American Socialism

From massive government spending to media declarations of the death of capitalism, Glenn Beck hears the sounds of boots marching America toward a system of government that bears a closer resemblance to socialism with each passing day. To document this, he focuses on stories that range from the headlines to more obscure local stories that might otherwise be overlooked.

The American way - independence, entrepreneurialism, liberty - has been under assault for decades. The cultural foundations of the United States and its institutions are devolving along the line of some futuristic apocalyptic novel and producing social, moral, and economic dry rot that can lead only to chaos and ruin. Attacks on individuality, freedom, and personal responsibility for most of the last century have resulted, as Alexis de Tocqueville once predicted, in a gradual degradation of the people and the descent into slavery of once-free people.

Ernest Belfort Bax (1854-1926) was an English barrister, journalist, philosopher, rights advocate, and historian. In this essay, after dismissing St. Simonism, Fourierism, Owenism, and “Continental Nihilists”, Bax attempts to explain what modern socialism, taken broadly, really means. He outlines the three bases of modern socialism as the direction of industry by a democratic state instead of by private capitalists; as a universal Federal Republic to take the place of the present nationalist system; and in religion, a human ideal to take the place of theological cults.

After the fall of the Soviet Union and its global empire, most observers assumed that the 70-year argument that socialism was superior to capitalism was over.

The McCarthy-era witch hunts marked the culmination of an anticommunist crusade launched after the First World War. With Bolshevism triumphant in Russia and public discontent shaking the United States, conservatives at every level of government and business created a network dedicated to sweeping away the "spider web" of radicalism they saw threatening the nation. In this groundbreaking study, Nick Fischer shines a light on right-wing activities of the time, showing that the term "spider web" far more accurately described the anticommunist movement.

When Jim DeMint wrote Saving Freedom: We Can Stop America's Slide into Socialism in 2009, he believed an energized and informed America could put the brakes on the "progressive" bus driven by big government backers. What couldn't be foreseen was the devastating effect Barack Obama would have on our Constitutional Republic in eight years.

The noise from both Washington and the media is deafening, the deeds of our lawmakers alarming. America needs a break from the posturing and the politicking. We need information: how we got here and where we are headed. Catherine Crier, one of the most respected figures in television journalism, presents an incisive, unbiased analysis of America's political crisis---delivering a message we cannot afford to ignore.America must move beyond political parties to invest in our nation's future. Not just with money, but with vision, wisdom, and reason.

Considering the suspicions, jealousies, bigotry, and crass opportunism inherent whenever one power occupies another, Golden Ghetto: How the Americans and French Fell in and out of Love During the Cold War pieces together an improbable tale of how fear and skepticism were crushed by trust and friendship.

As one of the most prominent thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed extensively to social and political theory, and political economy. Mill died before completing this book but the work contains substantial food for thought. He discusses the attitude toward property of the poorer classes of society, and contends that socio-economic matters pertinent to society ought to be examined anew by every successive generation. Mills also provides an in-depth review of the various Utopian Socialists of the nineteenth century.

The testimony that the author has gleaned for this audiobook from the 30-year record of the House Un-American Activities Committee focuses on HUAC's treatment of artists, intellectuals, and performers. This highly readable and absorbing collection of significant excerpts from the hearings shows with painful clarity how HUAC grew from a panel that investigated possible subversive activities in a "dignified" manner to a huge, unrelenting accusatory finger from which almost no one was safe.