Review of Cox Richardson’s Democracy Awakening…
Democracy Awakening. Heather Cox Richardson, author (2023). This is an interesting but incomplete history about the rise of authoritarian thinking in the US; it’s also a bit simplistic. However, perhaps this simplicity adds power to the author’s arguments?
It doesn’t take much to see the fascists’ plans to convert the US into a fascist state—presidents like Nixon, Reagan, both Bushes, and other politicians’ shenanigans, aided by fascists in Congress (not gender-specific anymore because even women are also fascists hiding under the cloak of patriotism like Donald J. Trump) and the fascist SCOTUS majority. “Make America Great Again!” has been the fascists’ rallying cry in America for a long time! And, as this history shows, as the numbers of the FPA swell ever so slightly (that’s the Fascist Party of America aka Republican Party, now led by the purely fascist Trump, that “f%$#ing moron” as labeled by Trump’s ex-SecState Tillerson whom Il Duce essentially fired), they lash out with increasingly dirty and evil tricks to satisfy their greed and thirst for power from Reagan’s Iran-Contra ploy to supporting the murderous Pinochet and far beyond, reminding everyone in the world how close America’s fascists have come to a complete takeover.
If the reader thought it all ended with the attempted coup on January 6, 2021, you are terribly mistaken! (By the way, one complaint I have about this type of non-fiction: Ms. Cox refrains from using the word “fascist” and “fascism,” the two words most applicable to America’s GOP now.)
Bottom line: This book can be recommended as a simplistic reminder to those readers who’ve forgotten on purpose or otherwise some or most of the facts about fascist movements in the US. We must be ever-vigilant if we are to protect democracy in America because fascism is a contagious disease that’s always around and ready to strike at America’s body politic.
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“Mary Jo Melendez Trilogy.” AOC and her little fascist friends in the US Congress aren’t smart enough to realize that extremists at either end of the political spectrum can become fascists, although they often prove it in deed. The political spectrum isn’t linear: The far-left and far-right bends around at each end and joins up in that point called fascism, as Cuba and Venezuela have proven on the far-left and Hungary and Turkey on the far-right. Of course, China, Russia, and the US are heading in that direction as well (arguably the first two are already there), which is why Mary Jo’s trilogy, although a work of fiction, might make the hair on your nape stand on end. This trilogy will remind readers of many worldwide events in Muddlin’ Through, Silicon Slummin’ and Just Gettin’ By, and Goin’ the Extra Mile as the books carry Mary Jo around this fascist world. Available wherever fine ebooks are sold.
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
