Book of the Month - part I - Target America

On election eve, I promised that this blog would soon provide discussion of subjects with deeper connections to our philosophical roots. It is about time for me to deliver.

Starting today, I will present one book recommendation around this time every month.

While I don't want to slight today's bestsellers, we have much to learn from the books that provided the roots and backbone of the modern conservative movement. Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh didn't become conservative by listening to talk radio and surfing the internet. Their conservatism ran and runs deeper. Talk radio and the blogosphere are great, but the programs that appear in those media constitute only "entry level" conservatism.

This month's book recommendation is Target America, by James Tyson. The forward by Reed Irvine caused me to picture the book earlier this week.


1981

This small paperback details many examples of how the MSM mirrored the propaganda of foreign dictatorships. In the subchapter entitled "The Flip-Flop on Cambodia," Tyson shows how the MSM line changed dramatically in the late 1970's to match the propoganda of the Soviets:

"One of the most convincing signs that an organization is being influenced by foreign propaganda is when it displays a sudden shift in opinion coinciding exactly with a shift in policy of a foreign country."

page 57.

[Imagine a discussion of a Cambodian flip-flop that does not involve John Kerry!]

Tyson also discusses such subjects as the "Far Left Lobby", the whitewash of the North Vietnamese, the neutron bomb and the CIA.

Hardcover and paperback versions are available at abebooks.