You get a pretty good idea of William Davis Eaton’s point of view with the title of his latest book — Liberal Betrayal of America and the Tea Party Firestorm. The author, a former professor at UC Berkeley, is definitely not a fan of liberals. The fact that he taught at the ultimate “Commie Pinko” campus is interesting to say the least.
Eaton’s list of un-Americans is a long one. Where to begin? President Obama would be the best place I suppose. The author has even coined a term to describe the administration: Sociofascists.
The usual right-wing bugaboos are present as well: Environmentalists, feminists, gays, scientists, political correctness, and of course sixties-era radicals.
In fact, according to the author, the Tea Party’s roots are in response to those damned pot-smoking anti-war students of Berkeley and the like in the 1960s. True patriots stood up to these crazies, and elected a true American hero — Richard Nixon.
That was just the beginning of the Tea Party firestorm. Eaton traces the actual beginnings of the Tea Party to February 19, 2009 with a speech given by CNBC business reporter Rick Santelli. He spoke of the Boston Tea Party of 1773, and said that good, solid Americans should update the idea to protest Obama’s deficit spending. The “official” coming out day is said to be April 15, 2009 or Tax Day.
One’s opinion of the book cannot be divorced from its politics. Eaton is an engaging writer, with an extremely strong point of view. One thing is certain, he pulls no punches in his admiration for the Tea Party, and revulsion at the Left.
I consider myself a moderate, and find some of Eaton’s points a bit extreme. But that is the country we live in today, completely polarized. I have problems with some of Obama’s policies also, so there are elements in this book I can relate to. The “Civil War” as Eaton calls the culture wars between right and left frighten me a bit however. This atmosphere of nearly fanatical hatred on both sides of the aisle cannot be good for the country.
Liberal Betrayal of America and the Tea Party Firestorm is a fascinating book for people of all political persuasions. The Right is going to love it, and the Left should read it to find out what the Tea Party and their ilk really think. In the end, my opinion is that William Davis Eaton is kind of a cranky old fella, but definitely a compelling one.
Article comments
1 - Ruvy
That's about as even handed a review as you can get, Greg. Nice job!
I have my own suspicions of the Tea Party movement. But something has to be done to stop the takeover of your country by liberal fascists - for your sake, if not mine.
If this book has a serious flaw, it is probably this - it does not look overseas enough to the wide wide world, and even in its condemnation of the "sociofascists" does not encourage you to do what you Americans really need to do - look beyond your own bellybuttons.
2 - JayMagoo
I would like to know how this book treats the support the tea party "movement" got from Koch Industries and the billionaire Koch brothers. The tea party "movement" has been called astro-turf, rather than grass roots, because according to an extremely well researched article in the New Yorker Magazine on Aug 30, 2010, the tea parties were funded and manipulated from behind the scenes by the big right-wing money of the Koch brothers. That source of funding was a complete, deep, dark secret until the New Yorker article, and has pretty much been ignored since then. That tells the true nature of the tea parties -- puppets in the hands of billionaires who despite their huge wealth, want others to pay their taxes for them.