David A. NeiwertReseñas

So thorough it's boring. Neiwert presents his evidence like a journalist would and his writing is clear but it's a bit amorphous in scope with far too many lengthy examples. An index would make it more useful and I'm puzzled it doesn't have one.

Neiwert covers his topic of alt-right terror organizations and conspiracy theories with his usual scholarship and flair. This book feels like something of a continuation of his other work "Alt-America", this time focusing in on the conspiracy theories that radicalize the furthest and most hateful fringes of the Right. Something that sets this apart from other books chronicling the history of these hate groups is a section towards the end with advice and suggestions about how we as a society and as individuals can stop the spread of these dangerous "theories". I enjoy the way Neiwert writes, I just wish his topics of research weren't so distressingly prevalent.

Utterly horrifying, shocking and disgusting this book is as necessary to read as it is difficult to stomach. David Neiwert, a journalist who has had the unenviable task of researching and reporting on American racist and right wing extremist groups for decades, brings his vast experience and knowledge to bear on the dangerous phenomenon of the “Alt-Right”. As exhausting and infuriating as it is to read about the numerous hate groups that have formed in America it is also crucial to understanding the apparently spontaneous mobs of Tiki Torch wielding racists we all witnessed in Charlottesville in August of 2017. What seemed like an out of the blue explosion of hate and vitriol really had its roots in various right wing, anti-government minded organizations from the 80’s and 90’s. These groups, long exiled to the fringes of society and awareness have shown a disturbing resurgence and shift to the mainstream in the wake of innovations like the internet and social media and, of course, the incendiary, hateful presidential campaign of Donald Trump. While I do disagree with one claim the author makes in his conclusion, that empathy and understanding are our most potent and essential tools to stand against the rising tide of MAGA hatted, pepe idolizing young neo Nazis (and I only disagree because I think it downplays the imminent physical danger these groups pose, especially to minorities and women), this book is an indispensable history of and treatise on this terrifying and newest wave of hate plaguing our country.

This is the 2nd book I've read by David Neiwert (other was Alt-America) and both of them were seriously amazing and spot on. This book was written in 2010 and I couldn't believe how everything he has predicted in this book has came true, or worse. After the Capitol riots on the 6th earlier this month, people should revisit this book and at least give the 2 authors big props for being so correct it's scary.

Unfuckingbelievable!!! Such an amazing book that I don't know what other way I can convey it.

This is the 2nd book I've read by David Neiwert (other was Alt-America) and both of them were seriously amazing and spot on. This book was written in 2010 and I couldn't believe how everything he has predicted in this book has came true, or worse. After the Capitol riots on the 6th earlier this month, people should revisit this book and at least give the 2 authors big props for being so correct it's scary.

Unfuckingbelievable!!! Such an amazing book that I don't know what other way I can convey it.

The Age of Insurrection by David Neiwert is an essential read for anyone interested in understanding the radical right, especially with an eye toward thwarting their continued terrorism.

This book primarily covers the period from the 1970s until now, largely because Neiwert has firsthand knowledge of this period from his research and journalism activity. This means that, while including explanations of many of the conspiracies and ideas, this is much more "on the ground" than many books. Those books are important, we have to be able to think both abstractly about the ideas as well as pragmatically about the actions. Neiwert offers some of both but is focused on the actions and strategies of the radical right.

Ideally this book will be read not simply to understand these movements but to formulate countermeasures. This will hopefully serve as a call to action (or to arms if the radical right continues to insist on armed confrontation) for activists and a wake-up call for any politicians or policymakers who might be conservative but still prefer the idea of a democracy over some form of authoritarian rule.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in what is happening in the US (as well as the rest of the world). If you have high blood pressure (as I do), just make sure you're taking your meds because this book will anger you as well as make you question those around you who pretend to not be like these extremists but still spew the same nonsense (we all know these people, probably related to a few of them).

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

It's surprising how far back Neiwert starts this book, but it makes sense. Movements built on eliminationism, misogyny and racism have been around for a long time. In this context, Neiwert is able to illustrate that extreme right-wing movements have always helped skew American political discourse and theory towards extremism even as the fringe championing it was publicly denounced.

What you have as a result is more of a historical look at the ingredients that constructed and fueled the rise of the Alt-Right and it makes Neiwert's analysis far more useful and interesting than shallower reads such as Angela Nagle's Kill all Normies. The "this" of the proverbial rant against pro-Trump/Fascist political forces is not just a sudden radicalization or disaffection of the right. Neiwert gives you two big tools: history and analysis of authoritarian psychology to explain the appeal that extermination, hatred of women and fear of minorities will always hold in a country where the right-wing traditionally absorbs such sentiment as almost normative.

Neiwert explores how the American far-right has been growing since the 1990's and how that growth and influence has been accelerated by the presidency of Donald J. Trump. It's useful for insights into the nature of such groups, but the analysis is marred by the shrill leftist partisanship of the author. That said, it's a good overview of "alt-right" networks, personalities, and history. As a thumbnail sketch of a social movement, I'd recommend it. I'm far less likely to recommend some of the progressive assumptions that form key vectors of Neiwert's reasoning, such as his endorsement of the notion that all forms of discrimination are equivalent.

David Neiwert has decades of journalistic experience studying the far right in the US, from his original Pacific Northwest, through the border militia, and now to the latest nationwide trumpian / alt-right iteration of the fascist right. So, he knows what he's talking about. The focus of RPBP is more the new conspiracism that is the emotional / ideological glue binding this fascist movement together. The book was published in 2020 but reads as very prescient after the 1/6 insurrection.
Fascist movements in the US have a long history which Neiwert details in the book (so it's not just Trump), but, of course, previous movements did not have the "benefits" of the Internet and the various social media sites where they have flourished and been able to recruit.
Going through the recent wave of right-wing killings, Neiwert details how the perpetrators were "red-pilled", which led to mass killings (so it's not just weird theories). New conspiracism has deadly consequences.
Neiwert also details the main peddlers of the new conspiracism (Infowars, the incel / men's rights segments of Reddit or 4chan).
The book is not just doom and gloom (kinda) as the last and longest chapter details how to combat red-pilling and get red-pilled people back into normie territory (mostly, leave it professional). I will cop to not being super convinced by personality / psychological explanations. I lean much more towards the sociological ones (the "who benefits?" question is always central to me) but the set of 15 steps might appeal to people who have had red-pilled people they care about.
Overall, Neiwert doesn't go through what is already public knowledge but also inserts a lot of information from experts working on radicalization / deradicalization. At the time of the decaying end of the Trump presidency and as he walks away, leaving us with the mess, this is an extremely important and timely book.
Disclaimer: I've been reading Neiwert ever since the olden days of his Orcinus blog and past book, Eliminationists and I'm a fan.

Excellent work of on-the-ground reporting on the Flores murder, in the context of the emergence (and demise) of the right-wing, nativist, Minutemen movement.

Author Neiwert is an investigative reporter who has been working the beat of the rightward fringe of American politics for decades. This book published in 2020 saw all too clearly the "conspiracist" contribution to what eventuated in the Capitol violence of January 2021--not that there's any reason to think that episode exhausted the impulse.

The subtitle is "How to Counteract the Conspiracy Theories That Are Killing Us," but most of the book is in fact dedicated to establishing that "Conspiracy Theories ... Are Killing Us." Not only have conspiracist subcultures and rationales contributed to most US mass murder incidents in the last three decades, but conspiracism is killing the country's polity--degrading civic identity and thwarting democratic possibilities.

Neiwert begins the book with the important acknowledgement that there are in fact many real conspiracies, past and present. He distinguishes these and their discovery from the conspiracist worldview of fabulist paranoia. He also draws a line between the "old conspiracism" (epitomized by obsessive JFK assassination and UFO investigators) and the "new conspiracist" Infowars and Q-anon crowds. And he offers a digestible cultural history of conspiracist thinking in the US that goes back to the eighteenth century.

Only in the final chapter does the book provide any "How to Counteract" ideas and material, and these are of the difficult no-silver-bullet variety. Thanks to pandemic-driven isolation, outrage-mongering social media, and the bizarre twists of surveillance capitalism, we are all epistemologists now. This book is a sober overview of the biggest hazards in the increasingly difficult work of orienting society towards genuine events and shared goals, rather than paranoid hallucinations and cultural fracture.

This is the 2nd book I've read by David Neiwert (other was Alt-America) and both of them were seriously amazing and spot on. This book was written in 2010 and I couldn't believe how everything he has predicted in this book has came true, or worse. After the Capitol riots on the 6th earlier this month, people should revisit this book and at least give the 2 authors big props for being so correct it's scary.

Intelligence is not a trait solely linked to humans, it is present across the whole animal kingdom. Some of the mammals with the highest intellect are the cetaceans, in particular dolphins and Killer Whales. Better known as the Orca, these beautiful creatures have been tormented and persecuted by us for a long time, but things are changing as we learn more about their amazing abilities. It was known that they travel around in small family pods, but it has only recently been discovered that there are several sub-species of orca. Each of these sub-species has developed their own language and culture, have astonishing echolocation and form lifelong bonds.

In the wild they are ruthless hunters, they have developed sophisticated hunting techniques for a particular prey. For example orca in one part of the world will eat fish, they have a penchant for salmon and in other parts of the wild, they hunt seals, seabirds and even moose. Yet they are gentle and kind with there being almost no known incidents of people being killed in the wild. There have been a few deaths, but these have happened in places where they have been held captive. There is a large chapter on those orcas that have been taken from the wild and held in captivity; holding a creature as magnificent as this in a concrete tank is equally cruel and unnecessary.

This is a fascinating book on these awesome creatures. Neiwert clearly explains the latest research and explores the myths and legends associated with them, as well as information on the perilous state that they are in because of our scant concern for the environment. There are some heart-stopping and wondrous moments he has experienced with them whilst bobbing around in his kayak in the ocean near his home. It is a thoroughly enjoyable book on these stunning whales.

Fascinating insight into the history of, and the rise of, the extreme right-wing of USA politics.

Normally, I find political books to be dry and boring. This was an engaging read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Politics, in general, isn't my cup of tea, but the history and rise of the alt-right was very interesting.

Neiwert provides a catalog of the many and diverse extreme right-wing groups active in contemporary America. The result is frightening. Telling their stories and reviewing the events that they have been associated with helps the reader understand today's news articles mentioning these figures. The book's main weakness is that it does not provide any quantitative information about how big each of these groups actually are or explain how they are funded.

I wish Alt-America were fiction, I would like it so much better if it were telling the story of what happened in another multi-verse, but it’s all terribly true and so it is depressing. However, if we want a just and decent society, we have to look at reality no matter how sad, depressing, and frightening it may be.

David Neiwert has spent decades reporting on rising extremism on the right. When the rhetoric of talk radio became increasingly violent, he coined the term eliminationist to avoid calling them fascist since many of them were not fascists in ideology, just using fascistic communication styles and means. In this book, he notes that the various movements among the right have coalesced into the alt-right, weaving together true fascists and neo-nazis with white nationalists, misogynists, racists, and dominion theologists into a movement that threatens democracy and our system of pluralistic government.

Since I follow the news and Neiwert’s blog closely, many of the events in this book were familiar, but even for me, there were many eye-opening things. Of particular interest for me was how the media narrative often erases the political motivation of mass killers. Even when they have political tracts, books, and their own manifesto, if they are white, they are often reported as troubled and singular, their motives found in mental illness rather than in response to stochastic violent incitement. When Sarah Palin tweeted, “Don’t retreat, RELOAD” she was playing with fire and she knew it, she was appealing to those who applauded Michael Douglas in Falling Down and make millions for vigilante films.

I think Alt-America is an important book, but dang, is it depressing. The alt-right is coalescing several different extremist movements united by a sense of grievance, a taste for violence, and a love of authoritarianism. They are gaining power.

I wish there were more information on how to combat the alt-right and rising extremism. Neiwert is right that conversations are where we must start and includes some advice on how to start and what to avoid. This is useful.

What disappointed me was his acceptance of caricatures of liberals that are generated from the right, you know the elitist latte-drinking, merlot-sipping elites who despise the ignorant hayseeds. I know they exist. They are called the Real Housewives and some of them are Republicans, too. But demographically, conservatives are whiter and wealthier than liberals. So who is more likely to be elitist? He also talks about the neglect of rural areas, though the Democratic Platform was full of programs to help rural America and one of the first things slated for cuts from Trump’s budget is the subsidy for high-speed internet in rural America.

I also would like to know what he thinks about the philosophical dilemma of tolerating the intolerant. When does speech go from protected first amendment speech to unprotected yelling fire in a theater speech? Are universities obligated to give a platform to hate speech? After Richard Spencer’s recent speech in FL, three men fired at protesters. Can the argument be made denying him a platform because he is dangerous?

Nonetheless, these are minor flaws in a strong and important history that everyone needs to read. Neiwert is scrupulous about using the terms Nazi and fascist, but when reading this book, I could not help thinking that the Nazis did not start out with concentration camps, they started out with firing teachers.

I was provided an e-galley of Alt-America by the publisher through NetGalley

Alt-America at Verso Books
David Neiwert Author Site

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2017/11/09/9781786634238/

Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump by David Neiwert is a book I requested from NetGalley and the book's publishers and the review is voluntary. I want to thank them for the chance to read this great book. This book shows the reader that although the 'Alt-Right' seems to have popped right up out of thin air, it has been around for a long time. This takes you back to the the 1990's and follows many of the extremist as the movement grows. Many I have forgotten for a reason, and some I just didn't know that much about at all.

There was one paragraph that sums up the whole book for me :
"Ladies and Gentlemen: In Amercian public life there is an alternative dimension, a mental space beyond fact or logic, where the rules of evidence are replaced by paranoia. Welcome to Alternative America---Alt-America, for short."

It goes on to list what Alt-America believes such as... Obama not an American citizen, a Muslim who is a terrorist and with Clinton is part of the New World Order to impose global government.
Global Climate Change is a hoax.
These same global elites want to gut the second amendment to take all the guns away.
Our current government is really illegal.
Prejudice and oppression against white people now is greater than ever.
Minorities, especially blacks and illegal immigrants are sucking up taxpayers dollars through welfare programs while homeless veterans go hungry.
Illegal immigrants, especially Latinos, are in with liberals and Democrats to overwhelm the country with welfare-dependent parasites to vote liberal agenda.

You have to be so stupid or so racist to believe any of this nonsense! But, Trump got elected and the weak majority in Congress are doing his bidding. What a shame for the once mighty America. Taken down by a bunch of fools! May the 2018 elections bring some sanity to the country if Mueller hasn't restored order by then! Wonderful book to remind us of what happened and why.

The ‘her’ in this case is Shawna Forde and the hell she wrought was self-evolved from a young age. From a troubled life as an infant that eventually lead to teenage prostitution and more than a dozen arrests Shawna grafted and drifted through life until she found a belief, a desire that she could control and make her own, the protection of the borders of the United States at all costs.
Her very beliefs led to the down-spiral that her life evolved into and finally spiraled out of control. Heiwart introduces her to us as she and her band of ne'er -do-wells commitment a home invasion in the tiny Arizona town of Arivaca, murdering in cold blood the man of the house, his nine year old daughter and severely wounding and wife and mother. With broad stokes of description we are given a story that is as intriguing as any suspense novel, tightly woven around the facts behind this true-crime drama.
We are introduced to the Minuteman Project and given a superbly well researched history of history of the modern-day phenomena that sprung to new life after that fatal day that planes crashed into New York’s twin towers. And we are given a background on one of America’s last stalwart Wild West towns, the dusty burb of Arivaca, just twelve miles from the Mexico where a life of smuggling over the border, whether it was drugs or humans, is given a blind-eye or at least disregarded by the locals as normal for the region.
When the two elements finally combined they caused a combustible nativist explosion that led to a showdown from a private militia with the drug runners of area and blew wide open the true nature of a bigoted, psychopath and her delusionary hold on the border watching movement.

The ‘her’ in this case is Shawna Forde and the hell she wrought was self-evolved from a young age. From a troubled life as an infant that eventually lead to teenage prostitution and more than a dozen arrests Shawna grafted and drifted through life until she found a belief, a desire that she could control and make her own, the protection of the borders of the United States at all costs.
Her very beliefs led to the down-spiral that her life evolved into and finally spiraled out of control. Heiwart introduces her to us as she and her band of ne'er -do-wells commitment a home invasion in the tiny Arizona town of Arivaca, murdering in cold blood the man of the house, his nine year old daughter and severely wounding and wife and mother. With broad stokes of description we are given a story that is as intriguing as any suspense novel, tightly woven around the facts behind this true-crime drama.
We are introduced to the Minuteman Project and given a superbly well researched history of history of the modern-day phenomena that sprung to new life after that fatal day that planes crashed into New York’s twin towers. And we are given a background on one of America’s last stalwart Wild West towns, the dusty burb of Arivaca, just twelve miles from the Mexico where a life of smuggling over the border, whether it was drugs or humans, is given a blind-eye or at least disregarded by the locals as normal for the region.
When the two elements finally combined they caused a combustible nativist explosion that led to a showdown from a private militia with the drug runners of area and blew wide open the true nature of a bigoted, psychopath and her delusionary hold on the border watching movement.

David’s purpose for the book seems to be: 1) hold up a mirror to our political discourse and make the case that violent rhetoric can provoke violent action 2) remind us of our historical propensity for utilizing violence to eliminate the unwanted and 3) respond to the increasing use of “Nazi” and “Fascism” epithets by directly addressing Jonah Goldberg’s book “Liberal Fascism”.

David draws heavily on the academic work of Robert O. Paxton (Columbia), Roger Griffin (Oxford Brookes University) and James Alfred Aho (Idaho State). Here’s how he builds his case:

Chapter 1: Explores how language and ideology which used to be confined to the political fringes has become mainstream.
Chapter 2: Explains how this migration from fringe to mainstream happens.
Chapter 3: Discusses the principal personalities responsible for mainstreaming extremist rhetoric in media, religion, and via the internet.
Chapter 4: Discusses the comingling of the radical right with mainstream and the growth of black/white, us vs. them thinking.
Chapter 5: Argues that the conservative movement has morphed into extremism.
Chapter 6: Follows the taxonomy of Fascism as described by Robert Paxton (see The Five Stages of Fascism) to describe how Fascism is understood by academics and directly challenging the book by Jonah Goldberg that Fascism is a political movement of the extreme left.
Chapter 7: Builds on Chapter 6 to explore how the rhetoric of today’s right lends itself toward Fascist ideation and growing militarization.
Chapter 8: Discusses the history of the elimination of people deemed “enemy” in US history. Here he covers the history Native Americans, African Americans, Chinese and Japanese. Regrettably he doesn’t discuss the expulsion of Mexican Americans from the Southwest following Texas independence and the forced deportation of Mexican Americans during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, an episode of which few are aware.
Chapter 9: Discusses the current uses of “eliminationist rhetoric” by the political right.
Chapter 10: Concludes the book by arguing that a virulent and violent type of Fascism can “happen here” and pleads for the return of civility to political discourse. Drawing on Martin Buber and James Aho he warns of the ways we demonize political opponents and calls on all of us to adopt Buber’s I-Thou relationship in dealing with one another as human beings as opposed to objectified “others”.

Recommendation: Chapters 6-8 seemed to me to be the heart of the book and are well worth the read. I especially appreciated the discussion of what Fascism truly is and share David’s concern with the increasing violence of our political discourse. Violent speech can and does legitimize violent acts in the mind of many. Undoubtedly the historical discussion of Chapter 7 will be news to many and is worth the price of the book all by itself.

Another really great read which could have contributed meaningfully to David’s case, particularly in the first 4 chapters, “Argument Culture” by linguist Deborah Tannen. Lastly, for a thorough discussion of the history of the various ethnicities (David's Ch. 8)see this excellent work; "A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America" by historian Ronald Takaki (UC Berkeley).

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.
This is a non-fiction, true crime book about Shawna Forde and the murders of a family in Arizona.
For me this wasn't really as much about the crime but about the author using this as a platform to rant about his personal beliefs regarding illegal immigrants.
When writing a book of this nature, I feel it is important to stick to just the facts and let the facts lead the reader to the appropriate conclusion. The author should make an attempt at least to remain objective. The author is just the messenger.
You wouldn't have to work too hard to paint a picture of Shawna and her cold blooded nature. Also, the portrait of a nine year old child being murdered for no other reason than she may have been a witness was also chilling and sad and would prompt anyone to feel total outrage.
The last thing the patrol needs is a bunch of crazy vigilante groups taking the law into their own hands.
Overall a C-

I know I am not the only person to ask themselves “Why are these people complete insane?” while watching the news (or, while watching the bits of Fox News crazy that The Daily Show cherry picks for our amusement). I know this because John Amato and David Neiwert wrote Over the Cliff. Surely, they started with the same “What the hell?” sentiment that so many non-conservatives—and probably quite a few fiscal conservatives have felt since this century began and George W. Bush took office. What happened? How did we get here? More importantly, how can we get out?

Over the Cliff was published in 2010, so while a few things have changed since it came out, the analysis and coverage of the events leading up to Obama’s election and his first year in office are on point. Amato and Neiwert are both internauts of the original liberal blogosphere (do we have a better word for this yet?), with Amato being the creator of the Crooks and Liars blog. They both seem to have a fair bit of news watching street cred and, hey, they lived this period—and more importantly they were paying attention (unlike me, finishing college and having an existential crisis).

The first thing that stood out to me from reading the coverage of the Obama campaign was just how racist it was. I remembered that it had been racist, but seeing the vitriol compiled in text was alarming. I’m used to racism operating in its normal, insidious way, but seeing flat out racism is, for me, really shocking. Of course, much of the blatantly racist quotes are stated in that crazy, nonsensical way that we have come to know and love from Republicans. For a fine example: “Obama wins, I’m gonna move to Alaska. Haven’t you heard that the United States is gonna be taken down from within? What better way to get taken down from within than having the President of the United States be the one that’s going to do it?” Irrefutable logic, truly.

As much as it is fun to giggle at the apparent stupidity of some of these people, Over the Cliff makes the point that when networks like Fox News prominently feature incendiary rhetoric, people who hold these same beliefs feel validated, like their beliefs are correct and right because someone on national television is sharing in the same sentiments. As such, the book takes aim at people like Glenn Beck, in particular, for giving a forum to this militant fringe crazy bullshit.

A lot of these right-wing extremists subscribe to the “lone wolf” ideology, which is a form of “leaderless resistance.” By operating alone, it is difficult to pin down some kind of hierarchy that could be targeted by law enforcement, but it also means that a quite often crimes or terrorist acts committed by extremists often aren’t connected with the ideology because they appear to be a one-off event by a crazy person. In fact, the “oh, that guy is just crazy!” defense seems to be a popular one. The book discussed a few instances where there was a shoot-out or someone reacted with what was an apparently disproportionate response for the situation, at least based on the way the news reported it. Whereas in many such cases, the perpetrator can be connected with extreme right wing ideology, either via activity on the Stormfront forums or similar sites. What’s really convenient about that for the people on TV fanning the flames of these people is that they can just say “He’s a crazy person! Not my fault!” and move on from the subject. Glenn Beck did this pretty often. Unfortunately, unless you’re paying extremely close attention (or you are in on the right-wing extremist secret handshakes) they do seem like unrelated crazy people flying off the handle, making things seem just insane, when they represent a pattern of violence based on an extreme ideology.

Another theme of the book is Fox News’ promotion of the Tea Party. It seems like they never would have gone anywhere if it hadn’t been for Fox promoting their events and really signing on with the message (anyone remember the Tea Party Express?). With the emergence of the Tea Party movement, the “Birther” issue and the “Obama is a socialist/Marxist/Hitler” rhetoric took on a life of their own in the insane signage that many of the participants carried. Again, Amato and Neiwert make it clear that this is really a function of racism. These people did not have a cogent message other than “Oh no, black man!” Thus, they equated Obama with all the worst political things they could think of and continually tried to cast doubt on his legitimacy. Racism all the way.

When the issue of passing some health care legislation came up in is when the Tea Party found its voice. The authors express that after the initial tax day protests and the 9/12 foolishness, the Tea Party was losing momentum and lacked any kind of focus, but unfortunately for the rest of us, the health care debates invigorated them. The Tea Party leadership actually distributed guidelines to people on how to be maximally disruptive during town hall events so that there could be no civil discourse. From a rational point of view, it is really hard to understand why you would want to shut down a discussion where people might be sharing actual information. Even after reading this book, I still don’t totally understand that, but it seems to be fueled by racism and the espousal of just really extreme beliefs. I’m sure there’s a certain element of mental instability as well, but I’ll go ahead and admit that’s mostly speculation.

It ends on a not very hopeful note, cautioning us against being dragged down by right-wing madness, but also giving a call to action to everyone else. I think now, a few years down the line, things are more optimistic in some ways, but the same in some others. First of all, Glenn Beck—the book’s villain—no longer has a show on Fox News. For this, we all rejoice. I think that Obama’s landslide re-election beat back some of the crazier sentiments that emerged during his first term. The people have spoken! We’ve now elected a black man to the presidency twice, any person of color who comes after Obama will not have it as bad as he did. He has made it possible for everyone else. In news that is both hopeful and profoundly depressing, Mother Jones offered this article on the outcome of adopting many Tea Party policies in Florida. The state cut taxes, 4 million people are without health care, $3 billion was taken from education, and agencies that serve disabled people were hugely cut. While there is nothing hopeful about this news for Florida, I hope that everyone else in the country sees this and realizes that this is the “logical” extension of the policies of the Tea Party. Hopefully, over the next few election cycles, Florida digs its way out of this madness and the rest of us can let the Tea Party become a historical footnote.
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