Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Derailing Democracy: The America the Media Don't Want You to See by David McGowan ISBN: 1-56751-184-8 Publisher: Common Courage Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.45 (20 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: paranoia
Comment: .....A few word will suffice here: this book is a gutter raker and nothing more. A crying towl for all the inncocents of the 3rd world and 4th world who sit on their little thrones of garbage and blame the USA for not picking it up fast enough. Where was europe when kosovo was being destroyed? nowhere!! and who came to pull them out of their quandry..? The USA..Now this country is being blamed for being to rough, to Bad!! And where is europe when islamic killers blow up airplanes and synagogues? nowhere!!! Once again the europeans are afraid of offending their muslim masters (much like before the crusades). And, yes I am proud of our unilateralism, we are not an appendage of the UN with it's Treaty of the Month Club. Let's see how islam does with its honor killings and sharai before we sign away our rights with the weaklings of the world.
Rating: 5
Summary: Derailing Democracy By David McGowan: A Review
Comment: When I read the synopsis of this book on the back cover I instantly knew this book would be interesting. Just as the title states this book is derailing democracy, sending it head over heels. Democracy would be an excellent form of government. Having the right to vote people into office instead of them just being appointed. All of the citizens having his or her own voice to change things for the better. In theory this sounds like the only truly fair and just government. When we think of the beautiful land we call the U.S.A we instantly associate it with freedom and justice for all with every man created equal. Derailing democracy shows the darker side and the price we pay for this "freedom". Whether it be giving the Taliban three million dollars in the 1980's, or basically hiring Saddam Huessien to wipe out Iran. Ironically many of the weapons that are killing the American soldiers now are either the left over landmines they planted decades ago or the weapons and ammunition they gave to Saddam and his men. But obviously the people of this country would not vote to give our enemies weapons to kill our other enemies, it doesn't make sense. What David McGowan shows us is that there are many ways to get around the whole democracy idea. For example the government tries to "market" the bill they want passed as something that will benefit the general public. For example McGowan writes, "You may have noticed that many of the motorists you see pulled over on the side of the highway are black or Hispanic. You may have attributed to this to some kind of unspoken law-enforcement racism. You may be surprised to learn that it's the result of a federal program. Called Operation Pipeline"
Page 1
Page 2
(McGowan 69).
Another example could be tax hikes to fund "anti-terrorism", with the majority of the money actually going to fund the bombing in Kosovo and Iraq. In 1997 President Bill Clinton said to the American public, with no emotion, that they were dropping serious amounts of bombs onto the city of Kosovo. No more than an hour later he was on the news again, with deep shame and sympathy, to alert the public about the shooting at Columbine High School. The man felt more emotion for the small few who perished in the high school as compared to the small catastrophe he was creating overseas. But McGowan shows us that to the Government deaths are all just numbers, and death won't stand in the way of conquering a weaker country. And that's basically what it all comes down to, we're stronger than you and you have something that is valuable to us, so we're going to beat you up and take it. Yeah, make sure to get their lunch money too.
Another area of study in this book is racial issues, mostly within the judicial system. An interesting fact stated in this book says that "approximately 80% of the young black men under age 35 have a criminal record" (70). I am immersed in this urban culture daily and I definitely don't believe that 80 per cent of the African Americans I see have done anything to deserve a criminal record. "Blacks and whites in the U.S.A. are the victims of murder in almost equal numbers, yet 82 per cent of prisoners executed since 1977 were convicted of the murder of a white person...Blacks make up just 12 per cent of the country's population, but 42 per cent of the nation's condemned prisoners. In early 1998, of the 26 people under federal sentence of death (military and civilian), only five prisoners were white" (72). According to these facts it becomes more and more
Page 3
clear to me that we as a country are still in the same old mindset that we were over 50 years ago. No matter what anyone says our government is still racially bias to white people. I don't believe that even a quarter of the citizens of this country are racist. If we have all power and control of our democratic government then why is the government racist and we are not? Perhaps the people who are racist have just fallen under the subliminal propaganda of the racist government.
With all of the anti-drug propaganda it would surprise you to hear that "In 1996, the San Jose Mercury News ignited a firestorm of protest when it ran a series of articles by investigative journalist Gary Webb that seemed to provide substantial evidence of U.S. government complicity in drug trafficking. In an effort to circumvent a congressional ban and provide illegal funding for the Nicaraguan Contras, the CIA had, it was alleged, allowed and even assisted the trafficking of massive amounts of cocaine into this country" (104). With all of the anti-drug commercials I was under the impression that the government wanted to stop drug use, not encourage it. But I suppose it did help out the economy. And who knows, maybe because the government sold drugs your taxes didn't rise.
In conclusion David McGowan doesn't try to mince words here. He clearly states many facts that he has collected from different sources. All of which are documented and respected. I believe that if every American would just read a few of the facts something good could happen. Basically McGowan states that this democracy is starting to look more and more like a hypocrisy, resorting to tactics normally reserved for dictatorships. Lets face it, politicians lie, McGowan just points that out. He never once
Page 4
tries to force his views, he instead encourages freedom of thought.
Rating: 4
Summary: Exposing gross hypocrisy and injustices
Comment: Packed with numerous essential facts, this book provides a detailed account of serious transgressions and violations of international law perpetrated by the U.S. government, the facts which can be ignored and dismissed only by jingoists. This book reveals an extremely flawed foreign policy of the United States. McGowan argues that the U.S. foreign policy makers seek to protect strategic and economic interests of the U.S. at any cost, even if many innocent people have to be sacrificed, that is as long as they are not Americans. According to McGowan, U.S. has shown no signs that it cares about the poor, the victimized and the oppressed. On the contrary, U.S. has consistently and systematically opposed every U.N. resolution stipulating a right to food and acknowledging children's rights and the rights of Palestinians. Morever, U.S. has vetoed every U.N. resolution calling for a condemnation of Israeli human rights violations. No one seems to wonder why no U.N. inspectors have been allowed to enter the facilities in Israel in which weapons of mass destruction have been produced. Why does not the U.S. coerce Israel to cooperate with the U.N.? Why does the U.S. knowingly hamper development of poor countries? Why does not the U.S. ratify the agreement banning the use of chemical and biological weapons? Why does the U.S. collaborate with terrorists when it serves the interests of the U.S.? This book divulges unfathomable injustices and gross violations of international law perpatrated by the only remaining superpower in the world. Even though this book contains a great number of important facts, it lacks a detailed analysis and for that reason I gave it four stars. For an elaborate and meticulous analysis of the U.S. foreign policy, I strongly recommend a book called Why do people hate America by Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davies; irrefutably the best book on the subject matter.
 |
Title: Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum ISBN: 1567511945 Publisher: Common Courage Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
 |
Title: Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II by William Blum, Larry Bleidner, Peter Scott ISBN: 1567510523 Publisher: Common Courage Pub. Date: July, 1995 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: Understanding the F-Word : American Fascism and the Politics of Illusion by David L McGowan ISBN: 0595186408 Publisher: Writers Club Press Pub. Date: 21 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
 |
Title: Land of Hypocrisy by Kennie Anderson ISBN: 0972506802 Publisher: Progressive Productions Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country--And Its Time to Take It Back by Jim Hightower ISBN: 0670031410 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 14 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
