New American Revolution * Using The Power Of The Individual To Save Our Nat'n

by Tammy Bruce

The New American Revolution A controversial and powerful manifesto for twenty-first-century American Patriots "It's time to swing back the curtains and invite the light in. And that light is American Nationalism, perennially shunned by the Left, condemned by Socialists, and without any special interest group fighting for its rebirth. It has no legitimate advocates. And yet it is the very idea that will save not only our nation, but the rest of the world as well," declares Tammy Bruce. With this remarkable book, the bestselling author, activist, and independent pundit pulls no punches, illustrating how a new American revolution is upon us -- a revolution based on American Nationalism and Individualism. Grounded in reason, classical philosophy, and hard-earned experience, Bruce explores the dramatic shift in American attitudes since the tragedy of September 11. She illustrates how in our effort to take this nation back from nihilistic extremists, American Nationalism, individualism, gun ownership, the tearing down of liberal institutions, personal activism, and knowing the enemy are the new tools for today's Patriot. The "Hate America First" ideology has prevailed for far too long, says Bruce, and she now offers a powerful prescription to reverse the moral and cultural decay wrought by Leftist extremists for four decades. This power to stem the tide resides squarely within the reawakened American founding concept of E Pluribus Unum , or "Out of Many, One." It is this ingrained individualist spirit of the average American that makes this country the best nation on earth, and now fuels the noble fight against the scourge of the Collectivist Left. In a positive framework with empowering ideas, insight, and tools for direct action, Bruce has captured a watershed moment in American history.

Genres: Politics

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Tammy K. Bruce is an American conservative radio host, author, and political commentator who currently serves as Spokesperson for the United States Department of State in the second Trump administration. She has been a Fox News contributor and hosts Get Tammy Bruce on the Fox Nation streaming service. Once a prominent liberal activist and president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women, Bruce became increasingly critical of what she viewed as the failures of modern feminism and the intolerance of the political left. Her shift to conservative politics became a defining feature of her public persona.
Born in Northridge, California, Bruce left formal education at an early age but later earned a degree in political science from the University of Southern California. She began her career in entertainment and publicity before moving into feminist activism in the 1990s. Following a controversial censure by NOW, she resigned and launched the Women’s Progress Alliance. Bruce later transitioned to national radio and conservative media, becoming known for her outspoken views on political correctness, gender politics, and liberal ideology. Openly gay and pro-choice, Bruce has often challenged ideological conformity, drawing both praise and criticism from across the political spectrum.

Reviews

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

It just doesn’t seem as if there are too many special-interest groups for openly gay, pro-choice, pro-death-penalty feminists with Ronald Reagan as their hero and a gun named Snuffy in the night table.

This was published in 2005, and makes for interesting reading fifteen years later; Bruce comes to conclusions based on our response to the September 11 attacks and the re-election of George Bush that take on a different cast three elections later. On the first page, she writes that “We’re tired of cleaning up the world’s messes.” That was why, she writes, that we supported ousting terrorists and tyrants; it may be true, but there are two possible response to being tired of cleaning up the world’s messes, and after two elections Americans chose the second, which was to elect the president who promised to get us out of those messes.

We no longer take our freedom for granted… We finally understand at our very core that tomorrow is not guaranteed.

The book does not at first appear to be about its subtitle, “Using the Power of the Individual to Save Our Nation from Extremists”. She eases into it in subsequent chapters. The extremists she’s referring to are her former colleagues in the activist left, especially NOW (Bruce was President of the Los Angeles chapter of NOW).

These extremists weaken America’s resolve to oppose world-wide forces that would subjugate all of us, but women and children especially.

While I have unending faith in the ability and goodness of the American people, I’ve seen us grow more and more reticent about striking back. Perhaps we fear the price the Left has placed on dissent—name-calling and accusations, in all cases giving pain, and in the worst cases leading to loss of work, friends, and family.

In her telling, the activist left is a very small minority leveraging allies in the media to make it appear that they are the New Normal, and that both conservatives and classical liberals are a minority, and a minority that should be ashamed of speaking their mind.

It is imperative you do not view big companies as impervious. In many ways, the people who run a company like Viacom are like the Wizard of Oz—very small men and women who manipulate smoke and mirrors, hoping to keep you and your judgment at bay.

Bruce still identifies as a liberal, albeit a classical liberal. She supported President Bush, despite disagreeing with him on issues such as abortion and gay rights, “in solidarity with the millions of Afghan and Iraqi women who now… finally have hope, liberty, and freedom [and] because of the potential for all other Middle Eastern women to be free as a result of the New American Revolution”.

Much of this book, and the most compelling to me, is about not letting others, especially the media, define who we are.

…there’s nothing like waking up in the morning and recognizing that you are the only one who will define you that day.

The power to control what we think only exists, she writes, “if the target acknowledges it.”

…the media only have power if you allow it. The battle is for your mind—but your mind cannot be taken, it has to be willingly given.

Vis-a-vis the quote above, the decision to define her own self-worth is why she owns a firearm.

My willingness to defend myself to the death stems from my own self-esteem. I know I am worthy of being saved, and I am willing to act on that worthiness.

She wrote this book as a sort of self-help self-esteem book for the American individual.

No one, however, has touched on what I contend is the most remarkable by-product of the mass murder on that day—the exposure of the importance and power of the American individual, and how Leftist policies and neosocialism in this country were doing great damage to our ability (and willingness) to defend and declare the greatness of this nation.

Throughout, she emphasizes the power of the individual, often using examples from her activism with NOW, and at the end of each of the later chapters providing examples of how to be heard. Part of her emphasis is because of the difference she’s seen between the hatred of dissent among her peers on the left and the openness to it among her listeners on the right.

…once I was completely free from the Leftist establishment, and looked back on my own reasoning, I realized first with shock and then with shame that I was describing myself as I described the unthinking haters who wanted to punish people for being different.

“In the socialist world,” she writes, “being different, being better, being ingenious, is treason.” She attributes the greatness of America to its individualism.

Our greatness perturbs many in the world for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it reminds the mediocre of, well, their mediocrity.

Most of the book is about what she sees in the American individual and American greatness that “freed” her from “the Leftist establishment”. She concludes with a chapter on why she continues to identify with many supposedly Leftist issues, why she strongly supports the right to abortion, and her own perspective on the importance of gay rights. Her inclusion of this chapter makes the book.

I picked this book up because I saw Bruce speak in 2008 and was impressed with her ideas and forcefulness; she is not as compelling a writer as she is a speaker. Some of the superficial conclusions she makes about our response to 9/11 don’t seem to stand the test of three more elections. But this is still a unique description of American greatness and of the American people from a very different perspective.

The less you read, the less you understand yourself.

[Kneega]

Tammy Bruce is an excellent author and knows how to present her topic in a very readable way. She knows her stuff and how to make her case. I've read three of her books and all of them I would highly recommend to anyone. She's articulate, intelligent and respectful of those who disagree with her, much more so than they usually are of her.

[Mark Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The edition of the book I read was written in 2005.

Bruce heaps praise on Pres. Bush in this book. I think I would've agreed with that praise at the time. My view of Bush has changed to a more lukewarm assessment since then. So, I found myself thinking she was praising him too much, and I was prepared to dislike the book for that reason. However, the book has merit, because she gets into what afflicts the political Left in America, and describes how they operate. This is helpful information for anyone who is seeing negative effects from the Left's actions, and is wondering how to counter it. Even though there is some material in the book that's dated, it's well worth reading, because the information she put in about the Left reads as if it was written yesterday.

I think the part many readers will find the most controversial is a section in the appendix, talking about her own political views, and her life experience, which she called "The elephant in the room." I'm speaking of her view of homosexuality. She describes herself as bisexual, and says the Gay Gestapo has established a notion in the public mind that gay people are "born this way." She disagrees with that. She can't speak for others, but she makes a clear statement that being gay is a choice for her, since she has romantic relationships with men in her history, but she ultimately decided that she felt more at ease being romantic with women. So, she decided to swear off heterosexual relationships, and to only be with a same-sex partner. As I read this, it reminded me of what I heard somewhere (perhaps from Bruce) that even though the LGBT acronym has "B" for "bisexual" in it, the gay community has a lot of antipathy towards bisexuals, because they're seen as either interlopers, or traitors to the cause, since their very orientation "breaks" the whole idea that same-sex attraction is innate in people who experience it. Well, it may be in most people who experience it. I don't know. She just said that it's not true for everybody who experiences it.

Nevertheless, she expressed an openness to the idea that there are likely environmental factors (nurture with nature) that create conditions for bisexuality, homosexuality, etc.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

By no means a great book, but somewhat interesting due to Tammy Bruce's rather unique perspective as a lesbian, pro-choice "classical liberal." The first part of the book feels very dated, as it was written right after George W. Bush's reelection and reflects what we now know to be a naive optimism for the future of conservatism in this country--an optimism all but crushed now that Obama has led us even further down the progressive path. Bruce writes much of the book as a rallying cry to re-innervate the conservative movement, but such "pep talks" bore me to tears at this point. The book gets a little better once Bruce begins sharing her insider's perspective on the gay and feminist movements currently underway here in America.