BuzzFlash Reviews

February 28, 2006

American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush (Hardcover)
by Kevin Phillips

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Kevin Phillips knows of what he speaks. Working for Nixon, he was the architect of "the Southern Strategy," which is the basis of the modern Republican Party.

But, in recent years, Phillips has become a lucid, compelling and strident critic of the Bush Dynasty, telling BuzzFlash in a 2004 interview that the only two things that the Bush political family is any good at is stealing elections and corporate cronyism. His 2004 book, "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush," should be read by anyone who wants to understand how a White House could betray a nation with a treasonous deal like the multi-billion dollar, taxpayer-funded, Dubai contract.

It's all about "bidness," as they say in Texas. And in Texas "bidness," you're either in the deal or you're out. And if you are out, you are just a pawn in a "great game" of money, deceit, and lies. Those that have, get more. Those who don't have, just get had by the Busheviks.

Phillips described himself a couple of years back as a McCain sort of guy, who feels that the Bushes have betrayed the Republican Party, as well as America. He's no flaming BuzzFlashian. But as we noted in a recent editorial, we prefaced our 2004 interview with him in these terms:

"Few have looked at the facts of the family's rise, but just as important, commentators have neglected the thread -- not the mere occasion -- of special interests, biases, scandals (especially those related to arms dealing), and blatant business cronyism" Phillips writes in his preface. "The evidence that accumulates over four generations [of the Bush family dynasty] is really quite damning."

"Three generations of immersion in the culture of secrecy...deceit and disinformation have become Bush political hallmarks," Phillips notes.
Entitlement, elitism, privilege, secrecy, mediocrity, corruption, financial cronyism, bailouts of family failures by the taxpayers -- these are some of the true characteristics of the Bush Dynasty, according to Phillips.

To Phillips, however, the greatest threat to America posed by the Bush dynasty is not its inherent unfitness to rule. What most offends and angers Phillips is the threat that the imposition of the Bush dynasty on America poses to democracy itself. The American rebellion in 1776 represented the creation of a nation built on the foundations of a government elected by the people, not determined by the restoration to power of corrupt bloodlines.

When we re-read those words and the entire interview, we knew we had to re-offer the book to our BuzzFlash readers -- and we only rarely bring a premium back once it has been rotated off the BuzzFlash catalogue.

If you want to understand why we are in Iraq and why the treacherous Dubai Port deal was cut, you only need read these words from our interview with Phillips: "Well, when you get the Bushes, you get really what amounts to a four-generation history of involvement with finance and the oil industry. That's what they've done. They haven't done much else. And their loyalties are enormous toward, first off, an economics of investors and inheritors, as opposed to workers and earners; and, secondly, a very close tie to the intelligence agencies of the military-industrial complex, of which the oil industry has become a major part. And obviously there are the ties to the oil industry and the preoccupation with the Middle East and Texas, and the price of oil. There again, that's a bias which is both economic and geographic."

"American Dynasty" was a book by an eminently insightful, thoughtful and knowledgeable former Republican insider -- a Nixonian wonk who laid out the Red State strategy that the party still clings to. It should have been a red flag itself to the dangers that loomed ahead for America under a Bush Dynasty.

Unfortunately, the mainstream media did not give it is due, despite the fact that Phillips has all the right mainstream media credentials and speaks with a slightly right-centrist perspective. What he sees is a Bush Dynasty who sold out principles for personal profit and runs the government as if the CIA had gotten married to the corporate crony Mob and moved into the White House.

How can you marginalize a learned political theorist who described himself this way to BuzzFlash: "No, I haven't stopped being a Republican, in the sense I'm not registered as one. I voted for Ronald Reagan twice. My disenchantment came when the Republican Party did something I couldn't believe it would do, which was take George H.W. Bush and then, in 2000, take his son. The first one boggled my mind. The second one triple-boggled me."

So when a guy like Kevin Phillips pulls the fire alarm, it's time to call the fire department right quick and arrest the arsonists.

Due to a special purchase, BuzzFlash.com is able to offer this hardcover edition of "American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush" at below the original price, including shipping.

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