Revisiting the Enemy Within

Well, it looks like I should have given Savage's book, The Enemy Within more of a chance before I started complaining in my previous post. After getting much farther into the book, I realized that I found myself agreeing with Savage's ideas more often than not. I still disagree with him on the Patriot Act and I still hate his silly name calling, but he does raise a number of good points. If you don't mind Democrats being called "Demoncats", politically ignorant people being called "sheeple", and other such invented words, you might actually like the book.

He does a good job of reminding the reader what America used to be about, and pointing out why preserving our language, culture and borders is beneficial to our nation. He writes in an accessible style, drawing upon personal anecdotes, historical events, court cases and inflammatory phrases to help drive his independently conservative ideas home. (I know, in the last post I mistook him for a traditional Republican who toed the party line, but his writing lives up to his self described "independent conservative" label.) Each passage reads like a spirited talk-radio monologue, and usually only spans a couple of pages, making it easy to read this book over a series of short lunch breaks.

While I strongly disagree with him on some things, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying the book in spite of my dislike for the preface. I think the preface was the result of the controversial radio personality trying to pack marketable signature phrases into the beginning in hopes of encouraging loyal fans to buy the book.

One part of the book that really rang true for me was when he said that Native Americans successfully maintained their culture for 12,000+ years because of their tradition of oral story telling.

The storytellers told tales of the glory of their warriors, their courage and their victorious battles. They celebrated the purity of their women and the sanctity of their elders. They told tales of the nobility of their people. The Native Americans survived because they glorified their own people and their nation.

He then notes how our own national identity is jeopardized by the deluge of movies portraying our leaders, politicians, soldiers and police officers in a negative light while glorifying our criminals. He has a point. The Michael Moore and Oliver Stone versions of U.S. history don't exactly foster a national identity and inspire pride in American achievements.

Another of my favorite chapters is entitled "COURTS: Stench from the Bench". It does a great job of pointing out how activist judges, the ACLU and other liberal groups have repeatedly managed to thwart the will of the people by overturning various voter initiatives and propositions. It covers some of the absurd yet successful defenses that were used by the ACLU to get murderers, child molesters and other criminals extremely light sentences for serious crimes. It also addresses how the U.S. Supreme court is gradually looking more to international laws and public opinion than the words of the United States Constitution.

I'm glad I gave the book another chance. I think talk radio fans will especially enjoy it.