The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot
 | Average Customer Rating: Recommend In my travels across the country, I have heard from citizens of all backgrounds who feel alienated from the Founders' idea that they are the ones who must lead; they are the ones who must decide and confront and draw a line. They are the ones who matter. This book is written for them. Such citizens need the keys to, the understanding of, the Founders' radical… Product details and pricing info |
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173 Customer Reviews Posted
- Is this really happening to America?
- I never expected reading such a book. I was educated in the United States, and always looked upon the US as the ideal country for an individual's freedom of rights and free speech. You were innocent until proven guilty, and even criminals had rights that made them difficult to apprehend by the authorities. In a nutshell, I was living in a society where my friends and I, whether Americans or foreigners, felt safe and protected.
According to Naomi Wolf, things have changed, and I found this shocking. Who ever thought the Soviet Union would collapse? It did. Who ever thought the US might collapse one day? I never dreamt of such a day, but many today think it is already happening, and Naomi Wolf aptly names her book, `The End of America.'
I also found it shocking that she compares the present administration to Hitler's administration. Recall that Bush used to refer to Saddam Hussein as Hitler. What's going on?
I actually liked Naomi's book as `a point of view' book, and the way she compares the present administration to fascist governments throughout history. In Germany, for example, Hitler slowly stripped his citizens of their rights. First, Hitler imprisoned the enemies of the state, but soon those enemies became the citizens themselves. Politicians and journalists alike were imprisoned and tortured. According to Naomi Wolf, Bush's administration is doing the same to its US citizens. People are being arrested with no trial, and without being given the reason for their arrests. A new law Bush passed allows the government to spy on its citizens. In a way, according to Wolf, all are now guilty until proven innocent, if they ever are given the chance to prove their innocence.
There is now a blacklist issued by the US government, and many US politicians and journalists are on that list. Naomi Wolf is on that list. Whenever she travels by air, the security officers at the airport scrutinize her. Do they actually expect she might hijack an airplane? Whatever happened to freedom of speech and thought?
The way this administration works today, explains Wolf, is that you are either with the administration or against it. Period. If you speak ill of this administration, then you are against it and immediately placed on a black list. This does not sound like the US I once knew.
According to Naomi Wolf, this administration does not have any regards for the Geneva Convention on war prisoners. Prisoners are routinely tortured and ill treated by the US military. Sometimes, prisoners are flown out of US territory where torture laws are inexistent.
I was quite taken aback by how many terms used by fascists states have been repeated by this administration.
The following are the ten points that make up a fascist state:
1. Invoke an external and internal threat or enemy, such as a political party (e.g. communist party etc.) or a religious group (in Germany it was the Jews. Today it is the Muslims).
2. Establish secret prisons, such as Guantanamo and other US prisons located abroad. Prisons located outside of US territories do not fall under US laws, and thus torture can be freely exercised.
3. Develop a paramilitary force. According to Wolf, the US has today the largest and most powerful mercenary army in the world, and large corporations with deep pockets back it. This mercenary army does not fall under the rules, laws, or regulations of the US military forces. They can basically commit war crimes without ever being charged! According to Wolf, dismantling such an army will be near to impossible. We'll have to see what the next US president will do about this mercenary army.
4. Spy on the citizens. New bills passed by the Bush administration allow Big Brother to listen to phone conversations and read emails.
5. Infiltrate citizens' groups.
6. Arbitrarily detain and release citizens to instill fear.
7. Target key individuals, such as politicians, scientists, and journalists.
8. Control and censor the press (note: if this was really the case, why was this book allowed to be published?).
9. Criticism and dissent become treason.
10. Change the rule of law (changing the constitution and the bill of rights).
Is this really happening to America? If so, this book should never have been allowed to be published in the first place. Or is this just the beginning? Will Naomi Wolf be eventually jailed for her book one day? If so, she would have proven her point (and God forbid that should ever happen).
How much of this book is true? Either time will tell, or just more research...if you have the time, and care enough! - 2008-08-17, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Crying Wolf at the Wine And Cheese Party
- When you get to be my age, you can almost predict the appearance of the dire warnings from the utopian encampments in Vermont and Oregon. When I was in college some thirty years ago, there was always a table set up at Cody's bookstore on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley devoted to warnings, usually much like this: "Coming Fascism," "Friendly Fascism," "Reagan and Hitler," "Eichmann's Friend Spiro Agnew," and so on. Then there were the conspiracy theorists, who were able to connect the death of Caesar to that of JFK, Pearl Harbor, and the closing on Broadway of the "Pajama Game." To listen to it, and I did, you'd have thought the world was at the brink. Time gives one a little perspective. On the other hand, the warning business is good business, so why not write a manifesto. You get to be considered a hero and you get to keep the royalties. The Constitution is coming to an end at the hands of the Party that took the USSR to the Helsinki Conference. When human rights activists like the now-deceased Solzhenitsyn came to America, they wanted to meet Reagan and Ford, not Carter, Mondale, Clinton, or any other of the self-appointed do-gooders. To hear Berkeley's Sproul Plaza sun-bathers tell it, the Constitution came to an end a long time ago, when Presidents started to lie to Congress, with the exception of the time Roosevelt lied to Congress to get Lend-Lease passed, because according to these same high-minded protesters, lying for a worthy cause is justifiable. If you can sort this all out, you will be a better man than I. Yes, Ms Wolf, it is all over for us. Thank God, you, Nancy Pelosi, and the grandkids are guarding our rights, what little may be left of them.
- 2008-08-05, 5 of 15 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Great read
- Well organized, step-by-step explanation of how and why sovereign citizens forfeit their liberty to the government. Very, very good read. Highly recommended.
- 2008-08-01, 1 of 4 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- The thing that bothers me...
- In her UW lecture-she correctly read off the 10 signs the we may be in trouble-and then she all but advocates -"when it gets tough-GIVE UP!" Let it take over-be a wimp-dont stand up!
INCREDIBLE!
Why should she HAVE to throw her copy of a book in the trash can on the way to a plane? There are so many more of us than those inept fascist bumbling fools; Has she no courage? They can take us one by one-but they cant take us in numbers.
And besides-I think their days are numbered by recent developments-but dont let down your guard just yet.
STAND UP EN MASS-and they BACK DOWN!
What kind of book would argue that fascism is coming to this country-and then state that its best not to argue-best not to get involved-best not to create a fuss/best to do as they say , best to GIVE UP and let it happen-and hope that THE LONE RANGER will come to the rescue?
You would almost wonder if she were a CIA mole.
When freedom becomes 'inconvenient'- "I might miss my flight to Denver" We are in trouble.
We deserve whatever we get.
Why there havent been a million people surrounding the White House bringing its business to a dead halt regularly for the past few years is beyond me. People in the Soviet block countries used to fight back at police/army squads, hold their ground or even push the b*stards back!
Here we become weak because we cant miss AMERICAN IDOL, or being first in line to see DARK KNIGHT...
THE END OF AMERICA IS NOT INEVITABLE UNLESS YOU ALLOW IT TO BE!
She is almost saying-FASCISM IS HERE-ACCEPT IT- LET IT HAPPEN-DONT CREATE A FUSS! ACCEPT IT
When its all done and accounted for-the most she wants out of life seems to be having a daughter on her knee- telling her about "the good old days"-unless there are bugs every where-or she hasnt already been hauled off to a camp for SEDITION (ie: SAYING NAUGHTY THINGS ABOUT THE STATE. While everyone stood watching-not raising a hand- a voice.
and should any one be monitoring this site for (haha!) subversion-as they say on BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA
"FRIK YOU!"
The 'The Ministry of Fatherland Sekurity' took AMAZON to court, demanding they give up monthly lists past, present and future of books sold and to WHOM-it appears at least that Amazon has won that case...but dont count on it.
They tried this on all of Americas libraries-and they fought back and won.
Dont get complacent
They wont - 2008-07-21, 1 of 3 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- could have been a lot better
- Not much more to say than what has already been said. Wolfe could have painted a more accurate picture by being a bit more objective and she put too much emphasis on Bush. Additionally the book (at least my copy) was poorly edited. I found numerous blatant typos and poor sentence structure. Unless the book was reprinted with these on purpose to discredit the ability of the author (conspiracy?) I would find a new editor for your next work. If you want to be scared then this book is a short easy read designed to get the fire going quickly. I do believe that there are better books on the subject that are slightly less biased.
- 2008-07-15, 1 of 7 people found this review helpful, Rated:
