Hunter Tompkins’s Reviews > Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America > Status Update

John H. Sununu’s consistent pressure to politicize climate change and delegitimize the science surrounding it makes him a member of a short list of the worst politicians to ever hold an elected position in this country.

“Capitalist solidarity carried the day. [The bill] too was defeated. Carter and most Democrats shrugged” (194). While the Republican Party has been expected to do nothing but hurt this country for most of its existence, the Democratic failures to protect working people have been consistent since at least the Reagan Era. This is also evident through the lack of overtime and minimum wage adjustments (202).

Ch. 14 brilliantly details how the finance industry took over the US economy. Most notably (but not heavily explored), this ‘financialization’ made us “each a little less human.” Andersen builds on this, pointing to Americans’ criticisms of what they believe to be Communism (unknowingly criticizing capitalism). Anderson claims this is ironic as “extreme capitalism”, to him, “resembles Communism”.

Reading about the deregulation of and ‘new’ allowance for prescription drug advertisements directly to consumers struck me as symbolic of this entire era: “the industry quite effectively self-regulated…until the 1980s.” You could replace “the industry” with “the country” and the statement would still ring true.

It’s brilliant that Reagan and his ideological allies were able to meticulously deconstruct every safeguard that the government had. The devastating trickle-down economic policies hadn’t been enough alone. The elimination of the Fairness Doctrine had the immediate effect of shifting virtually all mainstream media from “politically liberal to right-wing” as wealthy conservatives simply bought everything.