Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy | Noam Chomsky

Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy | Noam Chomsky | scathing...

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Failed States: The...

	Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy Noam Chomsky Metropolitan Books, 2006 - 314 pages average customer review:based on 98 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Time for a Deep Breath

This time around Chomsky writes that those issues which most concern people is a matter of personal choice, but three issues ought to top everybody's list. They are 1) nuclear war, 2) Environmental disaster, and 3) the "government of the world's leading power is acting in ways that increase the likelihood of these catastrophes."

Huh?
Okay, time for a deep breath. Is Chomsky saying that the government whose Constitution begins with "We the people... in order to... promote the general welfare... " is about to bring about military or environmental Armageddon?

Okay, says Chomsky, let's qualify that. It is not the people it is the *government*. Public opinion and public policy are incongruous. It is the *system* that is in real trouble and heading in a direction that "spells the end of its historic values..." For Chomsky to put it bluntly, "the system is coming to have some of the features of failed states."

Chomsky begins by saying that the US is striking up a war. Under the Bush administration, the US expanded its doctrine of control of space from control of space to "ownership" of space. Russia and China feel threatened. In fact China begins to view the US as a military rival. Iraq... has had the effect of strengthening Jihadists against the US. (Chomsky has been confirmed by the recently released National Intelligence Estimation report.)

Next Chomsky attacks "outlaw states." It is hard for Americans to think of themselves as being members of an outlaw state. Outlaw states are those which refuse to comply with established treaties and obligations and reject the use of force except in cases of self-defense. I need not cite Chomsky here. If one has been reading the news lately, one knows that McCain et al have challanged the administration's interpretation of Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.

I can't count the number of times that I saw a WW II movie where the Americans challanged the Nazis based on the Geneva Conventions. Rights are rights even when the bigger military muscle thinks otherwise. Ever talk to a Nazi? No doubt he thought he was justified in shipping off whomever The Fatherland wanted. I don't think we are Nazis but I wonder how fast we are becoming like them.

Chomsky does not deliver a fait accompli. There is still time to prevent the fall of the Roman Empire... I mean the American Republic.

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scathing...

I like this book more than Hegemony or Survival personally, though both are his most accessible works amongst the greater body (well over 100). It reads unlike his lectures, which are for the seasoned geo-political academic only. I recommend the film "The Corporation" to see Chomsky used sparingly to endorse the greater dialog proposed.

Tread Carefully

I find Noam Chomsky's linguistic and rhetorical talent astutely capable of propagandizing a liberal agenda while convincing the inexperienced reader that his ideas are democratizing and conservative. Meanwhile, he portrays Predident Bush and the religious right as [...] radicals who are taking away freedoms and destroying the backbone of democracy. I pay tribute to his abilities, however, I am a believer that the liberal progressive agenda is what is undermining the very fabric of this country. With that in mind, I read this book very skeptically although keeping an open mind. I don't trust any political party 100% and Chomsky gives me reasons not to. I found the book very interesting, educational, and providing arguments not found in the mainstream media. The trouble with many political books is that the everyday reader never really knows who is telling the truth or giving the whole truth to the matter. Nevertheless, it is important to consider many points of views and to gather as much information as possible to make one's own conclusions. Chomsky should definitely be on the top of this list for conservatives looking to understand the left and perhaps find insight into the party who represents them. For liberals, this is like drinking Kool-Aid on a hot summer day.

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