Opposing the System

I first read "Opposing the System" when it was first published in 1995. I thought it was excellent then, and now six years later, I still think it's excellent---and am, if possible, even more enthusiastic about it. The only thing that could have made it better, IMO, is if a study guide had been included. This book should be required reading for every citizen in America before tomorrow morning's coffee is poured. Reich describes our dire present political/economic reality with perfect clarity; he peels away the scales covering our eyes, scales fastened there by what he calls the System, a system so ravenous and so consuming that it threatens to swallow the entire planet Earth---if not the entire solar system. Borrow, or FIND and BUY a used copy of this OP book as soon as possible. Badger the publisher to re-issue it ASAP---and to include a study guide. This is one of the most important books in America today. Reich's earlier book, "The Greening Of America," is also excellent. Add to these two Charles A. Reich books, Thomas Frank's "One Market Under God." Read, study and absorb the content of all three, and you'll be well prepared to confront, lay bare, and deflate the claims of the System's eager courtiers and foot-soldiers who've cheerfully applauded and helped shackle us to the unholy economic/political System we're deeply mired in, and are Systematically forcing down the throats of the entire world. Read these books as a monumental favor to your self and to our country.

In this largely ignored follow up book to his overwhelming best seller "The Greening of America", Charles Reich threads together an impressive argument that essentially validates the long-standing "power-elite" thesis forwarded by sociologists such as C. Wright Mills and G. William Domhoff. The present effort, written in compelling terms and reading more like a thriller at points than a dry stuffy academic tome, illustrates how the federal government, which in the times of FDR's New Deal stood as a lone bulwark shielding average citizens from the excesses of industrial capitalism, has since dumped the interests of the average citizen to become the chief apologist and cheerleader for the large multi-national corporations, which have consequently become a world power unto themselves. With the new policies of the government acting in lockstep with the interests of the corporations, there is no countervaling force acting to shield private individuals from the excesses of profit-orientation, and this leaves individual citizens at the mercy of anonymous mulit-national forces they are now impotent to combat. Certainly legislative actions such as the NAFTA and GATT packages were oriented to the interests of large multinational corporations far better than those of average citizens. Yet, almost mysteriously, little public debate were encourgade or observed. Through a number of examples he illustrates how fedearl and state governmental decisions rouitnely show preferencet for anonymous corporations as though they were their constituency, instead of us, serving their needs and protecting their interests against ours. He cites examples in which the provisions of the Taft-Hartley antitrust legislation are strangely but openly twisted to serve the purposes of the corporate entities and against the efforts of individuals. This thin volume is interesting reading and a wake-up call for individuals who think our socioeconomic system represents a level playing field and that each of us has an open opportunity to rise in the system based on hard work and relative merit. Then again, as H. L. Mencken wrote, we have the best Congress that money can buy; the problem is that we didn't buy them. the corporations did.

This book explains some basic factors why modern society is in such a mess.We are now ruled by what Reich calls the System, a merger of governments, top corporations,lawyers and media.The System puts economic factors above all else.They talk about free markets, but in reality they work for markets controlled by them.The power elite call for individual responsibility, but they are silent about their own social responsibilities.Attacks on "big government" are a smokescreen to hide the fact that corporations now control government.Welfare is needed to counter the deprivations caused by the System.Reich points out that corporations don't have to comply with the Bill of Rights.He gives an example where two employees of a large scale firm were sacked simply for dating.Reich shows how the power elite have been planning for years to take over society, and it has now happened.This is a very good book to help explain some basic causes of what is wrong in society today.

A sequel to his book, "The Greening of America", Charles Reich has presented an informative, influential, and provocative view of what has happened to America and democracy. Reich highlights the idea of economic government, in which a small managerial corporate elite wields great power over the masses. Also, such a "System" goes largely unnoticed by the masses, resulting in much difficult for social change.Most striking is the integration of law, politics, economics, and psychology. In a straight-forward and incisive style, Reich pulls it all together and highlights what the "System" is and the magnititude of its power.Although Reich does give a general guideline on how to oppose the "System", he could stand to give more specific examples, and show how such decisions can be made in everyday life.All in all, this is a great read, and strikingly realistic.