Liberty Under Siege: American Politics, 1976-1988

Woe unto thee, America, is the message of this powerful, disturbing work by the author of Indispensible Enemies. In Part I Jimmy Carter is described as the candidate of the democratic awakening, marked for systematic destruction by Reaction and losing one battle after another as the press grows ``more stupidly cruel as Oligarchy grows more brazenly vile and Carter more stupidly weak.'' In Park II Karp turns his baleful eye on Ronald Reagan, whom he characterizes as ``an ignorant, truthless demagogue.'' The story of the 1980s, in Karp's view, has been ``the exaltation of a tyrant and the degradation of a republic.'' The military establishment has been fed at the expense of ``the poor, the ill, the handicapped, the schools, local services, student loans, enforcement of laws.'' According to Karp, the Strategic Defense Initiative is a ``hoax and a fraud,'' a ``trillion-dollar mirage.'' As to the president's denial that he was involved in the Iran-contra scandal, Karp says, ``You lie, Ronald Reagan; you lie through your teeth.'' He warns that the Right does not intend to give up power in the post-Reagan era: ``It dreams and schemes and relentlessly plots to rule America from the grave.'' Despite the overwrought tone, this is an important, provocative work by a passionate political commentator. (September)