Why We're Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America Review
It's all here in spades.
While some books are very thin on facts and heavy on opinion this book is just the opposite- for every point he makes, the author backs it up with numerous and highly memorable statistics, studies, relevant examples from recent and past history before finally giving the reader an overall perspective on each issue. For instance, when he debunks the notion of a liberal media, he does so by not through ranting but through citing studies which tallied the number of liberal talking heads that have appeared on the Sunday shows over the past years, how many hours of total time anyone resembling a liberal gets on cable and network T.V.. When he talks about how little conservatives are willing to deal in shades of gray on issues, he gives numerous very cogent examples of exactly this then goes on to cite studies that show things like people who self-identify themselves as conservatives have less activity in their prefrontal cortexes when they attempt to resolve ambiguous visual stimuli in laboratory conditions, i.e. is that letter an "M" or a "N"?
If you're looking for facts you can use in conversation or debate, you'd better be ready to take notes. Can you remember every hypocritical Congressman or Senator or political figure of the right who attacked Clinton or gays or drug addicts or the left while engaging in exactly the behavior they were self-righteously condemning? Can you remember their names and positions and what they said and exactly what they did? I lived through all the examples he cites and was disgusted by each, but I have to confess I forgot the names and details. To see them all paraded here was edifying and astonishing- I had no idea there were so many of them and that they were so shamelessly hypocritical; I'm now a lot more fun at Thanksgiving dinner. For instance, Newt Gingrich is gearing up to Being Somebody another go. He lead the charge to impeach Clinton. He's also the guy who dumped his first wife, who put him through college, with the words "she's not young enough or pretty enough to be a First Lady" and served her divorce papers at her hospital bed where she was being treated for cancer, then went on to marry a younger woman, then dumped HER later when she came down with MS and finally married another woman 23 years his junior. Still he thought himself in a position to lecture the country, and the Clintons, about the importance of family values and the sanctity of marriage and all that.
Another example: I didn't know that there was a measure of health care which specifically isolates "cure rate of diseases which are amenable to treatment". This is important because it shows very starkly just how mediocre American health care really is compared to other countries. This is not something you'll learn about on Fox.
This is a high quality work. Conservatives will hate it and quite frankly it's hard to imagine them reading it through, so the audience is probably the converted, but it's well worth the time it requires to read it. You'll come away with a ton of facts which, even if you're politically savvy, you probably haven't heard before and which taken together devastate a long list of conservative articles of faith such as, "America was founded as a Christian country" or "Europe is in economic decline" or "the U.S. has the best health care in the world" or "there's a liberal bias in the media" or "the majority of people are conservative" or "the economic golden age of 1945-60 in this country was a result of low taxes and limited government".
A solid work, a moral work, packed with memorable and effective facts. All stuff, no fluff. Enjoy.
Why We're Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America Overview
The bestselling author demolishes myths about liberalism in a spirited polemic
Thanks to the machinations of the right, there is no dirtier word in American politics today than “liberal”—yet public opinion polls consistently show that the majority of Americans hold liberal views on everything from health care to foreign policy. In this feisty, accessible primer, bestselling author Eric Alterman sets out to restore liberalism to its rightful honored place in our political life as the politics of America’s everyday citizens.
In Why We’re Liberals Alterman examines liberalism’s development and demonstrates how its partisans have come to represent not just the mainstream, but also the majority of Americans today. In a crisply argued though extensively documented counterattack on right-wing spin and misinformation, Alterman briskly disposes of such canards as “Liberals Hate God” and “Liberals Are Soft on Terrorism,” reclaiming liberalism from the false definitions foisted upon it by the right and repeated everywhere else. Why We’re Liberals brings clarity and perspective to what has often been a one-sided debate for nothing less than the heart and soul of America. Why We’re Liberals is the perfect election-year book for all of those ready to fight back against the conservative mud-slinging machine and claim their voice in the political debate.
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Customer Reviews
Defense of Liberalism - J.L. Populist - WI,USA
Eric Alterman defends the word and ideology that a lot of conservatives have made a career out of smearing.
Liberalism is much more than a label and Mr. Alterman does a good job of explaining the truth about the political themes and beliefs of liberalism and he is correct about Democrats preference for identifying themselves as "Progressives" rather than "liberals".
A lot of "liberal" policies are much more popular that conservatives will ever admit and the purpose of this book is to "open the way for Americans to get the government they repeatedly say they want."
He also debunks the myth of a "liberal media bias" by exposing the fact that token liberals are seldom really liberals but moderate Democrats. Liberal views are seldom presented, much less defended in American media. The fact is that the media bias is more conservative. Not just Fox News but the other major media groups mimic Fox News for ratings. PBS and LinkTV air more of the liberal views.
One can't help but notice what Alterman is writing about when viewing the major news broadcasts.
Mr. Alterman also provided a quote from Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" that reveals a liberal philosophy on government. You won't hear or read that quote very often in the main-stream media!
He discusses the link between liberal politics and Christianity that gets lost in the current Christian connection with the conservative Republicans.
Another interesting subject is the impact that the internet and blogs in particular have had on connecting liberals.
On page 208 the author writes- "The prophetic warning of James Madison in Federalist Paper No. 10, that 'a religious sect may degenerate into a political faction' has come to fruition 200 years later in the contemporary conservative movement."
On that same movement he adds that it is "dominated by censorious Christian fundamentalists, favor-seeking corporate CEOs, and neoconservative ideologues dreaming of a global empire." From page 264. He astutely identifies the make-up of the conservatives.
One of the complaints that Mr. Alterman has of the liberal Democrats is that they don't defend their ideology in the event that they really have continued to believe in it.
This is an entertaining book and the author presents an effective defense of liberalism.
It includes 45 pages of Notes and an Index at the end of the book.
Bush bashing - Gerald Ambroze - Galveston TX USA
I am an indepedent and wanted to learn more about liberalism. I found the book loading with so called facts that are untrue. Europe standard of living is poor compared to America yet you would think Europe is paradise. Why do so many people continue to want to come to America? I did not learn anything about liberalism.
A book every liberal (and non-liberal) should read - C. Washington - New York, NY
What an amazing defense of liberalism. But what's sad is that liberalism even needs to be defended in the first place. What Alterman does is set down facts and evidence that will make you see that conservatives in this country will do and say about anything to get power and keep it. He makes it known that the right wing has demonized the term "liberal" and "liberalism" when in fact the country is leaning more and more towards what the real definition of "liberalism" is. Definitely a book every liberal (and non-liberal) needs to read.
Accurate explanation of liberalism - 1st-heretic - Earth
This book gets four stars because part one is a moaning about how liberals (real ones) have lost opportunities.
The essence of the book is in part two. Here Mr Alterman takes stereotypes (put out by the lunatic fringe of the conservatives) about liberals and proves how wrong the stereotypes are.
Most people who consider themselves "conservative" are honest, peaceful, hard-working, law-abiding, God-loving persons. So are most liberals. However, the lunatic fringe -- a very tiny percentage of the conservative group -- is extremely vocal, virulent, and strident. People like Limbaugh, Coulter, et at (the "pundits") promote hatred and fear, tell vicious lies, call themselves "Christians" (but don't follow the basic precepts of their own religion), encourage divisions between people, show blatant prejudice to minorities, etc.
It is the lies by the pundits of the conservative lunatic fringe that, unfortunately, get broadcast, and too many people believe them. So this book is an antidote for the virulent hatred of the radical right.
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