Saturday, March 14, 2009

America's Survival Guide (That's "Survival," not "Survivalist")

If you think Code Pink is a centrist group, skip this post.

"America's Survival Guide"
Yes: The philistines want you to buy the book.

"Contrary to popular wisdom, the most serious threat to America does not spring from overseas adversaries. Because the threat is from within, it is much more subtle and ignored. Our self-evident truths have become neither. Our history and First Principles have been cast aside and denigrated by the public, educators, mainstream media, legal profession, and politicians...."

This is about as political as the Lemming is likely to get.

"America's Survival Guide" claims to be chock-full of fuddy-duddy foolishness: ideas like
  • The rule of law
  • Equality
  • The Social Compact
  • Unalienable rights
  • Limited government
    • It doesn't have to be an oxymoron

Hopelessly Old-Fashioned, and Probably Some Kind of Plot

The author quotes some dead white guy, who said "Our nation is founded on the principle that observance of the law is the eternal safeguard of liberty and defiance of the law is the surest road to tyranny."

Just days after saying that, this American president invaded Mississippi and forced a university there to - - -. Oh. Right. Never mind. (Go ahead, look it up: the Meredith v. Fair case is one of those wonderfully equivocal spots in history.)

From a rather extensive sample, in pdf format, I gather that the book is riddled with that sort of talk.

In my opinion, if ideas like this spread around, there's a very real possibility that America might change. Whether you think that's a good idea or not is up to you.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm quite impressed at these reviews of yours. How many books do you read a month?

Brian H. Gill said...

Damien Riley,

Truthfully, pretty close to zero: if you mean cover-to-cover reading.

My method for a review like this is to get my hands on at least some of the book's actual text, go over reviews by others, if available, (hostile ones are sometimes very enlightening), and whip the results into a sort of reaction piece.

On the other hand, I do quite a bit of reading online: articles; the occasional blog post; that sort of thing.

It's odd: I started out as a traditional ink-on-paper codex reader. Now, it's mostly online resources.

Thanks, BTW - good question!

Unique, innovative candles

Visit us online:
Spiral Light CandleFind a Retailer
Spiral Light Candle online store

Pinterest: From the Man Behind the Lemming

Top 10 Most-Viewed Posts

Today's News! Some of it, anyway

Actually, some of yesterday's news may be here. Or maybe last week's.
The software and science stuff might still be interesting, though. Or not.
The Lemming thinks it's interesting: Your experience may vary.
("Following" list moved here, after Blogger changed formats)

Who Follows the Lemming?

WebSTAT

Family Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory