Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsHarsh Assessment of GOP Tactics Is Tough Read For Those With Romantic View of Republican Party
Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2018
This is a book which aims to show how the Republican Party has recently used tactics associated historically with fascism. The American left, historically and currently, has certainly been guilty of overreach, hubris, and worse, but this book’s absence of details about that topic is not in itself a reason to dismiss it. An excellent book on that subject could be written, and has been written, many times.
I submit that if you are unwilling to accept a harsh assessment of the GOP’s uses of fascist methods, unless it’s beveled by a list of bad things about Democrats, this book isn’t for you. If you require criticism of this sort to provide equal time for criticism of people on the other side, that says more about your psychological needs than it does about the value of this book.
Lastly, and dully, I’ll add this. I’m a leftist, but I don’t romanticize the left, or demonize conservative ideas. You don’t have to do either of those things to be appalled by the GOP’s attacks on science, expertise, intellectualism, “the media,” and so forth. Fascism is not the same as conservatism, but the GOP nonetheless seems willing to sully American conservatism by borrowing fascism’s methods, presumably because they are highly effective ways to gain and hold into power. People who don’t want to hear that will find ways to discredit this book.
