The Australian newspaper analysed each line of Barack Obama's swearing-in speech as the 44th President of the United States, with Gerard Baker concluding that it was of "sober tone" and "more obviously measured to the practical immensity of the immediate challenges." The Assault on Reason is former American Vice President Al Gore's scathing and detailed analysis of the Bush Administration, providing a background to some of these challenges that Obama must now preside over.
As the title suggests, one of the basic tenets of this book is that the ability of the American people to use reason - that is their intellectual capability to draw conclusions from evidence - has been compromised, primarily by the dominance of television as a form of communication, and deceptive and manipulative politics.
According to Gore, the average American spends two thirds of their discretionary time watching television; a one-way emotive communication medium that leaves people vulnerable to the marketing techniques and propaganda of those with the wealth to purchase the ads and the power to set the agenda of programming. He believes it was used to incite fear within the American people, leaving them open to believe Bush's unsubstantiated claims that Saddam Hussein was personally responsible for the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Every chapter of this book is filled with example after incredible example as to how this deception - that led to a war justified by a new doctrine called "pre-emption" - was able to happen. It is clear from the strength of his language that Gore is both saddened and disgusted at the state of politics in his country at the time of writing. He also makes it no secret as to who he believes is accountable:
"Connect those who ignored the warnings about Katrina and then bungled the aftermath with those who ignored the warnings not to invade Iraq and then bungled the aftermath, and the line makes a small circle. In the middle of that circle is President George W. Bush."
It is worth remembering that this book is written by a former politician of the opposing party, who despite all of these events still believes in the superiority of his nation when he says that "without a positive example from the United States, the rest of the world is more likely to move in the wrong direction". However as Australians it still represents valuable reading because of the support our nation offered in the war on Iraq. Furthermore, as Christians this book is worth reading because, as outlined in a chapter entitled Blinding the Faithful, Christianity was manipulated in this quest for power and dominance.
John Donne is quoted in this chapter, writing at the beginning of the seventeenth century that "Reason is our soul's left hand, Faith her right." According to Gore, Bush's Administration, who he refers to as "a political faction disguised as a religious sect" took advantage of the fact that people cling to their religious traditions in times of great crisis. In doing so he suggest they shifted the balance so that "logic and reason play[ed] a diminished role in our collective decision making".
I was so shocked by one particular reference to a general who declared that America was in a holy war as a "Christian nation battling Satan" that I it sent me running for my Bible Dictionary to look up the word government. Romans 13 seemed the pertinent reference. While the first verse does say that the "authorities that exist have been established by God" my commentary said this passage must be read together with Chapter 12 (verses 14, 17-21). Here Paul quotes Deuteronomy 32:35 where Christians are warned to not seek vengeance for wrongdoing as this must be left to God. Rather, we are to "not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Although I doubt we will hear any officials in the Australian government using religious language as the Americans do, this book is a valuable reminder we live in a democracy that requires participation from its citizens. We have every right to question our leaders if they seek to do anything but good. Gore says to the American people,
"We must disenthrall ourselves from " the latest sequential obsession with celebrity trials or whatever relative triviality dominates the conversation of democracy"
It made me stop and think of what irrelevant things I was concerned with and what changes I could make. Perhaps I should start with turning off that television.
