Book Review: American Theocracy

Well, if Kevin Phillips is right, we Americans are in some serious trouble. Phillips is a former Republican strategist who has written a more damning condemnation of the Republican party than a liberal ever could in his latest book American Theocracy.

American Theocracy is really three books in one. The first section covers the politics of oil. The second follows the growth of the Religious Right in America. The third reviews the American debt situation.

The prognosis isn't good. By comparing our current situation with that of former world empires who have since lost their glory, Phillips makes a good case that America is on a downward spiral that we may never recover from. He cites the British and Dutch empires as examples of countries who had built world dominance based on mastery of a natural energy resource - the Dutch with wind and water, and the British with coal.

The United States has similarly built its power on cheap oil. The problem with being a world leader in one area of energy use and production is this: As the resource dwindles, and the national energy infrastructure ages, a country is often ill-prepared to take advantage of the next new energy source.

The second major problem in America is the pandering towards a vocal and large minority of religious extremists. While not the majority of the population, the Republicans have successfully put together a coalition that abuses the religious fervor of fundamentalists for political gains. Problems endemic in this pandering include: End-times scenarios being used to decide national policy, science being displaced in our educational system, and a growing inability to compete globally in areas of science and technology.

The third nail in the American coffin would appear to be our massive debt. This includes a national debt in the trillions, and personal debt by Americans. Americans aren't saving whatsoever, and consumer purchases are often being funded by credit cards or home equity loans. Phillips explores a complex array of policies and events that have brought us here, from deregulation of credit card companies and the financial industry to the Federal Reserve's artificial creation of a housing bubble to soften the blow from the dot-com bubble crashing.

In bringing these three major perils together, Philips implies that the United States is headed for a very serious period of decline, that could last decades and lead to America losing its position as a world power.

American Theocracy is meticulously researched, intelligently written, and stunning in its indictments. If the book suffers, it is almost from too much data and history and not enough looking forward. I was curious to hear more about what solutions might exist or how we might cope in the face of such a decline. Phillips seems to believe, though, that if history shows us anything, it's that countries rarely recover from such problems, and that leadership in such times is mediocre at best, and usually downright incompetent.

As an American, I can honestly say I am afraid for the future of our country. It is my hope that more people will educate themselves by reading books like these. Americans are blinded by hubris and excessive pride. But as Phillips says, history shows that patriotically believing your country is the "chosen land" usually doesn't work out so well. In order to make any changes, we have to open our eyes and acknowledge that we've got some serious problems ahead.

A little bit of humility and a heck of a lot of hard work might just pull us through. We'll see.