The end of America
Author Wolf shows that there are ten classic steps would-be dictators always take when they wish to close down an open society, and shows how each of those ten steps is underway in the United States today. Our Constitution was built to protect civil liberties and develop a careful system of checks and balances which protect our freedom from tyranny. Wolf argues that the escalation of executive power has eroded these core values and systems, limiting the ability of our Congress to make laws, and of our courts to interpret them--a scenario that our Founding Fathers foresaw and warned against. In this citizen call to action, reminiscent of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, Wolf outlines the real threats to our civil liberties and explains how we can work together to save our liberty and defend our nation.--From publisher description.
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What Hacker News says
- Naomi Wolf is as prescient today as she was in 2007: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_America:_Letter_o...
The easiest way to build internal cohesion is to invent or create an external enemy and distract everyone with that.
I tend to agree, though. The conflict feels manufactured by the respective militaries to distract from internal issues. It’s a waste of human life to cover up dysfunctional governing.
How’s Netanyahu’s corruption trial going? Curious how that timing works out, haven’t heard much about since Israel started leveling Gaza…
That’s not to say Hamas is better, I just don’t expect much of them. They’re not exactly shy about speaking their mind.
- All of our rights are under attack. “The End of America” by Naomi Wolf [0] provides a compelling outline of how this has unfolded, and the situation has only gotten worse since its publication.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_America:_Letter_of_...
- I am waiting for the revolution to start. Seriously. I know this kind of talk borders on sedition and risks a visit from the powers that be, but it's a risk I will take to defend my principles and those of our Constitution.
I do not see a way of reforming society. I see our governments continuing to devolve into ineffective squabbling and pandering, until the final straw lands and their backs break. The pandemic came wonderfully close. If it had been a little worse, many governments would have had to institute martial law, as they would be forced to institute policies would that actively choose who gets to live and who dies. You can imagine how things would go from there.
The 10th Amendment has been effectively dead since around WW2. The big turning point was Wickard v. Filburn [0], which grossly expanded federal powers over intrastate commerce. Similar efforts have succeeded in castrating the power of the States on many other fronts.
That treasonous status quo alone should be cause for revolution; however, all of our fundamental civil liberties have been curtailed in similarly countless ways. For anyone doubting the veracity of this assertion, I recommend the now-dated-but-still-pertinent book by Naomi Wolff, "The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot". Read it and start sharpening your pitchfork.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_America:_Letter_of_...
- I'd say that her books The End of America and Give Me Liberty give her more than adequate standing - certainly more than most posters on this board - to comment on the current question ... far more deserving than a dismissive 'pop feminist' handwave.
- "In The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, Wolf takes a historical look at the rise of fascism, outlining 10 steps necessary for a fascist group (or government) to destroy the democratic character of a nation-state and subvert the social/political liberty previously exercised by its citizens:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy 2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place 3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens 4. Set up an internal surveillance system 5. Harass citizens' groups 6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release 7. Target key individuals 8. Control the press 9. Treat all political dissidents as traitors 10. Suspend the rule of law
The book details how this pattern was implemented in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and elsewhere, and analyzes its emergence and application of all the 10 steps in American political affairs since the September 11 attacks."
- It isn't merely a hand wave. She appeals to her own authority in the linked piece and thus it's legitimate to question that authority.
Neither of those books addresses whistleblowing or the NSA in any detail. e.g.: the word whistleblower appears precisely once in The End Of America. Neither the acronym "NSA" nor the phrase "National Security Agency" appears at all. So if Wolf does have some sort of authority in this very specific domain, it doesn't come from those books as you claim.
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