Democracy in chains
"An explosive expose of the right's relentless campaign to eliminate unions, suppress voting, privatize public education, and change the Constitution. "Perhaps the best explanation to date of the roots of the political divide that threatens to irrevocably alter American government." --Booklist (starred review) Behind today's headlines of billionaires taking over our government is a secretive political establishment with long, deep, and troubling roots. The capitalist radical right has been working not simply to change who rules, but to fundamentally alter the rules of democratic governance. But billionaires did not launch this movement; a white intellectual in the embattled Jim Crow South did. Democracy in Chains names its true architect--the Nobel Prize-winning political economist James McGill Buchanan--and dissects the operation he and his colleagues designed over six decades to alter every branch of government to disempower the majority. In a brilliant and engrossing narrative, Nancy MacLean shows how Buchanan forged his ideas about government in a last gasp attempt to preserve the white elite's power in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education. In response to the widening of American democracy, he developed a brilliant, if diabolical, plan to undermine the ability of the majority to use its numbers to level the playing field between the rich and powerful and the rest of us.
Stats for nerds
5recommend
16mentions
9people
2018–2025years
44% recommend38% neutral19% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Yup.
The books Democracy in Chains, Lobbying America, and Dark Money are three (of many, many) good intros to the conservative reaction to the The New Deal.
- This is no accident. It’s the GOP’s reward for consistent efforts to roll back most of the progress done since The New Deal era. Nancy MacLean’s book Democracy in Chains explains it splendidly.
- Yes and...
> I see it a lot in American racism as well.
TIL the notion of races is an American invention. The origin was to justify the subjection of enslaved peoples, to impose a class society.
During the apocalypse, I've been binging history and biographies. The (more) recent scholarship about America has been both challenging and illuminating. As a gen-x white guy, mostly I'm embarrassed. I've always "punched up", so feel a natural affinity for minorities, working class, etc.
But I just didn't get it. Even though I considered myself an ally, my understanding of racism, class struggle, justice, and so forth was really shallow. My diet consisted of Zinn, Chomsky, Rachel Maddow, Thom Hartmann, etc. For whatever reason, aside from MLK and Gandhi, I don't recall reading much from non-white authors.
Highest recommendation to these books, probably in this order:
Jill Lepore's These Truths, The 1619 Project, Heather McGhee's The Sum of Us, Caro's LBJ biographies (passing the Civil Rights Act).
I think I needed These Truths to prepare me for 1619 Project, to provide context, set the stage.
> when it's actually classism born of racist roots
Yup. There's two books in my queue about this specifically. I'll update with cites as able.
--
Another big cultural topic which I totally misunderstood was Liberalism and by extension Neoliberalism. Specifically, the (American) reactionary origins of "free enterprise".
Being a nerd, of course all my friends growing up were self-identified libertarians. So I thought I had a good grasp of that mindset. And I always assumed the grand struggle in the USA has always been wealth vs democracy, per Kevin Phillips' books and maybe a few others. (FWIW, I always assumed I was a left-libertarian -- anti-state, anti-corporation, rabidly pro people -- but noob me had no idea had no idea how to talk about it.)
But I just wasn't aware of the doublespeak. Nor how the intuitive sounding phrases obscure and obfuscate what's really going on. To the elites pushing this stuff, "free enterprise" is pro property, anti-democracy, anti-competition, freedom to act without consequences. It is explicitly against the rule of law, against accountability, against competition. Growing up in a "Lincoln Republican" area, "socially liberal fiscally conservative", none of these concepts would have jived with my notions of fairness and civics.
To really see the disconnect between the elite and folk understandings, I had to chew thru the podcasts Know Your Enemy, 5-4 "How the Supreme Court Sucks", and Strict Scrutiny.
Also, the books Democracy in Chains and Dark Money connected a lot of the dots for me. Specifically, the connection between pro segregation, anti-civil rights, anti-labor reactionaries and the modern movement conservatives.
- > ...but they don't really persuade me.
What measure of proof do you require?
Democracy in Chains' primary source are a cache of documents from economist James Buchanan's think tank, architects of the reactionary movement's strategy. By their own words and actions, they intend to end democracy and protect the rich. Disagree with the author's analysis, fine. But the thesis is not circumstantial, inferred, or speculated.
Whereas Dark Money is a standard whodunnit. Investigative journalism, following the money, ferret out the criminal conspiracy. If you have a different interpretation of the evidence, please share.
- > How did we end up with such a gross lack of accountability?
Have a read of Dark Money (Mayer) and/or Democracy in Chains (MacLean) to get a picture of the why and how.
- From my understanding, we could go around and take apart specifics, but it's more the overarching philosophy of the center, and Cowan as its latest directory to systematically disassemble the power of government. I think the best assembly of linkages between Koch and various foundations and entities and how they're linked the that philosophy is the book "Democracy in Chains", by Nancy MacLean.
This book is not without controversy, but much of the criticism is generated from the very same network of entities that is criticized by the book.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/A-New-History-of-the-Right...
If the book is too long, I might at least listen to this interview of the author.
https://www.blubrry.com/jacobin/34546244/the-dig-democracy-i...
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