A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism and One Man's Fight to Stop It

Mike Gravel spoke truth to power in the Senate and he spoke truth to power during the early presidential debates in 2008. He speaks the truth as he sees it in this book with Joe Lauria. That is no doubt why Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and General Electric, which owns NBC all conspired to ban him from those debates. People who say the Emperor has no clothes are uncomfortable to be around, especial when you are aspiring to be Emperor or are a company that supplies the Emperor's weapons. What was it Gravel said that got him bounced from most of the debates in 2008? Read this book and you'll find out. Here is a little preview. The Democrats and Republicans running for office are fond of telling their audiences and voters America is #1 and they intend to keep it that way. Gravel said, sure America is # 1. It is #1 in defense spending, #1 in prison population, #1 in consumer spending and #1 in debt. Gravel also honestly pointed out that we aren't #1 in literacy, infant health, math or savings. Gravel didn't paint the typical pretty picture. Gravel also offered real if unorthodox solutions such as: End the drug war, abolish the income tax, implement the FAIR tax, bring the troops home now and let the people decide political policy by enacting the National Initiative. Say what you will about the fixes, but you must admit Gravel advocates real change. For Mike Gravel "Change" isn't just a slick slogan. This book by Gravel and Joe Lauria will evoke the political odyssey any of us of a certain age in the U.S. lived in the 40+ years since Gravel first won a seat in the United States Senate. Mike Gravel was called a "maverick" then and he still is after all these years. The folks in power in DC don't want to hear the truth. What this country really needs is more mavericks like Mike Gravel and Ron Paul who are willing to tell the truth. It is said that knowing the truth will set you free. If you want to know the truth, "A Political Odyssey" is a good place to start.

If you watched the Democratic primary debates you probably saw two Mike Gravels. One was the candidate who most directly spoke truth to power: he challenged Hillary on her preparedness to nuke Iran, challenged Obama for voting to fund the Iraq war, challenged the "mealy mouthed" Democratic Congressional leadership, condemned the `war on drugs,' condemned Bush for creating "a nation ruled by fear" and denounced America for allowing itself to become Number One in production of weapons, consumer spending, debt, people in prison, energy consumption, and environmental pollution. The other Gravel came over as the crazy uncle who should have stayed locked in his attic. This book helps us to understand why. Lauria manages to get Gravel to confess to all his human flaws: his vanity, his ambition, his opportunism, his naiveté. Would that all our politicians were so honest. But he also reminds us of his lonely fight to end the draft in Vietnam, his determination to stand up to Nixon over the Pentagon Papers and his vehement opposition to American militarism. For all his foibles, the man is a genuine hero. The book is written with a light touch. It captures Gravel's voice and his no b-s attitude perfectly and it reads in places almost like a novel - who knew that Gravel was once a New York cabbie, a railroad brakeman in Alaska, much less an American spy in Europe? Yet Lauria also manages to interlace it with some heavy-duty historical research into the birth of the military-industrial complex and the way in which so many of our presidents have chosen to exploit fear and twist our Constitution in order to justify huge arms expenditures and bloody foreign adventures that have generated huge profits for the weapons merchants back home. Gravel's solution to the way in which our democratic republic is periodically hijacked by what is in effect a fear-mongering elected monarch and a Congress in thrall to its corporate backers and their imperial ambitions, is government by national initiative - legislation initiated by The People and voted on in national referenda. At first blush it is hard to see how such an idea could ever gain traction. And when one thinks of initiatives like California's Proposition 13 which decimated the best public education system in the country, it's hard not wonder if direct democracy might not be worse than the (un)representative version we have now. But it does make one think. America's revolutionary experiment was supposed to be a permanent revolution... ever more perfectible. And, given the way the Internet is tying us all ever closer together in a network of instant communication and given the galvanizing effect of online organizing evident in Obama's campaign, it makes one wonder if Gravel will simply prove to be a prophet before his time. If we could all vote directly, would we really spend close to 50% of our national budget on the Pentagon, national security and war, as we do today? It is that monumental

A revealing book... The fact is, representative government is broken, and there are only two venues for change: One is the government, where the problem exists, and two is the people. Correction can only take place with the people of America to buy and read this GREAT book.

THE WASHINGTON TIMES Tuesday, August 5, 2008 GREENYA: Righteous anger OP-ED: You have to admire a man who can stay mad for almost four decades. No matter how dedicated and fired up most of us may be initially, we cop out, wear out or burn out long before that. Not former Democratic Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska, again this year, long-long-shot presidential candidate. Mr. Gravel gets mad, usually for good reason, and then, eschewing the conventional wisdom, never gets over it. You gotta like the guy, and thanks to his able co-author, Joe Lauria, you gotta like his book. What made Mr. Gravel mad back in 1971 was the arrogance of power, especially as wielded by democratically elected leaders to favor the defense industry over the common good. "The separate histories of my life and American militarism collided in 1968, when I arrived in the Senate at the age of thirty-eight," he writes. "My fight against militarism turned into a personal battle with Scoop Jackson, the senator who personified the military-industrial power even more than I personified its opposition." In the Senate, Mr. Gravel was never a go-along-to-get-along kind of guy, displaying an independent streak right from the start. Eventually, he was a major thorn not just in the side of other senators, but also in that of the president of the United States, Richard Nixon, whom he infuriated by reading into the public record 4,100 of the 7,100 pages of the Pentagon Papers. By publishing the Pentagon Papers, Mr. Gravel cast a very large and ominous die that didn't stop until the war in Vietnam came to its ignoble end. "A Political Odyssey" lays out Mr. Gravel's thesis that, far more often than not, our leaders have used fear - of the British, the Indians, the Communists, the radical Islamic terrorists - to justify ever larger outlays for defense, whether we happen to be at war or not. During his time on the national stage, however, Mr. Gravel's main causes were the war in Vietnam and nuclear testing. But after fighting those battles throughout the 1970s, he was "swept out of office when Reagan and resurgent militarism were swept in. I sank into a long political and personal despair, only to start climbing out of it in the '90s, seeking ways to reform the political system." Mr. Gravel's main reforms are direct democracy, the national initiative and the flat tax. Before you groan, stop and think what a transformation these ideas would produce in this country. (Better yet, read this book, because it is filled with information and insight.) As a prime example of the workability of the first of his ideas, Mr. Gravel cites Switzerland: "In 168 years of direct democracy, the Swiss have built the most peaceful and prosperous nation in Europe. The United States would become unrecognizable, if the people would have this same power." There are several other good reasons to read this book. One is that it's very well-written (Mr. Gravel's collaborator, Mr. Lauria, is an experienced New York-based jo

This book masterfully weaves together the life of Senator Mike Gravel and numerous key moments in the evolution and growth of the Military-Industrial-Complex. From his formative adolescent years in Springfield, Mass to years as a spy in Cold War Europe to staring down Vietnam as a US Senator, Gravel has been in the thick of it for much of his life. Without citing specific examples (many great moments, no need to spoil them), the book is a swift, pleasurable read. Joe Lauria really channels Gravel's no-nonsense attitude and unabashed criticism, often sarcastic and hard-hitting, towards our culture's obsession with war. Ever since WWII, American military has maintained a positive image and been able to push war after war onto the American people. Gravel cuts right through to who really amped up the Arms Race (USA, as we're doing again today) and the shortcomings of our leadership when they had the opportunities to steer our society away from war. Reading about Gravel's battles fought and his personal experiences really gives a sharp insight into how the Congress can buckle on such fundamental moral issues as life & death. Sufficed to say, most politicians and nothing like Gravel, and that's a very sad thing. The book is rife with personal reflections and candid stories from a man whose life path has been so dramatically involved with the core force in American society. Sadly, it is a heart beating to the pulse military-industrial-complex and its warmongering desires. Read about Mike going toe-to-toe with Scoop Jackson, an unabashed warhawk (and a fellow Democrat). Candid encounters with Ted Kennedy and Frank Sinatra--the book has some real gems. Gravel's life really represents the French "bon vivant" spirit. That, combined with his ferocious moral courage, show how a real leader of the American people can be. Gravel's life story and the history of American militarism really flow together seamlessly thanks to Joe Lauria's masterful writing. I am also currently reading James Carroll's "House of War," nearly 600 pages on the rise of the military-industrial-complex post-WWII. In 250 satisfying pages, this book gives a good run-through of how arms manufacturers have crept their influence deeper and deeper into our society (starting soon after the country's founding, often intertwining with executive power being stretched (starting even with Washington) to its rampant abuses today. Read this book as a primer and THEN read House of War if you want to read up on US militarism. I'd recommend A Political Odyssey to not just followers of Gravel's recent presidential campaign, but anyone looking for some insight into how the military-industrial-complex controls American society, and how one citizen can work within that system and achieve massive successes. Gravel's story is as American as anyone's. First-generation-immigrant, scrapping different jobs together, enlisting in the Army, moving to the frontier of Alaska and becoming a self-