Zell Miller - Concluded

I finished Zell Miller's, "A National Party No More." Overall, I wasn't that impressed. A few things he talked about that caught my ear included:

Iraq. He simply believes that Bush is making the tough, but right choice in invading Iraq. He does plenty of comparisons between WWII and Iraq - which I just have a hard time swallowing. Yes, Sadam is evil...but: (1) we are a nation that lives by the rule of law and the rule of law says you can't go around invading countries because their leader is evil. (2) Given our new policy of ridding the world of evil, what other dictators do we need to unseat, as they are also evil? (3) President Bush had to effectivly lie to the American people so he could get his war. Zell skips all this and tells a story about how when you see evil you have to destory it, not sit around thinking things through.

He also divides the country into two groups: those who think "nothing is worth dying for" and those fighting for freedom. How about the few of us who believe that war is a necessary evil, but that this was a manufactured war - not a required one. That view simply isn't mentioned.

Special Interest Groups. Zell's main argument seems to be: American's are middle of the road folks, while the special interest groups that the Democrats appeal to are way to the left. And the Democrats are really only interested in pleasing these groups, therefore the people are left behind. He does acknowledge that special interest groups exist for the Republicans, but thinks they aren't the same magnitude of problem for them. I'm not sure I buy that, but I'll take his word on it.

I actually appreciate his argument here as it gives me something new to think about. I honestly don't know if special interest groups are bringing down the Democratic party (and all of America for that matter).

Two examples that come to mind are these. First, my dad is a teacher and belongs to a teachers union. Zell probably thinks that union is evil, but from my perspective the union is working to make sure my Dad's job the best it can be.

A second example: I have a friend who works for an environmental organization - she has personally worked to keep the Artic wildlife preserve oil-drill-free. When you sit down and talk to her you learn she's incredibly dedicated to a cause she believes is worth fighting for and would think of Zell's argument that the preserve is just an excuse to raise money to gain power is ignorant and wrong.

I guess my point is that his talk of special interest groups as the reason for everything wrong in the Party makes some sense, yet those groups represent real people who have good intentions - which seems like a good thing.

So I'll have to research this topic.

Morality. I was expecting lots of talk about morality and how the goverment needs to clean up the air waves. I didn't get much of that, though he came out pretty against video games.

I did find it a bit strange that having children play games rated for them that contain fake violence is really bad, while actually subjecting your child to real violence (via spankings and such) is a really good thing. Strange. But that may be because I grew in a household where we had lots of plastic guns lying around and nobody ever gave me a "whip'in."

Overall, the book was just so-so. I think he wanted to prove how doomed the Democrats are, yet all he really ended up doing was telling us how he'd do things if he had the chance.

I give it 5/10 for listen-ability.

--Ben