Book reviews--Wealth and Democracy and American Dynasty
Kevin Phillips' latest two books (Wealth and Democracy and American Dynasty) present a multi-leveled description of the reasons for the potential downfall of the US as a democratic society and government. The two share a sense of the impending doom facing the US due to the political and economic policies of most of the Republican and a few of the Democratic Administrations since the Civil War, at least, so it makes sense to consider them together. Wealth and Democracy is more of a standard history text, although the subject matter--how money in the US has slowly and fitfully become concentrated in the hands of a very few, and what that has meant for our society, economy, and politics--is somewhat nebulous compared to most. American Dynasty attempts to provide evidence of a not-necessarily-coincidental and persistent Bush political vision over the last century or so, which places them squarely in the forefront of those people pushing for that concentration of wealth.
Phillips' study of the patterns of wealth holdings in Wealth and Democracy, which occupy (too?) much of the book is a bit obvious; what really gives the book value is his comparison of those patterns with similar movements in the other economic superpowers of the last 600 years. That all of those countries (Holland from the 1400s to 1700s), Spain in the 1500s and 1600s, and England from the 1700s to World War I) eventually lost their position as the pre-eminent economic power in the Western world is Phillips' warning to those who advocate a "Pax Americana". We are following the historically proven prescription for economic collapse precisely as we continue to abandon the manufacturing and production of finished goods in favor of services and finance, all the while expanding our military commitments around the globe. The concentration of wealth into fewer and fewer hands at the expense of the lower and middle classes is merely the easiest marker that we are pursuing a fatal course.
Phillips acknowledges that his is not the first book to make a similar case; a slew of books in the 1980s, most notably Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers made many of the same points (although at the time it seemed that Japan was poised to surpass the US). What distinguishes Phillips' work, aside from his attention to specifically who owns how much, is his emphasis on the increasing political power possessed by the wealthy since the beginning of Reagan's administration, something that has occurred in several periods of our history. The difference in the current incarnation of the phenomena, however, is that now the US is the ultimate international power. That the wealthy are using that power to enrich themselves affects not just the American economy, but the entire world as well, mirroring what the Dutch, Spanish, and English ruling/merchant classes did before us, to the detriment of all those earlier countries. Get the hint yet?
Placed in that context, the story of the Bush/Walker family becomes even more sinister. In American Dynasty, Phillips traces the connections between the 4 generations of Bushes and Walkers and some of America's most profitable and secretive businesses and organizations. The emergence of GHW Bush and Smirky the Chimp as a dynastic leadership signals a nail in the coffin of our republican democracy; Phillips points to the continuity in their policies and personnel as being similar to a royal succession, and his argument is buttressed by his extensive background research into the family history. All of the Bushes and Walkers have had seats at the tables of corporate power, and the last 3 generations of Bushes have gained political power as well, culminating in Smirky's re-"election". The Bushes have used their political positions to bestow favors on those who have been faithful to them, Phillips notes, providing microcosmic detail to his more general argument to that effect in Wealth and Democracy.
American Dynasty is also a tale of secrecy and deception, although perhaps by definition this part of Phillips' book is less than satisfying. Phillips does a great job in detailing what we know about where all the Bushes and Walkers lived and worked, and the other people who lived and worked alongside them. More problematic is Phillips' assertions of who knew what when. We have no documentation or other proof of conversations or secret meetings between many of these men--there are a lot of instances in the book where Phillips states that "Walker must have been familiar with" this, or that "Bush's position in the CIA makes it unlikely that he did not know" that. While it is certainly possible that GHW Bush could have heard his dad talking about X, we don't know for sure, and this kind of speculation makes for good reading, but poor history. Unfortunately, these men are among the most secretive cabal on the planet, so we will likely never know the extent of the American Dynasty's corruptive influences. Phillips has probably done as convincing a job as possible of outlining the Bush/Walker disease infecting the upper reaches of our society and government, but as a work of historical writing one American Dynasty leaves one unmoored.
That they have used, and are using, their political power to enrich and protect their cronies, however, is so patently obvious as to make any such quibbling nearly meaningless--these men are perverting the very nature of our government, and our country as a whole. Proof? We don't need no stinking proof!
Phillips' study of the patterns of wealth holdings in Wealth and Democracy, which occupy (too?) much of the book is a bit obvious; what really gives the book value is his comparison of those patterns with similar movements in the other economic superpowers of the last 600 years. That all of those countries (Holland from the 1400s to 1700s), Spain in the 1500s and 1600s, and England from the 1700s to World War I) eventually lost their position as the pre-eminent economic power in the Western world is Phillips' warning to those who advocate a "Pax Americana". We are following the historically proven prescription for economic collapse precisely as we continue to abandon the manufacturing and production of finished goods in favor of services and finance, all the while expanding our military commitments around the globe. The concentration of wealth into fewer and fewer hands at the expense of the lower and middle classes is merely the easiest marker that we are pursuing a fatal course.
Phillips acknowledges that his is not the first book to make a similar case; a slew of books in the 1980s, most notably Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers made many of the same points (although at the time it seemed that Japan was poised to surpass the US). What distinguishes Phillips' work, aside from his attention to specifically who owns how much, is his emphasis on the increasing political power possessed by the wealthy since the beginning of Reagan's administration, something that has occurred in several periods of our history. The difference in the current incarnation of the phenomena, however, is that now the US is the ultimate international power. That the wealthy are using that power to enrich themselves affects not just the American economy, but the entire world as well, mirroring what the Dutch, Spanish, and English ruling/merchant classes did before us, to the detriment of all those earlier countries. Get the hint yet?
Placed in that context, the story of the Bush/Walker family becomes even more sinister. In American Dynasty, Phillips traces the connections between the 4 generations of Bushes and Walkers and some of America's most profitable and secretive businesses and organizations. The emergence of GHW Bush and Smirky the Chimp as a dynastic leadership signals a nail in the coffin of our republican democracy; Phillips points to the continuity in their policies and personnel as being similar to a royal succession, and his argument is buttressed by his extensive background research into the family history. All of the Bushes and Walkers have had seats at the tables of corporate power, and the last 3 generations of Bushes have gained political power as well, culminating in Smirky's re-"election". The Bushes have used their political positions to bestow favors on those who have been faithful to them, Phillips notes, providing microcosmic detail to his more general argument to that effect in Wealth and Democracy.
American Dynasty is also a tale of secrecy and deception, although perhaps by definition this part of Phillips' book is less than satisfying. Phillips does a great job in detailing what we know about where all the Bushes and Walkers lived and worked, and the other people who lived and worked alongside them. More problematic is Phillips' assertions of who knew what when. We have no documentation or other proof of conversations or secret meetings between many of these men--there are a lot of instances in the book where Phillips states that "Walker must have been familiar with" this, or that "Bush's position in the CIA makes it unlikely that he did not know" that. While it is certainly possible that GHW Bush could have heard his dad talking about X, we don't know for sure, and this kind of speculation makes for good reading, but poor history. Unfortunately, these men are among the most secretive cabal on the planet, so we will likely never know the extent of the American Dynasty's corruptive influences. Phillips has probably done as convincing a job as possible of outlining the Bush/Walker disease infecting the upper reaches of our society and government, but as a work of historical writing one American Dynasty leaves one unmoored.
That they have used, and are using, their political power to enrich and protect their cronies, however, is so patently obvious as to make any such quibbling nearly meaningless--these men are perverting the very nature of our government, and our country as a whole. Proof? We don't need no stinking proof!
posted by bryduck at 7:49 AM
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