Democracy in Chains

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Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America
OCLC
1033429279

Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America is a 2017 nonfiction book by

political activities of the Koch brothers
in the U.S.

MacLean argues that Buchanan believed democracy must be suppressed for capitalism to flourish, which explains why the

right wing, funded behind the scenes by secretive dark money networks, engages in anti-democratic behavior and policy-making, such as opposing unions and Social Security, supporting voter suppression and privatization, and placing impenetrable barriers to popular and social democracy. The book was a finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Reviewers received it mostly along partisan political lines.[2]

Background and development

The idea for the book came about while MacLean was researching school segregation in Prince Edward County, Virginia. She was studying the closure of public schools by segregationists from 1959 to 1964 in reaction to the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision Brown v. Board of Education, which held that laws establishing racial segregation in public schools were unconstitutional.[3][4]

The former Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia. It is considered "the student birthplace of America's Civil Rights Movement".

MacLean learned that Prince Edward County refused to appropriate funds for the County School Board, effectively closing all public schools rather than integrate them, in a strategy known as massive resistance, an attempt to get Virginia's white politicians to pass laws and policies to prevent public school desegregation. "Black students were locked out of any formal education while their white peers went off to private, segregation academies with school vouchers, essentially punishing the black community in Prince Edward for having been part of the Brown v. Board of Education case," she recalled.[4]

Her research, which spanned a period of about ten years,[5] led her to American economist Milton Friedman and his defense of school vouchers, and to American economist James M. Buchanan. After Buchanan died in 2013, MacLean gained access to his papers at the Buchanan House at George Mason University. She discovered documents supporting the Kochs' investment in Buchanan's Center for Study of Public Choice, and this led her to develop her hypothesis about right-wing politics in the U.S. for the book.[6][3][4]

Content summary

This book focuses on the

libertarian movement in the United States. MacLean argues that these figures undertook "a stealth bid to reverse-engineer all of America, at both the state and national levels back to the political economy and oligarchic governance of midcentury Virginia, minus the segregation."[7] According to MacLean, Buchanan represents "the true origin story of today’s well-heeled radical right."[8]

Reception

The book was praised by liberal and progressive scholars and readers. In

Alternet about her "remarkable"[12] and "groundbreaking"[13] book. Bethany Moreton of Dartmouth College called the book "indispensable reading [that] adds a critical storyline to the complex and multi-causal conservative counterrevolution."[14] For BillMoyers.com, Kristin Miller wrote that MacLean "has unearthed a stealth ideologue of the American right" whom Charles Koch "looked to for inspiration".[15] For NPR, Genevieve Valentie wrote the book "feels like it was written with a clock ticking down" after a "sixty-year campaign to make libertarianism mainstream and eventually take the government itself."[16] Marshall Steinbaum of the Roosevelt Institute described himself as "in sympathy with MacLean’s characterization of the Virginia School as profoundly antidemocratic and anti-academic" and called the book "an important warning, and it should be read by all despite its rhetorical shortcomings."[17] Luke Darby of GQ called Democracy in Chains "one of the nine books to read before the next election."[18] MacLean was an invited guest on several popular television and radio outlets, most notably Real Time with Bill Maher, where she appeared twice (in August and November 2018) to discuss contemporary politics and the history of the far right.[19]

Democracy in Chains was also criticized by libertarian scholars and readers in a special

Amazon was being spammed by negative reviews and rankings and urged people to post positive ones in response (this is against Amazon policy).[39] Adler, Bernstein, Carden, and Magness responded to her, saying that any Koch relationship was already acknowledged.[40][20] Vanberg noted two later private letters in which Buchanan discussed his work on school vouchers and condemned the "evils of race-class-cultural segregation."[41]

Others who fell into neither "team Public Choice" or "team anti-Buchanan" offered mixed reviews.

Jack Rakove wrote that there "should be a thorough scholarly review of these points [raised by critics], and one suspects that MacLean will have to make a more concerted effort to justify her argument than she has yet provided". He concluded that "her questions remain important and well worth pondering".[45] Katherine Timpf of the National Review criticized MacLean for remarks she made during a February 7, 2018, talk in New York City. MacLean was asked to explain Buchanan's motivations. She replied, "As an author, I have struggled with this, and I could explain it in different ways. I didn’t put this in the book, but I will say it here. It’s striking to me how many of the architects of this cause seem to be on the autism spectrum—you know, people who don’t feel solidarity or empathy with others, and who have difficult human relationships sometimes."[46] In 2022, George Leef, writing in the National Review, called it "a screed" and "a brazenly dishonest book".[47]

In her review for the academic journal

International Social Science Review, Ben Sorensen wrote, "the leftist bias and the assertions of conspiracy render the book questionably credible, at best".[49]

Accolades

Democracy in Chains was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award for nonfiction,[50] a finalist for the "Los Angeles Times Book Award in Current Interest",[51] and the winner of the Lannar Foundation Cultural Freedom Award.[52] The book was also named "Most Valuable Book of 2017" by The Nation.[53] In 2018, Democracy in Chains won the Lillian Smith Book Award, for "books that are outstanding creative achievements, worthy of recognition because of their literary merit, moral vision, and honest representation of the South, its people, problems, and promises."[54]

References

  1. OCLC 1029879485
    .
  2. ^ a b c Farrell, Henry; Teles, Steven (30 August 2017). "When Politics Drives Scholarship". Boston Review.
  3. ^ a b The Inspiration Behind 'Democracy in Chains'. Duke University. July 3, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Democracy in Chains: An interview with author Nancy MacLean. SPLC. March 8, 2018. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  5. ^ "I have spent the better part of the past decade researching and unraveling the historical roots of the ideas that the radical libertarian right funded by Charles Koch and his network of dark money donors are applying to transform our country." See: After Janus v. AFSCME: Why Teachers and Workers are Fighting Back Against the Secret Money Campaign to Take Away Their Rights. Testimony of Dr. Nancy MacLean, William H. Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy, Duke University. Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC). Video.
  6. ^ MacLean (2018), xxi–xxiii
  7. ISBN 978-1101980989.[page needed
    ]
  8. ^
    ISSN 1091-2339
    . Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  9. ^ Tanenhaus, Sam. "The Architect of the Radical Right". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2017-07-06.
  10. ^ Monbiot, George (July 19, 2017). "A despot in disguise: one man's mission to rip up democracy". The Guardian.
  11. ^ Gordon, Colin (June 2017). "Democracy's Critics". Jacobin.
  12. ^ Shephard, Alex (June 27, 2017). "The Right's War Against Liberal Democracy". The New Republic.
  13. ^ Karlin, Mark (July 10, 2017). "This Libertarian Strategy to Make America as Screwed-Up as Texas". AlterNet.
  14. ^ Moreton, Bethany (2017-08-10). "Kochonomics: The Racist Roots of Public Choice Theory". Boston Review. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  15. ^ "The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America". BillMoyers.com. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  16. ^ "'Democracy In Chains' Traces The Rise Of American Libertarianism". NPR.org. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  17. ^ Steinbaum, Marshall (14 August 2017). "The Book that Explains Charlottesville". Boston Review.
  18. ^ Darby, Luke (2018-11-08). "9 Books to Read Before the Next Election". GQ. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
  19. ^ "Duke professor Nancy MacLean appears on HBO's Real Time, discusses Koch brothers". The Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
  20. ^
    ISSN 0190-8286
    . Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  21. ^ Bernstein, David. "Opinion: Yet more dubious claims in Nancy MacLean's 'Democracy in Chains'". Washington Post. The Volokh Conspiracy.
  22. ^ Bernstein, David. "Opinion | Some dubious claims in Nancy MacLean's 'Democracy in Chains,' continued". Washington Post. The Volokh Conspiracy.
  23. ^ Bernstein, David (July 17, 2017). "Opinion:How influential was James Buchanan among libertarians?". Washington Post. The Volokh Conspiracy.
  24. ^ Adler, Jonathan. "Opinion: Does 'Democracy in Chains' paint an accurate picture of James Buchanan?". Washington Post. The Volokh Conspiracy.
  25. ^ Somin, Ilya (July 10, 2017). "Opinion: Who wants to put democracy in chains?". Washington Post. The Volokh Conspiracy.
  26. ^ Vanberg, Georg. "Opinion: Duke professor Georg Vanberg on 'Democracy in Chains'". Washington Post. The Volokh Conspiracy.
  27. ^ Michael Munger. "On the Origins and Goals of Public Choice". The Independent Institute.
  28. SSRN 3008867. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  29. ^ Magness, Phillip. "How Nancy MacLean Went Whistlin' Dixie". historynewsnetwork.org.
  30. ^ "On Buchanan's Intellectual History and MacLean's Missing Leviathan". historynewsnetwork.org.
  31. SSRN 3004029. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  32. SSRN 3007751. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  33. ^ "What Nancy MacLean Gets Wrong About James Buchanan". Reason.com. July 21, 2017.
  34. ^ "To Duke Historian Nancy MacLean, Advocating Free Markets Is Something 'The World Has Never Seen Anything Like...Before'". Reason.com. August 2, 2017.
  35. S2CID 159003961
    .
  36. ^ Parry, Marc (2017). "Nancy MacLean Responds to Her Critics". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  37. ^ Parry, Marc (July 19, 2017). "A New History of the Right Has Become an Intellectual Flashpoint". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  38. ^ Flaherty, Coleen (July 12, 2017). "Stealth Attack on Liberal Scholar?". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  39. ^ Zakaria, Rafia (9 October 2017). "How Amazon reviews became the new battlefield of US Politics". The Guardian.
  40. Washington Post
    .
  41. ^ "Opinion: Georg Vanberg: Democracy in Chains and James M. Buchanan on school integration". Washington Post.
  42. ^ a b Farrell, Henry; Teles, Steven (14 July 2017). "Even the intellectual left is drawn to conspiracy theories about the right. Resist them". Vox.
  43. ^ "Be Clear-Eyed About Democracy's Weaknesses". Bloomberg.com. July 21, 2017.
  44. ^ Boushey, Heather (15 August 2017). "How the Radical Right Played the Long Game and Won". The New York Times.
  45. ^ Rakove, Jack. "Critical Inquiry". criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu.
  46. ^ Timpf, Katherine (February 14, 2018). "Duke Professor: Libertarians 'Seem to Be on the Autism Spectrum'". National Review. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
  47. ^ Leef, George (2022-06-20). "Welcome to the Brave New World of Leftist Scholarship". National Review.
  48. S2CID 149650365
    .
  49. ISSN 0278-2308
    .
  50. ^ "2017 National Book Award finalists revealed". CBS News. October 4, 2017. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  51. ^ Schaub, Michael (21 February 2018). "L.A. Times Book Prize finalists include Joyce Carol Oates and Ta-Nehisi Coates; John Rechy receives lifetime achievement award". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  52. ^ "Lannan Foundation". Lannan Foundation. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  53. ISSN 0027-8378. Archived from the original
    on 2018-04-05. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  54. ^ "Lillian Smith Book Awards". www.libs.uga.edu. Hargrett Library : University of Georgia Libraries. Archived from the original on 2018-05-21. Retrieved 2018-05-20.

Further reading

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