AN IMPORTANT BOOK FOR ALL OF OUR TOMORROWS

I want to point out as I have in the past when writing on the subject of politics that I am a Liberal Democrat. I mention this at the first of this review because on its face, "The Assault On Reason" is a political book by a politician that we all know.

However, while politics and politicians play a very important role in the book, the overall theme is much more important to all phases of life. That theme is stated fairly simply in the Introduction to the book as follows:

"Why do reason, logic, and truth seem to play a sharply diminished role in the way America now makes important decisions?"

The premise of that statement, of course, pre-supposes that reason, logic and truth are playing a smaller role in decision making in this country. Gore does not place all of the blame on President Bush as we also have a Congress which shares that blame. But, the inevitable conclusion that something is haywire in our country. As Mr. Gore points out in that same introduction:

"...future historians will certainly describe as a series of catastrophically mistaken decisions on issues of war and peace, the global climate and human survival, freedom and barbarity, justice and fairness."

Another basic premise of the book is that the reduction of reading and the overwhelming intrusion of television and radio into our lives has lessened reasoning ability. Gore's argument is that reading requires more of a "two-way" communication between the author and the reader's interpretation. On the other hand, both television and radio bombard us with information at a rapid rate that precludes anything but a "one-way" discussion.

With so much information in his powerful introduction, Mr. Gore follows up with these chapters:

1. The Politics of Fear

2. Blinding the Faithful

3. The Politics of Wealth

4. Convenient Untruths

5. The Assault on the Individual

6. National Insecurity

7. The Carbon Crises

8. Democracy in the Balance

9. A Well-Connected Citizenry

Conclusion: The Rebirth of Democracy

Although this book is only 276 pages, I will not be able to give anything more than a cursory examination of each chapter. What I must emphasize, however, is that the book contains one of the most thorough treatments of what is wrong in this country that I have ever read. Mr. Gore does not stop there, however, but he also includes proposed solutions to our myriad of problems.

Chapter One-The Politics of Fear

The chapter begins with this sentence:

"Fear is the most powerful enemy of reason."

Who can argue with that? Significantly, since the events of 9/11, President Bush and many others have played the "fear" card to an unprecedented degree. An example of this use of fear is Bush's unfounded claim that Saddam Hussein was personally responsible for the attacks on 9/11. Seventy-five percent of Americans believed this with nothing but groundless assertions by the man who was supposed to be leading them based on reason.

Mr. Gore contrasts what some truly great leaders of our past said and did about fear. FDR made the statement early in his administration that "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." When Winston Churchill was leading his nation against the juggernaut of the Nazis, he pointed out that the use of fear must not be a pretext to introduce "far-reaching" social or political changes."

Mr, Gore points out that President Bush and the previously led Republican Congress have used fear to change the way our justice system is run and to withhold rights that the founders of our country considered sacrosanct.

Chapter Two-Blinding the Faithful

As I read books, I make notations in the margins to remind me of what is important. In this book, I wrote marginal notations on practically every page. In this chapter, I describe the following partial paragraph as the "nutshell" of Gore's argument:

"He (Bush) waged the politics of blind faith. He used a counterfeit combination of misdirected vengeance and misguided dogma to dominate the national discussion, bypass reason, silence dissent, and intimidate those who questioned his logic both inside and outside the administration."

Mr. Gore specifically describes how a combination of "War hawks (thing Cheney), religious right-wing fundamentalists, "journalists" such as Rush Limbaugh who were nothing but propagandists for Bush, and a few super-rich corporations combined to wage this "faith-based" war on reason through fear.

Chapter Three-The Politics of Wealth

I'm only going to mention one argument that Mr. Gore puts forth in this chapter in order to shorten my review. Mr. Bush and his cronies have "assumed an ignorant public." How else could he label a bill that increases air pollution "the clean skies initiative"-"or call a bill that increased clear-cutting of national forests "the healthy forests initiative." Corporate American greed was behind these and other acts just as they were upfront in the political contributions to Bush-Chaney.

Chapter Four-Convenient Untruths

In an obvious play on words with Mr. Gore's movie and book entitled "An Inconvenient Truth,", Gore leads us through the litany of "untruths (aka "lies") which led to the war in Iraq. The already mentioned "Saddam-9/11" phantom connection, the "Weapons of mass destruction", the "democratization" of a people broken into groups that have hated each other for centuries.

Chapter Five-The Assault on the Individual

This chapter, perhaps as no other, describes the extreme price paid by Americans as the result of Mr. Bush's personal attack on reason. Beyond the fact that he was the cheerleader for a war which should have never been fought, here, in another nutshell is how this president has assaulted each American:

"President Bush has declared that he has a heretofore unrecognized inherent power to seize and imprison any American citizen whom he alone determines to be a threat to our nation--without an arrest warrant, without notifying them of what charges have been filed against them, and without ever informing their families that they have been imprisoned."

If that paragraph along with Mr. Bush's total repudiation of the Geneva Convention concerning torture doesn't frighten you, then you had better check your pulse. Other presidents have temporarily suspended rights but never to the extent nor the duration of this president.

Chapter Six-National Insecurity

I've got to shorten this so I'll just point out that Mr. Gore points out in this chapter that Bush has squandered all the good will towards the United States as a result of 9/11 and instead "willingly traded in respect for the U.S. in favor of fear." Exhibit one? The insane new doctrine of "preemptive strike" against a nation that was no threat to us. That doctrine leads the world to the obvious implication that should Bush or some future president deem them a threat, the good ol' USA can attack at will.

I going to stop with my chapter by chapter review of the book. Suffice it to say, Mr. Gore includes a chapter on the "carbon crises" that he and millions of folks around the world yesterday addressed with concerts. He also believes that the Internet (which he never said that he invented) can play the most important role in "re-democratizing the U.S. through the use of blogs and meaningful two-way communication.

While I have written a very long review on the contents of this book, I must point out that, in my opinion, Mr. Gore has written a masterpiece of political dialogue with this work. My only minor criticism is that Mr. Gore repeats himself in the various chapters due to the overlapping nature of many of the chapters.

However, on the whole the book is an intelligently written, well-researched work of non-fiction which should be the basis of a strong re-examination of our political system and our way of life. Although I am a liberal Democrat, I believe that Americans from all political positions could benefit from reading this book. Out very freedoms are at stake.

I personally believe that this is one of the most important books that I have ever read. I wholeheartedly recommend it and that you pass it on.

FIVE STARS