Day of Reckoning: How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed Are Tearing America Apart

Day of Reckoning: How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed Are Tearing America Apart | Patrick J. Buchanan | The Modern Chesterton

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Day of Reckoning: ...

	Day of Reckoning: How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed Are Tearing America Apart Patrick J. Buchanan Thomas Dunne Books, 2007 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 66 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Great Book!

Pat Buchanan's latest book is very timely and gives you a lot to think about where this country is headed. He not only points out the problems but offers some realistic solutions for politicians with some courage.

The Modern Chesterton

Day of Reckoning is the first of Patrick Buchanan's books that I've read, and I found it impossible to put down. The book is a broad, sweeping analysis of US policy in the arenas of foreign affairs, economics, to cultural phenomena. Pat repeatedly contrasts current policy with that of our fore-fathers--those who made America great--and projects an impending debacle based on the present state of affairs. Somewhere someone else called Patrick Buchanan the "Paul Revere of our day", and I think the comparison is apt.

The book is steeped in historical detail and exhaustively referenced. Pat graces his writing with an old-world savvy, full of quotes from great poets and other of our cultural sages. In addition, the author shows himself well abreast of popular culture, with many quotations and allusions to movies and current affairs.

In certain parts of this book, where the past glories of our nation are recounted, I found myself misty-eyed with pride. The passage where the CEOs of today are contrasted with the robber-barons of yesteryear is a case in point.

The reviews that are critical of this book often say that it presents a doomsday scenario without offering any real solutions. And it's true the problems described are too over-arching for there to be any simple fix. But I think the book does offer a solution of sorts--and that's stated in the title. The ills discussed are diagnosed as symptoms of defects in the fundamental character and world-view of our men and women. If we confront our own greed, hubris, and delusion, there may still be hope for the future.

In a less deluded age, Patrick Buchanan may have been a statesman of the stature of Washington, Adams, or Jackson. This book proves that he is a true American patriot.

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Caution if you're already depressed!!

The title of Pat Buchanan's DAY OF RECKONING could just as well be DOOM AND GLOOM - it's a real downer! I should note to start off that I'm a liberal, yet I agreed with Buchanan a lot more often than I expected. This is probably due to the fact that, although he may be quite conservative, he is not a NEO-conservative like George W. Bush and company. As, I much enjoyed the first half of the book, which is a vehement condemnation of Bush's decision to invade Iraq, and I agree when Buchanan describes that as senseless from many standpoints - militarily, culturally, in dealing with terrorism, and so on. Strangely, he then characterizes the desire of many Americans to get out quickly as evidence of "an empire in terminal decline" (p. 236), yet does not explain that. He helpfully details all the defense commitments we have gotten ourselves into all over the world since WW II, and I agree with his assertion that we are in "imperial overstretch." Also, I admire Buchanan's historical perspective on things, and he throws in many good quotes as part of that.

Other issues - I sympathize with his fear that we are allowing too many immigrants into the U.S., that we need to slow that down and give those here time to assimilate. Also, I agree with the general outline of his assertion that the U.S. economy is in deep trouble, and that free trade is much of the reason. I'm glad to hear him denounce conservative economist Milton Freedman's gospel on that. After all, what good are lower prices due to free trade if the cost of that is a gutted American economy and many consumers here either out of work or forced to take much lower paying jobs?

I won't attempt to summarize the entire book, so I'll just mention two issues that I strongly DISAGREE with Buchanan on. One is the oddity that in a book detailing all the worries that we face, he says virtually nothing about the environment, and what little he says does not deal with protecting it, namely, promoting nuclear power plants and more drilling for oil off American coastlines. There is no mention of global warming at all. Secondly, he says very little about our health care crisis, I suspect because as a conservative he does not want to admit the possible need for government intervention in the health care system. He talks about Medicare and Social Security problems for a couple of pages (p.239-240), but deals with them only from the standpoint of government finances. Also, in the chapter "Deconstructing America" he launches into a screed against the Sixties counterculture, which I think is grossly oversimplified. As a born-again hippie, I've GOT to deduct some points from his book for these transgressions! Nevertheless, despite these shortcomings, I believe that DAY OF RECKONING is very thought-provoking and worthwhile reading.

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Boring

I'm a Pat Buchanan fan and have read most of his books. However, I was disappointed by this one. It seems like he makes his point in the first chapter and then the rest of the book says the same thing over and over. I became bored and had a hard time making myself finish the book.

Rehash

I've always like Pat Buchanan, but this is pretty much a rehash of what he has written and said before, so if you've read his earlier writings, there isn't much new here. I do wish Pat would learn what "free trade" is, however. He severely damages his credibility on economic matters by continuing to bash a concept that he appears to not truly understand.

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