The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot

Naomi Wolf has written a brilliant "primer" to warn all Americans that the Constitutional freedoms they've enjoyed throughout their American lives are coming to an end. Ms. Wolf endured a vigorous study of the fascist regimes of WWII and noted the striking similarities, sometimes identical, to current US politics. Indeed, the proof is in the pudding. Ms. Wolf identifies ten steps of closing down an open society. Her theme is that as the US ascends to the top of this ten-step ladder, it is undergoing a process she terms a "fascist shift". Her patriotism, scholarship, attention to the most subtle similarities to classic fascism(which must have sent tingling chills down her spine at times), and most of all her courage, should be applauded by all who at the very minimum can at least say they give a damn about this incredibly great country known as the USA (though not for much longer).

But I'm afraid the scope of Ms. Wolf's critical analysis just might be a little too narrow for practical use. What I mean by this is that in reality her "fascist shift" is in fact not a shift from democracy toward fascism as she beleives, but rather a shift from "cold" fascism toward "warm" fascism. "Cold" in the same sense as the "Cold" war. Attention must be directed to the Bible of American fascism, published in 1980, by Bertram Gross, a Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Planning in the Urban Affairs Department of Hunter College and a Professor of Political Science in the Graduate Program of City University of New York. Gross entitled his book "Friendly Fascism" to distinguish it from the vicious and brutal classic fascism of WWII Germany, Italy and Japan. "Friendly Fascism" is about the trends in America (at the time of its writing nearly 30 years ago) that are known causes of fascism. In a nutshell, those trends center around the convergence of Big Business with Big Government, militarism (read Chomsky) and the establishment's management of information, i.e. propaganda-see my review of Propaganda and U.S. Television News and Cold War Propaganda, 1947-1960 (Cambridge Studies in the History of Mass Communication).

Noteworthy, among the vast treasure between its covers, is Gross's comment that "Tactical conflicts arise [in the partnership of Big Business and Big Government] about...the shape of empire; the pace of oligarchic integration; the timing of constitutional subversion; the degree of informational management; the delicate balance between positive reinforcements and the use of violence...".

In Gross's day there was still some semblance of a functioning US Constitution, but most of the Bill of Rights were intact. With the new administration of 2000, this has all changed dramatically. As Ms. Wolf points out, the Bill of Rights have been gutted. Hence, we've reached the point of "timing of constitutional subversion". Cold fascism has become warm fascism. It moves on to "Hot" fascism when the use of violence intensifies.

But this is to be expected. Afterall, isn't democracy just a disguised form of fascism? Isn't capitalism the kindred soul of democracy? And finally, isn't war simply the art of capitalism? (Without war, capitalism would be finished because markets become saturated and there is no room for expansion). So therefore fascism and democracy (the marriage of captialism and war) are two sides of the same coin-the one absolute, the other emerging.

Ms. Wolf has simply warned us that we have entered stage two fascism (warm fascism).

Unfortunately, the gutted Bill of Rights are not the cause, but rather the symptom of our dysfunctional democracy. The separation of powers, the checks and balances no longer apply. Congress is in alliance with the Executive Branch (they allow and even support Bush's policies). Remember, the idea was that the President would be unable to increase his powers because of a legislative power to "check" his/her ambition. Folks, this "check" is long gone. Otherwise, the Democrats who took control of Congress in 2006 would have moved to impeach the criminals in the White House. Same for the "Judiciary" Branch. We have Scalia duck hunting with an Executive Branch member, whose case Scalia has under consideration.

No more separation of powers, no more checks and balances. American fascism will steamroll to "Hot" by January, 2009. Why? It's a new century. The North American Union is under way, and Eurasia must be conquered. Like Zbig Bzrezinski says, "whoever controls Eurasia, controls the world". And every new century brings radical change in America's territory policy:

1800-plus 3 years; purchased Louisianna Territory from Napoleon.
1900-minus 2 years; First move of imperialism, US was agressor in the Spanish-American war and then invaded the Philippines in a 10-year war that has all but been expunged from US history books.
2000-plus 1 year; 9/11 and the race for control of Eurasia, coupled with the melting of Canada, the US, and Mexico into the North American Union, a precursor to Zbig Bzrezinski's Trilateral mission, to combine North America, Japan and Europe into one entity.

It's called the New World Order, America.

EVERYONE should read this book. It doesn't matter what political party you belong to because this is not a partisanship issue. It's about Americans being patriotic. This is a wake up call for any one who is politically apathetic.

Excellent research and compelling parallels. I think that if one actually sits down to read this short manual, they begin to see how history shapes itself, as well as the parallels in everyday governments. I still don't come off of it as something that will give me nightmares at night, but it does get the mind to think how our country can stand for taking away our rights and liberties, especially at such a crucial time.

This was a really great book but I felt that some of the points Naomi makes are a little far fetched, mainly here ideas of emetics being used to degrade and humiliate people. Other than a select FEW arguments such as the one listed above I feel that her ideas are spot on. Many of the things she elucidates are indeed quite frightening and occurring right on our doorstep. A great read and eye opener. I would recommend this book to all citizens concerned about the path that our country is on.

TEoA is a call-to-arms for everyone who claims to love America, freedom, and democracy. Thoughtful and well-presented, Wolf goes through her "ten steps" of Fascism, drawing our attention to frightening similarities between the America of George W. Bush and the common practices of past totalitarian governments. She's not saying that America has become a Fascist country, far from it, but she is pointing out dangerous trends that, if allowed to continue, could erode the traditional liberties of a free society.

What struck me is: I was aware of (almost) all of the abuses of American freedom the Wolf discusses but I had never considered them all together. You hear of this infringement of our rights here and that invasion of our privacy there but they pop up in a kind of isolated fashion, not really registering in the collective mind. Presented together in this kind of organized manner, however, you really begin to get a sense of how profound the dangers are.

Thank heaven for term limits. (I shudder to think what four or eight more years of G.W. Bush might do to America...)

Highly recommended.