pay." Of course, keeping people poorly educated is another tool of oligarchs. He demonstrates, with data, how the south has invested significantly less in public education and keeps more of its citizens in poverty. But here was the part that I found most useful, in which Hartmann describes the process by which oligarchs take over a democracy and turn it to tyranny: "Oligarchs fund media, lobbyists, and think tanks that seize the public dialogue while burrowing deeply in the popular media and academia. They use the power of that money to further weaken laws keeping money out of politics. They move from ownership of individual politicians to ownership of an entire political party. They use that party to seize control of government itself and then 'deconstruct the administrative state.' Without the state protecting the people, and with the state controlling elections in a way that widely disenfranchises the victims of the oligarchy, democracy becomes a sham exercise and a police state emerges to enforce the new economic and social order." In a book like this, I don't think it's necessary to worry about spoilers so I will tell you what he suggests we do. "First, we challenge oligarchs and tyrants head-on through expanding the right to vote, the right to unionize, and the obligation of the very wealthy to pay reasonable taxes. Then we provide Americans with the life that citizens of every other advanced democracy already enjoy: free healthcare, free education, good public transportation, greening infrastructure, and a democratic government that responds to all of its citizens wants and needs." Another thing that I found stunning was Hartmann's observation about the GOP logo. In 2000, they flipped the stars on their logo from the polar star to the pentagram. No one in the GOP has been willing or able to explain to him why this was done. There were many references to other books from Mr. Hartmann, other “hidden histories” to learn more about subjects which he barely explored in this book—Supreme Court, guns, healthcare, voting rights, and monopolies. At times, I felt as if he were trying to sell me on the complete series, implying that I only had a small part of the knowledge necessary to understand the whole picture, and understanding everything is essential if I wish to take meaningful action. I’m sure those books are equally interesting, but the fact that there are so many of them is a bit overwhelming. I guess the biggest problem I had with this book, despite some very informative and enlightening history, is that the call to arms at the end, though not lackluster, is not exciting enough. I wanted to feel energized and motivated to do something, but instead, I feel a bit depressed and powerless. March 28, 2021
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Elizabeth J ConnorWriter. Editor. Proofreader. Archives
September 2022
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