Farewell to Democracy?: Lessons Past and Present

Farewell to Democracy?: Lessons Past and Present

by Jack Luzkow
Farewell to Democracy?: Lessons Past and Present

Farewell to Democracy?: Lessons Past and Present

by Jack Luzkow

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Overview

If you think you are living in an era of post-truth, you likely are. If something sounds like magical thinking, it is. Nationalism makes no country great; it often leads to war, genocide, terror, destroyed economies and the turning of cities into rubble. Technology will not get us to paradise. It has made us more unequal than ever, polluted democracy, heightened job risk (displacement), created ever more billionaires, continued the rapid pace of the destruction of the planet, and transformed us from citizens into consumers, often with our active support. The free market is not free; too often it isn't even a market (because we live in an age of monopoly). The road to serfdom is paved by demagogues, not the state; the state and its institutions are all we have. Trust expertise. Truth does not come from he who shouts the loudest. You are approaching a one-party-state when facts are relativized, science is denied, experts are mocked and threatened, alternative facts are embraced, minorities are criminalized, and lying is normalized. Farewell to Democracy? reminds us that we have been here before. It tells us that we can avoid a repetition of the past, but we must first know what that past was (and is). Farewell to Democracy? insists that nothing is inevitable. That we are not powerless. That we have institutions to help protect us, which we must protect in turn. It shows us what happens when we speak truth to power. It details the strength of mass protest. It pulls back the veil on Post-Truth. It urges all of us to bear witness and to "show up."


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781789041668
Publisher: Hunt, John Publishing
Publication date: 04/01/2021
Pages: 112
Product dimensions: 5.59(w) x 8.46(h) x 0.35(d)

About the Author

Jack Luzkow is a professor of history at Fontbonne University, where he has taught European and world history for sixteen years. He also teaches courses on political thought, intellectual history, and hybrid courses such as a history of the present. He is the recipient of two Mellon Foundation awards and the author of Monopoly Restored: How the Super-Rich Robbed Main Street. He lives in Richmond Heights, MO, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction: History and Democracy 1

Chapter 1 Learn from the Past: Or Repeat It 9

Chapter 2 The Power of the Powerless: We are Never Powerless 15

Chapter 3 Post-Truth: Bear Witness 21

Chapter 4 Nationalism: It Won't Make America or Any Nation Great 25

Chapter 5 Facts: There are No Alternatives 32

Chapter 6 Tyrants: They Don't Speak for the "People" 38

Chapter 7 Nothing is Inevitable: Everybody Matters 44

Chapter 8 Neoliberalism: Not So Liberal: We are Dangerously Unequal 50

Chapter 9 France: Revolt against the Elites: Hold Them Accountable 55

Chapter 10 The Road to Freedom? Or Serfdom? Right-Wing Populism 59

Chapter 11 Progressive Populism: It is Not Extremism 64

Chapter 12 The One-Party State: Don't Let Others Define Truth 67

Chapter 13 Language Matters: Use It Carefully 71

Chapter 14 Beware Technology: It is Not Neutral 76

Chapter 15 Nothing is True, Everything is Possible: To Be and Not To Be 84

Chapter 16 The Future: It is Our Collective Responsibility 93

About the Author 100

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