Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States

This is an unusual book that has not received the attention it deserves. It is on a topic I have been researching for several years and one I may write about myself. It is a thoroughly analytical look at the rise and success of the American Right since WW II. Although not sympathetic to the movement she describes she is unusually able to make use of sociological theory and analysis to assess the movement objectively. The historical account of this movement and its elements is itself very valuable.

Diamond chronicles just how extreme the religious right is in this country. I know that they've caused our test scores in science to drop precipitously, but I had no idea of their broader agenda. I thought innocently that most biblical fundamentalist sought refuge in their science-denying religion, because it comforted them. I no longer hold such an innocuous view. Maybe some "born-again" believers, I thought, were politically extreme, but they didn't really represent a threat to our country anything like the neo-Marxists and the ultra-Far-Left did. I am no longer so naive. The religious right has a theocratic agenda that should scare the devil back into all our lives. Under the umbrella of "doing God's will," they intend to subvert our basic understanding of fairness, equality, and freedom into an agenda that would reconstitute the 318 biblical laws into our national fabric. What's even more distressing is how politically savy they've become. At least the neo-Marxists have been thoroughly discredited, except for academia perhaps. These people are infiltrating our school boards, city councils, the Congress, and now the White House with an agenda that would scare the Founding Fathers. Read this informative book, and I'll guarantee it that you'll be a tad freightened yourself. Not a book for the feint of heart.

Although this came out in 1995, it still is very useful. It provides background on individuals and organizations essential for understanding the present. (To know what's going on, it's important after all to know who the players are.) Sara Diamond is a very careful and conscientious researcher, and the book is thoroughly documented.

If you think that rational, reasonable Americans can't be subjected to a theocratic putsch, you have another thing coming. Diamond is an expert at infiltrating radical fringe religious groups and getting the inside skinny on their plans and objectives. The objective is domination of the United States under the smiling face of Jesus, regardless of the richly diverse religious makeup of the country. There are those out there who would force you to follow their rules and their morality, because they believe they have all the answers. Diamond's research shows us how they might, and are indeed trying, to do exactly that. The ties are strong and many and lie just below the surface of the public consciousness. If nothing else, it will make you wonder what a given politician REALLY has on his mind when he names Jesus as his favorite philosopher.

For those who want a fresh review of the right wing movement in America over the past few decades, this one is a sure winner. Yet, one aspect which I believe the author failed to mention is the important link behind 'big money' and the religious right, which, in effect, has served as a 'pawn of the oppressor' in regards to economic issues. The religious right provides the Republican party with its only source of an alliance with lower-income and working-class voters. White Protestant Fundamentlists are the only group of persons who vote Republican a majority of the time. Why? Because the religious right - funded by the pro-corporate Republican party and other big business interests - shooves divisive issues - such as civil rights, church/state separation and abortion - into their face so that 'bread and butter' economic issues like Social Security, health care, education and day care can be ignored. The very Republican Congressman who votes pro-life and against civil rights(to the delight of the brainwashed religious right electorate)will vote against their economic interests by supporting such conservative pro-affluent class measures as the flat tax, privatized Social Security and privatized Medicare. Does not anyone else see a connection? The religious right is a pawn of the oppressor in that it is just another stealth organization funded by corporate American which puts divisive issues in front of the faces of conservative families in order to distract them from other important issues - such as health care reform, fair taxation and labor laws. Do lower income and working class religious right families benefit from Republican politics? Of course not. No family benefits from a party which denies them health care, a fair tax system, public education and job training and instead gives them scraps under the table, in the form of abortion regulation and gay and minority bashing. As a Christian who believes in social justices for the oppressed, I find this very, very disturbing. Christ was pro-poor and pro-minority. He would never bash minorities or scapegoat persons like the religious right does. He would surely oppose efforts to give the wealthy in the form of tax breaks and take away from the poor in the form of privatization of cherrished government programs. This is the central point which the author missed: The tie between big money and the religious right, as well as the outcry which should have been heard from any 'Christian' organization which in 1995 the Republicans tried to decimate Medicare, Medicaid, Education, Welfare and Nutrition programs for the at-risk while giving the affluent huge tax breaks. No Christ-like organization would support such moves. That is the main point which the author missed. Other than that, it is a great book.