Politics of religion, oil and borrowed money

I haven’t read Kevin Phillips’ new book, “American Theocracy,” so I can’t critique it. But it is getting a lot of attention, so I thought I should start a thread on it — or at least on the subjects it tackles. Phillips (in photo), who is a former Republican political strategist turned critic, focuses on three trends: the role of oil in American foreign and domestic policy; the intrusion of radical religion into politics and government; and the growth of public and personal debt. “If there is a single, if implicit, theme running through the three linked essays that form this book,” said a New York Times book review, “it is the failure of leaders to look beyond their own and the country’s immediate ambitions and desires so as to plan prudently for a darkening future.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

9 Comments

  1. Joe Williams
    Posted March 23, 2006 at 12:38 am | Permalink

    It’s not pretty. But maybe we need a good serious crisis or depression to kick us in the butt.

    I don’t wish it, but the warning signs have been with us and critics have been telling us for decades and nobody listens or cares.

    Everybody wants something for nothing and everybody wants to be better and have more than the next person.

  2. writerdog
    Posted March 23, 2006 at 2:34 am | Permalink

    Joe I believe you are right and it is coming. You can not keep not looking before you cross the street and not get hit sooner or later.

  3. writerdog
    Posted March 23, 2006 at 7:35 am | Permalink

    I guess today I am a “Not” head.

  4. ProudLib
    Posted March 23, 2006 at 7:46 am | Permalink

    Joe–that’s why you don’t cut taxes for the rich and invade a couple of countries at the same time.

    But just keep excoriating the effects and ignoring the causes . . . it’s the BushCo. way!

  5. Ben Huie
    Posted March 23, 2006 at 8:10 am | Permalink

    “something for nothing” – i.e. Republican borrow-and-spend policies.

  6. ksfarmgrrl
    Posted March 23, 2006 at 9:06 am | Permalink

    Money for nothing? I’m waiting for the “chicks for free” part.

  7. ksfarmgrrl
    Posted March 23, 2006 at 9:36 am | Permalink

    Of course Phillip hasnt read the book. No tin foil available to protect him from an idea not spouted by the right!!

    A “darkening future”? Well, that confirms that all those “dont worry be happy” republicans wont be reading this book.

    Or maybe they will read it since it will detail the victory of theocracy over democracy. That will make them insanely happy. Oh wait, they already ARE insanely happy.

    I mean, if you just ignore the bad news it will go away right? You know, like polls, and bad news from iraq. Just media spin. Ignore it, and magically, democracy will appear in iraq.

    Abbracadabbra is an arab term, no?

  8. ProudLib
    Posted March 23, 2006 at 12:31 pm | Permalink

    Bush has a sunny yellow carpet in the Oval office because he’s an “optimistic person.”

    Things do look good for him and his oil investments. Halliburton is doing well.

    Too bad about the other 275 million of us . . .

  9. A guy from up north
    Posted March 23, 2006 at 1:46 pm | Permalink

    Dick Cheney & Big Oil no longer tell us what is “realistic”.Sen Richard Lugar give a very interesting and enlightened talk at the Brookings institute. Among many other things in his talk –”In the absence of revolutionary change in energy policy, we are risking multiple disasters for our country that will constrain living standards, undermine our foreign policy goals, and leave us highly vulnerable to the machinations of rogue states.”

    http://www.brookings.edu