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3/15/09

Philly.com: A warning of creeping totalitarianism in U.S - by Sheldon S.Wolin

For the complete report fromthe Philadelphia Inquirer click on this link

A warning of creeping totalitarianism in U.S - by Sheldon S.Wolin

The United States, if it does not radically alter course, will become a totalitarian state. That is the argument of Sheldon S. Wolin's Democracy Incorporated.

This is no political screed. It is a brilliant, nuanced, and detailed dissection of the abject failings of the American political system by one of the nation's preeminent political theorists. It is a work that will rank as one of the most important pieces of political philosophy of the new century. By the time Wolin, who taught political philosophy at Berkeley and Princeton, is finished, it is clear that unless Barack Obama radically restructures corporate and military industrial power, our democracy is doomed.

The hijacking of government by corporations has permitted the military-industrial complex (which, in a clever sleight of hand, is no longer considered part of the government) to bleed the country. "Big government may be the problem," Wolin quips, "but military is the solution." The social programs implanted by the New Deal have been reduced or eliminated as part of the "selective abdication of governmental responsibility for the well-being of the citizenry" under cover of cost-cutting and improving "efficiency." The official U.S. defense budget for fiscal year 2008 - 2009 was $623 billion. The next closest national military budget is China's, at $65 billion, according to the Central Intelligence Agency. And yet, even in the midst of our economic collapse, the two main political parties refuse to challenge the right of the military-industrial complex to gorge itself on taxpayer dollars.

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