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A review essay on books by (1) Jeff Faux, The Party's Not Over: A New Vision for the Democrats (New York: Basic Books, 1996); (2) Robert Kuttner, Everything for Sale: The Virtues and Limits of Markets (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997); (3) Thomas Sugrue, The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (NJ: Princeton U Press, 1997); & (4) David Wagner, The New Temperance: America's Obsession with Sin and Vice (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1997). These books address the consequences of current market obsessions at a time when market mechanisms control the workplace, socioeconomic inequality, & quality of the environment. Faux argues that the Democratic Party is on the brink of moral & electoral ruin through increasing compromises to a neoliberal agenda. Kuttner also promotes a social democratic agenda in his view of the workplace as an economic organization that needs a set of common norms articulated by the workers. Sugrue's comprehensive study of post-WWII Detroit, MI, shows how the interaction between race & class has promoted a worsening set of urban pathologies. Wagner exposes how a politics of personal morality has formed & advanced a neoliberal agenda. The works are noted for their part in pushing debate on the future of social democracy. J. Lindroth

The level of vitriol in American politics has been rising with no end in sight. Terms like "evildoer," "war on terror," and "axis of evil" have become commonplace in our discussion of international politics. What ever happened to civil debate? Where has all this moralizing come from? And what harm has this new level of attack caused to democracy in America? In this compelling and cogent account, Tom De Luca and John Buell chart the rise of what they rightly label as the "demonization"of American politics, showing how political campaigns often neglect debates over policy in favor of fights over the private character and personal lives of politicians. Political interests are still served by this style of politics, but democracy, the authors contend, is the loser. Covering everything from the Clinton impeachment to the war on terrorism to the 2004 presidential campaign, the authors show the distinctly American qualities of demonization and how their frequency and intensity has grown in the last four decades. Suggesting that demonization is not inevitable or irreversible, this important book offers ways out of the political mudpit and back to a more civilized debate where democracy and freedom of speech can coexist in a productive, idea-rich environment.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Demonization American-Style -- 2. The Politics of Moral Personae -- 3. America's Moral Paradox -- 4. The Deep Divide and the Most Vulnerable -- 5. Seeking the Enemy -- 6. Terror, Evil, and the New Cold War -- 7. Terror Wars and Culture Wars -- 8. Preserve the Environment! Become an Environmental Sport -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index -- About the Authors