The Sorrows of Empire : Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic [The American Empire Project ]

Rating:
Summary: Social Upheaval
Review: The final sorrow of empire that Johnson lists is "financial ruin." $400 billion a year is a lot of money. Who will pay for it? The American people will pay, of course. In order to maintain our empire, the Military-Industrial-Congressional complex will have to be as brutal as possible both towards its enemies and its own people. It has never been any other way. Americans, though, are not passive nor wimpy. They are (we are) the most violent people ever, as evidenced from our media---a relentless drive to violence. (It has been evidenced by our history, also---In which America has been described as "one long fight.") When the empire squeezes the people too hard, the people will squeeze back. It will be horrific. It will be our salvation, though, as a people. There will be, eventually, ineluctably, a social upheaval so violent and thorough-going that another word than "revolution" will have to be invented to describe it. I offer the word "soclysm" to describe it: Social Cataclysm. It's inevitable, as Congress, far from wanting to or being able to reform it, is complicit in it. I am a mature man and hope to be dead from natural causes before it occurs.

Rating:
Summary: The trend is clear-- Read on...
Review: I almost always shake my head in disbelief when I see some of the reviews (like 'lefty intellectuals'). It is disturbing, yes, but one must imagine all the people out there watching Hannity and listening to Limbaugh, thinking that we as a nation are the new Holy Land. Some obviously like the tactic of Michael Savage- meet unwanted truth with vitriol and hatred. Wake up people. Not every theory out there about the evilization of the American agenda is wrong (many are for various reasons) but history - verifiable history is precious hard to argue against. I have several friends in other countries who tell a very different story from the one OUR media is feeding us. Their media outlets have no profitary or regulatory stake in telling the story through American eyes. In the case of Mr Johnson's work, there is undeniable mastery of history, and expert research to form his opinions. Taken as a whole with the events of the last 6 decades, it becomes exceedingly difficult to deny that something is wrong. That is especially true in witness to the past 20 years; there is an acceleration in progress, I think. I liken it to the experience one has when one finds out (through experience) that "happily ever after" is by-and-large a fairy tale. No, this is not fun stuff to read. It is sickening. Imagine the veterans of our last righteous war (WWII) and what some of them are now seeing, and keeping in mind Eisenhower's farewell address, and noting that we as a nation have living memory of the way we once were. Get in the time machine and witness the rising nationalism of Nazi Germany, and the suppression of dissent that enabled it. Never forget that the Nazis were ELECTED to office, and how the citizens were enthusiastic supporters of fascism until they were forced to enter the concentration camps to witness the horror their complicity helped to create. Still in the face of that, there were those who denied it happened. I, or anyone else cannot know what consequence could result from this nation's transformation to Imperialism and Empire, but the people of 1930's Germany could not forsee that, either. In this time and this nation, I don't know if it is true that only some form of revolution can right our course, but I do know that the neverending procession of reelection must end. That can only happen if, and when, truth wins out over propaganda. This book is one good place to start.

Rating:
Summary: It's an objective, non-partisan look at reality
Review: It's obvious that Gabriel Jones, whose "review" is below, has not read the book. The book has nothing to do with embracing socialism or leftist thought. Johnson criticizes Democratic and Republican administrations and attributes the fall of the USSR on the inherent weaknesses of its socialist system.

This is a valuable book about reality and its consequences. It is about how America's abandonment of its founding principals and a corrupt and rigged political system is leading to needless wars, terrorism, and the destruction of the good life we've enjoyed.

The citizenry had better wake up fast or else it will soon be too late. Ignoring the truth won't change it.