Day of Reckoning: How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed Are Tearing America Apart

by Patrick J. Buchanan

America is coming apart at the seams. Forces foreign and domestic seek an end to U.S. sovereignty and independence. Before us looms the prospect of an America breaking up along the lines of race, ethnicity, class and culture. In Day of Reckoning , Pat Buchanan reveals the true existential crisis of the nation and shows how President Bush’s post-9/11 conversion to an ideology of “democratism” led us to the precipice of strategic disaster abroad and savage division at home.
Ideology, writes Buchanan, is a Golden Calf, a false god, a secular religion that seeks vainly, like Marxism, to create a paradise on earth.
While free enterprise is good, the worship of a “free trade” that is destroying the dollar, de-industrializing America, and ending our economic independence, is cult madness. While America must stand for freedom and self-determination, the use of U.S. troops to police the planet or serve as advance guard of some “world democratic revolution” is, as Iraq shows, imperial folly that will bring ruin to the republic. While America should speak out for human rights, the idea that we get in Russia’s face and hand out moral report cards to every nation on earth is moral arrogance. While we have benefited from immigration and the melting pot worked with millions of Europeans, the idea we can import endless millions of aliens, legal and illegal, from every culture, clime, creed, and continent on earth, and still remain a country, is absurd.
To save America the first imperative is to remove from power the ideologues of both parties who have nearly killed our country.
In his final chapter, Buchanan lays out ideas to prevent the end of America. He calls for a bottom-up review of all of America’s Cold War commitments, a ten-point program to secure America’s borders, ideas to halt the erosion of our national sovereignty and restore our manufacturing preeminence and economic independence, and a formula for finding the way to a cold peace in the culture wars.
Buchanan offers a radical but necessary program, for neither party is addressing the real crisis of America -- whether we survive as one nation and people, or disintegrate into what Theodore Roosevelt called a “tangle of squabbling nationalities” and not a nation at all. IN THIS EYE-OPENING BOOK, PAT BUCHANAN REVEALS THE PERILOUS PATH OUR NATION HAS

- Pax Americana -- the era of U.S. global dominance -- is over.

- A struggle for world hegemony among the United States, China, a resurgent Russia and radical Islam has begun.

- Torn apart by a culture war, America has begun to Balkanize and break down along class, cultural, ethnic, and racial lines.

- Free trade is hollowing out U.S. industry, destroying the dollar, and plunging the country into permanent dependency and unpayable debt.

- One of every six U.S. manufacturing jobs vanished under Bush.

- The Third World invasion through Mexico is a graver threat to U.S. survival than anything happening in Afghanistan or Iraq.

…IS OUR DAY OF RECKONING JUST AHEAD?

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Social Commentary, American

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

One of America's best known paleoconservatives, Buchanan served as a senior advisor to Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. He ran for president in 1992, 1996 and 2000. Buchanan is an isolationist on the subject of American foreign policy and believes in a restrictive immigration policy.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/patric...

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pat Buchanan's is a rare voice, one that refuses to tote a party line, and instead seeks to grapple with some rather irrefutable facts. While I plan to do further reading from other perspectives on those aspects of the book I found most interesting or difficult to swallow, I thought it was a very lucid presentation.

As with most of his recent books, he criticizes our government (and those in a position to influence it) for maintaining various trappings of empire, ones that he believes will mean the end of the United States as the leader of the free world if they are not abandoned in short order. Thankfully, there's far less speculation about neocons and their motives than in Where the Right Went Wrong. I would also read this book before Death of the West, which is a little more overwrought.

Whatever you think of Buchanan (and especially if you think he's just a cranky racist, which I believe is flatly false), this book is well worth reading, and soon. I believe he has the facts squarely on his side in this case. Even if he's wrong on half his points, he's still prescribing necessary medicine.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read Buchanan before and admire his thoughtful perspective on history and socio-political issues. His politics come shining through clearly in this book on the challenges America faces in the coming decades. He argues that diversity is a great challenge for nations--a very politically incorrect idea. Yet I think he adequately demonstrates that diversity within a nation is actually a cause for alarm. He argues that it is a unified people that will maintain the integrity of a nation. He takes it for granted that America should stay the same 50 states it has been for fifty plus years now.

He explicitly subscribes to Hamilton's economic policies in this book, and makes a good case for it--at least the protective tariffs. He makes some good points and argues effectively to show that while America argues for free trade, the rest of the world is exploiting this stance.

This is a good book, one I would recommend others read.

[Reza Amiri Praramadhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pat Buchanan is one of the most authoritative voices within paleoconservative movement, who continues to play the part of Cassandra to America right until now, which I find sad, as America is unraveling more and more. In this book, Pat directs his crusade against ideology of Bush Jr’s neocons, offering his alternative of pulling out troops from middle east, ending foreign commitments, tightening immigration, and generally rethinking of globalism, you know, those national populistic sort of things, as remedy for endless radical islamic terrorism, jobs being sent overseas, and unlimited foreign wars among other things.

As I have read numerous of Pat’s writings, sometimes I found myself out of focus and bored, since Pat has been drumming the same drum over and over all this time, and his warnings mostly continues to be unheeded. Some of his predictions are proved prescient, as US continuous export of democracy in Iraq gave birth to ISIL, for example. However, as America continues to ignore his warnings, I trust Pat to continue his thankless job of warning Americans for their own follies, and I appreciate him for that.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

What’s wrong with America? Change, brown people, and wars, judging by Day of Reckoning. Published in 2009, presumably to capitalize on the election, Day of Reckoning puts forth Patrick Buchanan’s vision for America: less war, stronger borders,, protectionism, and more white babies, especially the good Anglo kind. (Nothing is said about Saxon babies, but one assumes they’re OK.) Although marred by stupefying sketchiness at times, and more a thought-dump than a coherent argument, Reckoning makes a couple of good points about imperialism and the perils of ideology. Even so, I would have probably passed on it had I not been curious about the 'paleoconservatives'.

Pat Buchanan might not find the lack of one dominating theme tying his book together a bad thing: coherent worldviews, especially forceful ones, are his target. Ideology has ruined politics, he writes, encouraging people to interpret everything that happens through the lens of their particular system of belief, and motivating them to change everything to fulfill their dream – whether the ideology is Leninism or Free Trade. Change is bad. This is at the heart of Buchanan’s writing. Things that cause change, like energetic politics and mobs, are to be avoided. It doesn't matter if Yugoslavians want to break up, or that Chechnyans want freedom from Russia: stability is god. Although I found some of his grousing sympathetic (I'm still mulling over global free trade, but much prefer a United States with factories to one without), the evidence he presents in favor of his causes isn't exactly convincing. Did the early American and British empires, when they were strong and rising, have free trade? No, Ergo, free trade destroys empires. Isn't that a good thing? Again, Mr. Buchanan isn't consistent. He's an impassioned critic of American misadventures in nation-building and wars on terror/drugs/etc, but he protests them not out of the principle that imperialism is malevolent, but because these badly-managed affairs have sapped American strength. Glory, power, empire -- all good things, but they have to be managed with great efficiency. He is a grim pragmatic: whatever is working now, keep it.

Although a healthy respect for the destructive power of ideology is warranted (witness the French and Russian revolutions), the author's revulsion for change on principle strikes me as more reactionary than thoughtful, and his conservatism as more or less self serving: he's fine with democracy among fine white western folk, but generic eastern Europeans and Arabs? Best to let them be managed by reasonable strongmen, like that Saddam Hussein fellow who kept Iraq in such good order until our tanks mucked things up. I'd give points for brazen self-interested honestly had he been consistent there, but in cataloging America's imperial wars, he managed to completely skip the invasion of Mexico, a fact worth nothing considering that he's staunchly against immigration.

Day of Reckoning is a book that I should have left on the shelf, I think. I will say this, though: unlike so many other political works, it doesn't feature the author on the cover, a marketing tactic I find particularly obnoxious.

[Rhonda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a great book warning America to wake up and take heed, lest we continue to fall into it's demise. Talks about America's moral and financial crisis, how far we have gotten from the intent of our Founding Forefathers.

I don't know that I agree with everything he writes, but it is certainly food for thought.

My favorite "sub-chapter" was on page 175, The Real Revolution, about how we have been overtaken by a movement that drove wedges through society that endure today, regarding race rejection and overthrow of traditional Christian morality, treason rewriting of history texts used in schools to demonize men previous generations had been taught to revere, etc. It was a true social, moral, cultural revolution that changed the way Americans think about their country and civilization. It was too long to quote here...but good.


One long quote, which is the ending of the book:

"John F. Kennedy had it right:
'We must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient---that we are only six percent of the world's population---that we cannot impose our will upon the other ninety-four percent of mankind---that we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversity---and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem.'

If we are to make the twenty-first century the Second American Century, the first imperative is to recognize that not only is the cold War over, the post-Cold War era is now over. Pax Americana is finished. we must stop trying to conquer our convert the world to our way of thinking or our way of life. Only empires have the kind of commitments we have today. And the age of empires is over, and we Americans never really were an imperial people. Even Teddy Roosevelt wanted to be rid of the Philippines a few years after we took them.

As George Kennan wrote, 'Surely the essential and important thing in the life of our own state is not what we do with regared to other nations, but what happens right here among us, on this American territory, for which we are responsible. Our foreign policy is only a means to an end.'

Our day of reckoning is at hand. Time to mind our own business. Time to lay down the burden and come home. Time to put America first."

[Jan Staveley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that challenges what you think you know! Great insights into what made America great and this has been frittered away on the altar of equality and multiculturalism - that all people and all beliefs are equal when those cultures and countries history's reveal this is not true. The author clearly reveals what has happened "It is crucial to realise that the USA, the greatest republic...rose not because the settlers believed in diversity, equality ... They believed in the superiority of their Christian faith, English culture and civilization and they transplanted that unique faith,culture and civilization to America's fertile soil...But today America and Britain have embraced ideas about the innate equality of all cultures, civilizations, languages and faiths...which is suicide for America and the West." Buchanan talks about the de-Christianising of America and the re-writing of history that demonizes people of the past because they were white, protestant, Western, as if this some how denigrates their historic achievements and makes people from primitive, oppressive, backward countries feel better about themselves. All the things that made America great and become the melting pot of the world with a shared history, heritage, faith, language, manners, culture have been sacrificed to ideologies that are divisive and destructive. "The things that once defined and united us as a people and a nation are now causes of deepest division. Race, ethnicity, religion, language, culture, history and morality." Diversity is destroying American and most Western countries as we bow down to every culture who desperately seeks Western freedoms but then denies their worth just so they can feel better about themselves. What denial!

[John DeCuir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book. Buchanan lays out the road our nation has traveled on and where this road leads us, and it isn't a pretty picture. Disturbing and sobering, this book is a wake-up call to Americans to realize the disastrous route our country is taking. Not a particularly pleasant read, but a necessary one.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the most accurate description of the state of America today and where we are headed if we don't change course soon.

[Hewitt Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Buchanan "Must Read"... Highly recommended!

[Justin Pollock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buchanan does a wonderful job setting up the problem that American politics have put us in over the last century. He is persuasive and coherent throughout. A wonderfully put together book, I would encourage anyone to read it. "Our day of reckoning is at hand." 17 years later we have continued in our hubris and are worse for it. American interest needs to come back home, now more then ever.

[Nancy George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting, insightful and logical. ......and scary

[J Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lincoln was a white supremacist

Got your attention? Well that line got mine. Yes, the line Lincoln was a white supremacist can be found on page 62 of this book. Buchanan perhaps uses this language, as he does through the book, to shore up his conservative base's interest in his thoughts. It's one of the many problems with the work. Normally, I would find myself at odds with the author. Unusually, I agree with the author on many of his key points.

I bought his book because I feel the author has legitimate concerns on illegal immigration, the loss of manufacturing jobs, trade imbalance, as well as our declining world standing. Buchanan does an amazing job of defining these issues, and offers many good solutions for them. As a native Detroiter, I agreed with his take on manufacturing. As a resident of Phoenix Arizona, I found myself nodding appreciatively at his take on our immigration problems. And, as an American, I agreed with much of his take on the Bush Administration.

The problems lie in Buchanan's approach to many of these issues. These problems come up many times, which gives insight on the current right wing / left wing impasse our country faces. For example, he consistently makes racist and sexist remarks throughout the book... and I'm fairly sure he does not even consider them to be so. For example, on page 251, he breaks down our militaries numbers. He states that our armed forces number 1.4 million. The next sentence states "More then 200,000 are women." Like that should matter? Why even make that distinction? On page 235, he states that "Native-born Americans are no longer reproducing themselves." Natives Americans are no longer reproducing themselves? Or does he mean WASPs are no longer reproducing themselves? Does he forget that the latter happen to be immigrants?

Other issues result from him walking the party line. He mentions intellectuals like it's a curse word. He states that the left cherry picks history, yet he contradicts himself more then a few times as he cherry picked his own history. While I realize he is trying to bolster his credibility, it comes of detached from reality more then a few times. As an example, on page 86, he goes over the virtues of true conservatism. He states that "it's principles are derived from the Constitution, experience, tradition, customs and the wisdom of people who have gone before us - the best that has been thought in said." But, Mr. Buchanan.... What happened before the best had been said? How did we develop these experiences? Where did that tradition come from? At one point, these concepts were new, much like our country.

Aside from many leaps of logic, Mr. Buchanan's book also suffers in other areas regarding credibility. Far reaching conclusions that hippies were treasonous (p 176) aside, his arguments are further weakened by shoddy sources. While I would expect most of this material to reference right leaning authors, he relies on the Washington Post primarily. I would have preferred more in depth articles, and normally would not have even brought the references up, until I noted he was continually citing.... Himself.

I really wanted to give this book three stars at times, but then he would add something that smacked of racial or religious elitism. He put's his own race and beliefs ahead of the rest of us Americans, and just could not back his arguments up with real weight.

[Mazola1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although he denies it, and now styles himself as a non-interventionist, Pat Buchanan is still an unreconstructed and unrepentant isolationist. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, his political views are often quirky and pungent, sometimes maddingly simplistic but sometimes incisive and thought provoking.
Day Of Reckoning is Pat Buchanan's latest screed on what's wrong with America and how it's "coming apart at the seams," which is his way of saying going to hell in a handbasket. The list of things that Buchanan thinks are threatening to tear America apart and consign it to the dustbin of history include illegal immigration, failure to seal its borders, free trade, a staggering debt load, a huge trade deficit, the rise of China, job outsourcing, corporate greed, loss of manufacturing jobs, unwise foreign alliances, an "empire" which provokes terrorism, the decline of traditional moral values, and unelected judges who legislate from the bench.

Buchanan longs for the good old days when America was a cohesive nation with a common language, culture, religion and values binding it together, and with the wisdom to avoid foreign entanglements. Clearly preferring tribalism over internationalism, he thinks America was far stronger when it was populated mostly by Christians of European descent. Hence, diversity is no virtue, but is something that divides and stresses a country. And Bush's decision to invade Iraq is the greatest foreign policy blunder in America's history, followed closely by the neoconservatives' atempt to push American values such as democracy and tolerance down the throat of the rest of the world.

Day of Reckoning is a fairly interesting read. It contains some interesting historical facts and arguments, but is a bit repetitive. It also contains some silly suggestions and some facts which are hard to believe. Could the Chicago city schools really teach classes in 200 languages, when there are only 194 countries in the world? It seems unlikely, but it makes a good talking point.

At bottom, that's what Day of Reckoning is -- a series of unconnected talking points. That's very ironic, for Buchanan's book exactly mirrors what he faults America for being: a fragmented collection of pieces that don't quite fit together harmoniously.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I politically identify as "socially liberal, fiscally conservative," and I was unsure of what to expect from reading Day of Reckoning. As it turns out, I found it to be a surprisingly well-written book. Buchanan's primary thesis is that the United States has been in steady decline for the past century, due to a steadily compounding series of problems. Through the books 265 pages, Buchanan focuses on each of them in turn. The primary themes include poorly-checked immigration, complicated political alliances with foreign states, free-trade agreements that have hollowed out our domestic manufacturing base, self-appointed crusades to spread democracy in foreign lands, and other examples.

On one hand, the topics that Buchanan presents seem like typical Republican positions and concerns. But what I liked about this book is that Buchanan spelled out a lot of the underlying motivations for conservatism as a movement, which also included some clarification of the differences between conservatism ("let's focus on solving the United States' problems and keep out of other countries' business") and neo-conservatism ("let's try and make other countries more like the United States").

To be fair, there are probably innumerable ways to scrutinize Buchanan's opinions, but this is a mere book review, not an exhaustive analysis of economic or foreign policy. Although Day of Reckoning is unapologetic in its views, I appreciated it as a 30,000-foot overview of the principles of conservatism as a school of thought. I don't agree with all of the ideas, but I think it it does shed some important light on the nuances of conservative thought. And I'll admit that there's a lot more substance to those positions than the talking heads on the liberal side of the aisle are typically willing to acknowledge.

[jjmann3 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uncle Pat hits it out of the ballpark again. All the rage this week in wonky political circles was talk of the changing political landscape from the tired, old game that is Democrat v. Republican with the rise of the "Me-llennials." Buchanan was among the first conservatives in politics to offer a voice against free trade, state-free capitalism, and perpetual international entanglements, all of which have undoubtedly had a hand in causing the economic turmoil facing the 20-somethings today.

Working in Rosslyn and living right near Fort Belvoir, one hears the never-ending drum beats for war every day. Buchanan underscores how the Republic has more than lost her way and it is time we focus on ourselves and our problems.

Buchanan's oversimplification of some race and religious issues cost him a star. But like the odd old Uncle at family picnics, we still sit around Buchanan and want to hear his advice and stories. A pity that no one in the Occupy crowd -- people who would agree with many of Buchanan's most important points -- is open minded enough take the time to sit with him and share.

[M.E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shows very powerfully how the United States has tried to be all things to all people and is now starting to feel the consequences. We've demanded that companies spend lots of money to take care of their workers, then given them no reason to keep those jobs here. We've bankrupted ourselves by taking care of everyone's every need, even those who aren't even citizens. We've gone to war in order to spread democracy to nations that don't want to be democratic, and have made enemies all over the world in the process. The message of this book is summed up very nicely in a quote that Buchanan uses at the end from John F. Kennedy. To paraphrase the quote, Kennedy says that America is not omnipotent or omniscient and that there cannot be an American solution to every world problem. We have to look after our interests, and expect others to do the same. You wouldn't like your neighbor barging into your house and telling you how to run it, even if he had the arms to make you do whatever he said. It's time America stopped doing that to other nations.

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Buchanan is known for his politically conservative views. He is something of a modern day Jeremiah proclaiming the coming cataclysmic end of the nation. When his views conform with my own generally liberal beliefs, his clear articulation of problems meets with my approval. His scathing critic of the current administration's careless squandering of international goodwill following 911 with their overt display of hubris is very well written.

His strident decrying of the "culture wars" is overdone in my opinion. He says that the invasion from Mexico as a bigger threat to the USA than anything happening in Afghanistan and Iraq. I generally agree that there are many problems facing our country. However, many of his proposed solutions are too draconian for my tastes.

Nevertheless, the book was worth reading to learn what he has to say. Mr Buchanan has a lot of supporters and this book gives an insight into their views.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buchanan has always been an interesting guy in politics. Mostly libertarian, but also conservative in his comments. It seems in the last 10 years he's gone on the anti-conservitive move, but more so as an anti-neo-con, which is good.

In this book, we learn that Muslims will be the dominate religion/culture by 2050 (or something like that) since Europe has a negative birthrate and the US barely is positive. Compared to Muslims countries they are 3 or 4 times our rate. Thus, he basically says we need to learn to get along with them or at least learn not to piss them off.

We learn about Pax Americana and how that is gone and the people to blame are the neo-cons and the democrats.

Pretty gloomy book and is pure Buchanan.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a mixed reaction to this book. I think the sections on free trade and overuse of our military vs. economic power are good. At times the author is way to anti-Bush. Bush does not act in a vaccuum. Because of this the attacks that seem to be aimed at Bush should have been aimed at the current moral deficit of the Republican Party and of the Country in general. The aguments made against the administration are better made against the greater culture war we are in. The greatness of the American Empire rested in her Culture, Morals, and respect for the dignity of the human person. With these attributes no longer strong in America we have no basis for spreading the "gospel" of democracy to the rest of the world.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, I didn't realize how bad a president Bush was until I read this book. I have watched Pat Buchanan in the past, but I didn't really realize his views until I read this book. A lot of good information I didn't know before and really made sense to me, but also a lot that I felt was wrong and didn't make sense. Learned free trade is bad, the evils of ideology (really got tired of reading about ideology!), don't buy foreign cars, and it was all our fault we were attacked 9/11! Really liked Buchanan's plan to halt illegal immigration, worth reading just for that. Recommend the last chapter, the rest got tedious at times.

[Jared Bangerter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I wouldn't rush out to read this one, but I would read this one. People need to understand the situation America is in now and how we got here. It goes back to that quote that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. This book focus on the theme that we need to fight for America while we still have an America to fight for. An eye opening read and very entertaining, of course this is coming from someone who is a political science major so take the entertaining remark with a grain of salt maybe.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pat spells out how the U.S. is going to Hell in a handbasket because of outsourcing, illegal immigration, corporate greed, U.S. imperialism, ethnocentrism, and the loss of our collective identity as Americans (among other things). It's a relatively quick read because of the large typeface and the fact that it's just over 200 pages. Although it's more of an essay than an in-depth analysis of issues, I can't say I disagree with him on most points!

[Grandpa Ellsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a redo of Buchanan's other books, at least 4+ on the same theme with the same arguments. It is a doomsday scenario of everything wrong with the U.S. I agree with about half his arguements and half his conclusions. It is very much a scare-sensational presentation and not much fun to read.

[Trevor Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I found Patrick Buchanan somewhat alarmist and overly conservative in this book, that is normal for him. This book was well paced, gripping, and overall encouraged me to think about the current global and national situation. It really got me focusing on the US foreign policy and its importance.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

If what the author says is correct then we as a country are in some danger. There are a handful of issues on which I disagree with him, but mostly I think he has a pretty accurate take on what's going on right now, a take informed by many years of experience in the highest echelons of American government.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pat Buchanan explains the financial and moral crisis facing America and proposes workable solutions. He is an ignored sage, written off as an old crusty isolationist, which is all the worse for our country. He is guilty, however, of only telling one side of the story on the dispute that led to the American Civil War.

[Papajack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick J. Buchanan, nationally known political views talk show host and conservaative writer, shows how as a nation we got where we are and what needs to be done to improve our country. A must read for all thinking Americans.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the book, despite that while reading it you start to realize how bad of shape we really are in as a nation, and the lengths we are going to have to go to fix some of the problems covered.

[Philomena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me start with a disclaimer: I am not a fan of Patrick Buchanan. However, I think some of his thoughts in this book are pertinent and I found myself agreeing with SOME of his ideas. I always think it is important to read what the other side is saying.

[Tammi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written and very informative. But grim.