K-Phil

I'm still here, albeit neck-deep in paper-writing. But while I was at work yesterday, I started reading Kevin Phillips' new book, American Theocracy. And all I can say so far is that it's a very frustrating book thus far.

In case you missed it, Phillips' argument is essentially that continued US power is endangered by dependence on oil, debt, and the power of evangelical christianity in US politics. And he covers these issues well enough, but the problem is essentially that he's still a Republican, and my impression from the book so far (and I haven't finished it yet) is that Phillips can't bring himself to actually admit how awful a President Reagan was.

This is especially frustrating, because Phillips seems to believe that the first President Bush was one of the most powerful Republicans ever. He even refers to the Reagan administration as the Reagan-Bush administration, and you can imagine that Phillips' editor had to change it from reagan-BUSH. Apparently, Bush pere was one of the most powerful VPs ever.

It's ridiculous, because Phillips' book is really all about the Reagan administration, or at least it should be. Whether you want to talk about America's rejection of conservation and renewables, the explosion of debt (public and private), or the Jesus-ification of US politics, the Reagan administration is a prime culprit, far more so than the Bush clan. Meanwhile, Phillips describes Reagan's attitude towards conservation as "lukewarm", an understatement about as ridiculous as saying that Stalin was "lukewarm" to the Kulaks. Reagan was publicly, unconditionally opposed to any notion that America should use less energy.

The book is generally very good so far, but this omission on Phillips' part is really frustrating. I wish more sane Republicans could admit that yes, Reagan was in fact an awful president.