Summer Reading 2011: "Death of the Liberal Class"

By Chris Hedges

Score: 4 / 5
Category: History, Politics

Recommended

My Thoughts: This book is basically a long drawn out way of saying "intellectuals have lost their balls and become the lapdogs of powerful special interests."  The information is interesting but sometimes repetitive, and it doesn't need to be nearly as long as it is.

The point he is trying to make is valid.  For the better part of our history (something also talked about in "Idiot America") America was renowned for our "cranks" (crazy people with crazy ideas), but we never submitted to being ruled by cranks.  It was the unwritten duty of the "liberal class" (the intellectuals) to pick through the crazy and keep any nuggets of worthwhile information they presented.  Over the past 40 years, during the conservative take over, intellectuals have largely abandoned that duty, instead becoming the talking heads for and giving credibility to some of the most outrageous ideas one can imagine.

Perhaps his best example is of Noam Chomsky.  Chomsky is perhaps one of the few great intellectuals left in America, yet he is often villified even by those who agree with him because he speaks out against the kinda of crank BS that has become mainstreamed.  The media only makes it worse.  In a field that used to be an intellectual stronghold, media outlets have become propaganda machines for one party or the other, or worse (CNN) they report without any investigation at all.  The intellectual class has largely been corrupted and pressed into the service of large corporate, political, and special interests, and as a result we are becoming a country controlled by the cranks.

A good book.  A little dense and at times repetitive, but worth reading for the point the author is trying to make.  All intellectuals should take the advice and start speaking out against the cranks and the special interests.  The Liberal class can live again!

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Summer Reading 2011: "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin"

By Frank Bailey w/ Ken Morris and Jeanne Devon

Score: 3 / 5
Category: Political Insider, Tell-All Memoir

Recommended

My Thoughts: I bought this on a whim at Target.  I figured it would be a fun read.  To be fair, I was kinda bored with my "legal" books and I wanted something a little trashier.  I figured a book about Sarah Palin could certainly fill that need.

I was not disappointed.  This book is a traditional "Tell-All" memoir.  It reveals the terrifying, emotionally unbalanced Sarah Palin that we all knew was there (well at least those of us curious enough to look past her charming demeanor or smart enough to despise the concept of "folksy").  Through chapter after chapter, the authors absolutely destroy Sarah Palin, but they do so without uttering much of their own words.  The story is bolstered almost entirely by email conversations (often heavily edited, so, to be fair, its possible they are not as crazy as they sounds in the book).  In the emails Sarah is portrayed as an emotional disaster, prone to outbursts, often ungrateful, and always unstable.  More than once she threatens to quit in a vain effort to get her staff to coddle her, and her "Palin-bots" (as the authors refer to themselves) eagerly comply.  On more than one occasion we are introduced to incredibly unethical behavior that was swept under the rug while she maintained an image of anti-corruption.

And all of this is coming from someone who remains a staunch Conservative.  Mr. Bailey talks god and conservative principles none stop in this book.  He is clearly as staunch a conservative as he has ever been.  This is not someone who converted and is now attacking his old boss.  This is someone who spent years as a Palin-Punching-Bag, and finally saw her for who she really is; a crazy, mentally unstable, crazy person.  The God references get old for those who don't believe in that kind of thing, but it further reinforces the fact that this is an extreme conservative calling Palin out (Not a liberal, not a moderate, not even a moderate conservative).  In short, once you get over the "glittering generalities" and see Ms. Palin for who she is, even the most hardcore conservatives will realize how bad she is for this country.

This book is almost scary.  How a person like this almost became the Vice-President of the United States, is unfathomable.  It is a slap in the face to anyone who wants our public figures to have any clue about what they are doing.  We almost elected a personality not only without substance, but possibly mentally unstable.  This book doesn't reveal anything we shouldn't have already known, but it exposes a side of our almost VP that should be terrifying to every American.

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Summer Reading 2011: "The Conservative Assault on the Constitution"

By Erwin Chemerinsky

Score: 4.5 / 5
Category: Law, Constitutional Law, History

Strongly Recommended

My Thoughts: Prof. Chemerinsky proves once again why he is one of the (if not THE) most influential constitutional scholars of our generation.  This books outlines a number of 5 - 4 decisions from the Burger, Reinquist, and Roberts courts that have taken the country away from the promise created by the Warren Court, and in a very conservative direction.  Indeed, with the exit of O'Connor and the addition of Alito, the 5-4 votes have become even more predictable, and even more dangerous for basic civil rights.

The book itself is what you would expect.  Impeccably well researched and thoughtful, but represents the opinion of a constitutional scholar who believes in a broad interpretation of the constitution and a power federal government.  This fact does not make his insights any less valuable, however, I found that I did not always agree with him on everything.  Prof. C argued, exceptionally well in almost every instance, for the defense of basic rights we have come to rely on, such as Miranda, Access to the Courthouse, Privacy, etc.  However, the point at which I found myself diverging with his view was when he would suggest there were numerous constitutional rights we have not yet discovered in the Constitution.

For instance, he begins the book with a discussion of how Conservatives have undone the promise of Brown v. Board, and re-segregated most inner city school.  I completely agreed with his belief that the 14th Amendment prohibits the negative use of Race, but not the positive use of race (think "using race to oppress one race (negative) vs. using race to equalize the rights/privileges/opportunities of the races (positive)).  This is not the first time that I have heard this argument with regard to the intent of the 14th Amendment's drafters, yet it is a reality ignored by the conservative block, despite their claims of fidelity to intent.

Where I diverge from Prof. C is when he calls for a Constitutional right to Education.  I do not believe such a right exists in the FEDERAL constitution.  Education was left to the states, and I believe that is a correct practice.  Even though we might wish to impose a liberal view on many of the backwards states through federal control, there is always the danger that the reverse might happen.  Conservatives might take control of government and impose a terrible education system on progressive states (in fact, this has happened over the past 40 years, e.g. NCLB).  Each state should be free to create their own systems, and free to interpret a right to Education out of their own State Constitutions.  But the Federal Government should stay out of education as much as possible, lest we inadvertently allow the Texas Textbook Massacre to spread to progressive states and corrupt their education systems.

There were a few other instances where I found I did not agree, but it was almost always limited to situations where Prof. C wanted to CREATE new constitutional rights.  I agreed in every instance where I wanted to preserve or expand rights that already existed.  Like Prof. C I believe that more freedom is almost always a good thing (though the expansion of Gun rights may be an exception).

Overall, GREAT book, very informative and educational.  The only reason it doesn't get a 5 is because he goes just slightly further than I would be comfortable with, but If we had someone like this on the Court, we would certainly be in a better position than we are at present.  An excellent, and very fast read.  Worth the few hours it will take you to finish.

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Summer Reading 2011: "Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. The Supreme Court"

By Jeff Shesol

Score: 5 / 5
Category: Law, Presidents, Supreme Court, History, Educational

Strongly Recommended

My Thoughts:  This was a really interesting about about the New Deal period.  Too often we learn about the "court packing plan" without actually learning the facts about the plan or the surrounding circumstances.  This book fills the gap perfectly.

The book opens with a long explanation of FDR's first term in office, his political rivalries, and the conservative intransigence that would later characterize the conservative block on the Court.  Of particular interest is the American Liberty League, which bears a striking resemblance to today's TEA Party.  The League spouted a return to "constitutional principles" and "small government."  This call worked well in a time when FDR was expanding the size of the federal government and the power of the president.  Unfortunately for them, they quickly became a caricature of themselves and lost all credibility (much like the TEA Party of today).  In his second election he decimated the Conservative opposition.

With his victory in both the executive and legislative branches, the Conservative block on the court dug their heels in and the two moderates (C.J. Hughes and J. Roberts) migrated to the conservative block on a number of occasions giving them the commanding 5 or 6 vote majorities they needed to overturn the president's agenda.  The actual court packing plan itself went through many stages and court packing wasn't even a realistic option until later in the process.  Many congressmen preferred constitutional amendments limiting the power of the court or giving congress a veto over court decisions.  When court packing did become the plan, FDR didn't want 15 justices, he wanted one justice for each justice over 70 years of age.  The number of new justices just happened to be 15.  Realistically, FDR was only one justice away from a stable majority, so he didn't need to add 6 to make his agenda work.  He just wanted a strong majority that could completely dominate the Conservative justices.

What is particularly interesting is how forcefully FDR continued to push his court packing plan even after Hughes and Roberts switched to the liberal block giving FDR the majority he so desired.  Fortunately, the congress saw the change on the court as a good solution that didn't involve passing an unpopular and potentially damaging bill that would certainly turn the court into a political football (or at least more so than it already is).

The perspectives of the justices through their personal corespondences with friends, family, and clreks are also a very interesting part of the book.  It's quite interesting to hear the vitriol of Justice McReynolds, and the reverence of Justice Brandais for the institution of the court (who opposed the plan even though it would have given him a majority).

This is an excellent book for those interested in history and the law, presidential power, and/or the Supreme Court.

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Summer Reading 2011: "Idiot America"

By Charles P. Pierce

Score: 4 / 5

Category: Quasi-Politics, Entertaining, Funny, Informative but Not Educational

Strongly Recommended

My Thoughts: This was a fun book.  There was nothing really new in the book.  No information that I didn't already know (though if you haven't heard of the "creation museum" then you should probably read this book for his description of it).  What really makes this book awesome is the author's wit and sarcasm, and the way that he points out all of the ridiculousness that should be obvious.

In particular I enjoyed his three principles of idiot America.  It's so true, and once you read the book you start to see the principles at work with every news story in the media today.  It's very much a "truth isn't what it used to be" book, that points out the many ways that conservatives in particular have glorified idiots and idiot ideas, even to the extent of demonizing knowledge/education itself.

I especially appreciated his "behind the scenes" thoughts and discussions on hot topic political issues.  It's the kind of thing you'd expect normal reporters to do, but (shockingly?) never happens.  He goes to the Hospice where Terry Schiavo died and talks to the workers about the incident.  His discussion of this section is especially powerful, since he exposes some of the terrifying things that were done in the name of saving someone who everyone in the hospice knew had already been dead for years.  In fact, she an autopsy confirmed that she had been dead long before the whole uproar even began.  So divorced from reality were the "pro-life" devotees that they were willing to fight (and in some cases even kill) to save someone who was already dead.

I also loved his discussion of "talk radio" though I will let you read/listen to that yourselves.  I could not possibly do justice to his take on the evolution of talk radio.

Overall, this is a very interesting book, though I would not recommend people use it to educate themselves about any of the issues within.  It is better as an excellent (and hilariously entertaining) supplement pointing out the glaring problems with the conservative/idiot beliefs on a number of issues.

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