*snort* If my house could talk to me, it would probably say "CLEAN UP YOUR BEDROOM ALREADY!" I have little stacks of books all over it, waiting to be read. And I have this weird quirk of liking to read them in order, instead of doing the easy thing and putting the new one on the top. Have you ever tried to make headway in "American Theocracy" after a long day? Yipe.
I very rarely read the going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket genre. I made an exception because I remembered Kevin Phillips. Before most of you were born, he was a big-name "Reagan Republican." Reagan Republicans courted fundamentalist voters, though not as seriously as your modern Republicans do. Reagan didn't court any voters seriously; he told them what his speechwriter had written for him to tell them, listened politely to whatever they had to say, smiled genially, and went on and did whatever he wanted to do, voters and speechwriter notwithstanding. Modern politicians should study the career of Ronald Reagan. He'd propose something. The various interest groups and many of the other politicians would be enraged by his proposal. The United Nations would scream. The Soviets would scream. Everybody would be mad. And Reagan would smile politely, maybe tell a few stories, and keep mildly making his proposal. And after a while, his friendliness would, if not win the other groups over, at least get them to stop screaming, and he'd get some, most, or all of what he wanted. It worked a hell of a lot better than the modern technique of telling the other guy how evil he is.
I digress. Anyway, Kevin Phillips was a big-name Republican back then, and after he and Reagan moved on, the Republicans continued to court fundamentalists, and courted them much more seriously than the Reaganistas had. End result, Phillips is now appalled at what he helped to create, and wrote his book to try to blow the lid off it all. Since that was an interesting background, I decided to read the book.
no subject
I very rarely read the going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket genre. I made an exception because I remembered Kevin Phillips. Before most of you were born, he was a big-name "Reagan Republican." Reagan Republicans courted fundamentalist voters, though not as seriously as your modern Republicans do. Reagan didn't court any voters seriously; he told them what his speechwriter had written for him to tell them, listened politely to whatever they had to say, smiled genially, and went on and did whatever he wanted to do, voters and speechwriter notwithstanding. Modern politicians should study the career of Ronald Reagan. He'd propose something. The various interest groups and many of the other politicians would be enraged by his proposal. The United Nations would scream. The Soviets would scream. Everybody would be mad. And Reagan would smile politely, maybe tell a few stories, and keep mildly making his proposal. And after a while, his friendliness would, if not win the other groups over, at least get them to stop screaming, and he'd get some, most, or all of what he wanted. It worked a hell of a lot better than the modern technique of telling the other guy how evil he is.
I digress. Anyway, Kevin Phillips was a big-name Republican back then, and after he and Reagan moved on, the Republicans continued to court fundamentalists, and courted them much more seriously than the Reaganistas had. End result, Phillips is now appalled at what he helped to create, and wrote his book to try to blow the lid off it all. Since that was an interesting background, I decided to read the book.