Personal Status Board,status board,PSB Pro Version,PSB,PHP empowered communication,parenting,social evolution,social connectedness,social connections,social connection,the social connection,social connectedness,social evolution,social network,social network software,online social networks,social networking tools,online social networking,social network site,online social network,the social network,networks social,business social network,business social networking,business social networks,social business network
email others
link to us
Home     MCs     Novel     Articles     MC Matching     Magic Carpet     Products & Services     Contact Us     Links


Authoritative and Democratic Parenting Programs
(Comparison Chart)

_____________________

Send us your questions and comments.
_____________________

site search by freefind

_____________________

Free Personal Status Boards (PSB™)

Free Standard Free PSB

Free PSB Pro Version

Free Social PSB

Free Social PSB Plus (with Email)

Free Business PSB

Free Business PSB Plus (with Email)

PSB demo

Social PSB demo

Business PSB demo

So what's all this PSB stuff about?

Chart comparing business status boards

PSB hosting diagram

PSB Licence Agreement



Copyright © 2002 -
MCS Investments, Inc. sitemap


The Big Answer


To link to this article from your blog or webpage, copy and paste the url below into your blog or homepage.

American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character

a book by Diana West

(our site's book review)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bad, Joseph McCarthy Good. SERIOUSLY??!!

The Amazon blurb says that In The Death of the Grown-Up, Diana West diagnosed the demise of Western civilization by looking at its chief symptom: our inability to become adults who render judgments of right and wrong. In American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character, West digs deeper to discover the root of this malaise and uncovers a body of lies that Americans have been led to regard as the near-sacred history of World War II and its Cold War aftermath.

Part real-life thriller, part national tragedy, American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character lights up the massive, Moscow-directed penetration of America's most hallowed halls of power, revealing not just the familiar struggle between Communism and the Free World, but the hidden war between those wishing to conceal the truth and those trying to expose the increasingly official web of lies.

American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character is America's lost history, a chronicle that pits Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight David Eisenhower, and other American icons who shielded overlapping Communist conspiracies against the investigators, politicians, defectors, and others (including Senator Joseph McCarthy) who tried to tell the American people the truth.

American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character shatters the approved histories of an era that begins with FDR's first inauguration, when "happy days" are supposed to be here again, and ends when we "win" the Cold War. It is here, amid the rubble, where Diana West focuses on the World War II—Cold War deal with the devil in which America surrendered her principles in exchange for a series of Big Lies whose preservation soon became the basis of our leaders' own self-preservation. It was this moral surrender to deception and self-deception, West argues, that sent us down the long road to moral relativism, "political correctness," and other cultural ills that have left us unable to ask the hard questions: Does our silence on the crimes of Communism explain our silence on the totalitarianism of Islam? Is Uncle Sam once again betraying America?

In American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character, Diana West shakes the historical record to bring down a new understanding of our past, our present, and how we have become a nation unable to know truth from lies.


Like Demagogue Joseph McCarthy, West Finds a Commie Under Every Rock

Like demagogue Joseph McCarthy, Diana West seems to find a commie under every rock, yet the evidence is sparce, EXCEPT FOR THE 2016 ELECTION TAMPERING
Like demagogue Joseph McCarthy, Diana West seems to find a commie under every rock, yet the evidence is sparce, EXCEPT FOR THE 2016 ELECTION TAMPERING

“Every once in a while, something happens that turns a whole structure of preconceived ideas upside down, shattering tales and narratives long taken for granted, destroying prejudice, clearing space for new understanding to grow. Diana West's latest book, American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character, is such an event.”—Henrik Raeder Clausen, Europe News

“This explosive book is a long-needed answer to court histories that continue to obscure key facts about our backstage war with Moscow. Must-reading for serious students of security issues and Cold War deceptions, both foreign and domestic.”—M. Stanton Evans, author of Blacklisted by History

Frank J. Gaffney Jr. finds that West "painstakingly documents how America's government, media, academia, political and policy elites actively helped obscure the true nature of the Soviet Union." West contends that there is a parallel with the failure to face the dangers of communism in the 1930s and the failure to face the threat of Islamic extremism today.

A Kirkus review finds that she has a number of valid points but ends with the warning: "A frustrating mixture of incontrovertible facts and dubious speculation. Proceed with caution." And Ronald Radosh says West is "McCarthy on Steroids." Conrad Black believes West grossly exaggerates Soviet influence in the Roosevelt Administration, and that the alliance with the Soviet Union in the Second World War, while driven by realpolitik, was a dire necessity to prevent the victory of Nazi Germany. Jonathan Chait, however, says that West's "thesis that American foreign policy under presidents Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower was secretly controlled by the Soviet Union" has found supporters at conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation and conservative magazine the American Spectator. (Source: Diana West, Wikipedia)

Vermont Republican Senator Ralph E. Flanders compared demagogue Joseph McCarthy to Adolf Hitler, accusing him of spreading "division and confusion" and saying, "Were the Junior Senator from Wisconsin in the pay of the Communists he could not have done a better job for them." See Demagoguery and Democracy. Most of the nation eventually agreed this type of demagoguery was beneath the USA—they wanted no part of him. McCarthy became a drunk and heroin addict, and neither the Senate nor the press would give him the time of day. Senator William Proxmire called the late McCarthy "a disgrace to Wisconsin, to the Senate, and to America".

Conservative William Bennett summed up nicely: "The cause of anti-communism, which united millions of Americans and which gained the support of Democrats, Republicans and independents, was undermined by Sen. Joe McCarthy ... McCarthy addressed a real problem: disloyal elements within the U.S. government. But his approach to this real problem was to cause untold grief to the country he claimed to love ... Worst of all, McCarthy besmirched the honorable cause of anti-communism. He discredited legitimate efforts to counter Soviet subversion of American institutions." (Source: Joseph McCarthy, wikipedia)

McCarthy Cohn
Army–McCarthy hearings: Joseph McCarthy (left) chats with Roy Cohn at the hearings

In the McCarthyism era, many people suffered loss of employment or destruction of their careers; some even suffered imprisonment (but demagogue McCarthy gained power and attention—the demagogue's true goal). Most of these punishments came about through trial verdicts later overturned, laws that were later declared unconstitutional, dismissals for reasons later declared illegal or actionable, or extra-legal procedures that would come into general disrepute. Perhaps it is time West knocks Joseph McCarthy off that pedestal she has him standing on.

The Cold War would end where it largely began—in Berlin—with the fall of the Berlin Wall—but it erased the liberties of millions of people for four decades
The Cold War would end where it largely began—in Berlin—with the fall of the Berlin Wall—but it erased the liberties of millions of people for four decades

The New Deal Was a Good Thing for America, Nearly Everyone Agrees; But Not West

"The New Deal was designed to reverse the impact of this economic catastrophe. Among its programs was the creation of massive government projects to put people to work building roads, dams and bridges, and maintaining parks. The federal government even paid the salaries of many artists and photographers. Yes, these programs could be labeled socialistic — but they were meant to save capitalism, not to dismantle it. . . . Roosevelt managed to do just that [save it], and that was no small thing. . . . Soviet aggression in the form of the Red Army indeed was useful in the fight against Germany. The Soviets inflicted horrific casualties on the German army in their victorious march from Stalingrad to Berlin, drawing German forces away from the Western front. The Soviet Union ultimately lost 20 million people in the war, while about 400,000 Americans were killed. . . . The Cold War would end where it largely began — in Berlin — with the fall of the Berlin Wall. But it consumed the liberties of millions of people for four decades. One can argue that these populations were betrayed by the cruelest turns of history, but not by American indifference or complicity." (Source: BOOK REVIEW: 'American Betrayal', Frank T. Csongos, Washington Times)

" . . . other communists had 'occupied' our own government in the 1930s—the early Deep State—and managed to help Stalin seize massive territories in Europe and Asia in the 1940s. Unbelievably, we still believe that the free world, and not just another totalitarian death machine (USSR), really won World War II." (Source: Terror, Excitement—It Goes with the Territory, Diana West, dianawest.net)

West says USSR spies ended up making America a puppet of its Kremlin masters. That is surely an insulting slap in the face to all the political, military, intelligence, and security personnel in 20th century America!
West says USSR spies ended up making America a puppet of its Kremlin masters. That is surely an insulting slap in the face to all the political, military, intelligence, and security personnel in 20th century America!

"Diana West, who expands the scope of this conspiracy in American Betrayal, is McCarthy’s heiress. She argues that during the New Deal the United States was an occupied power, its government controlled by Kremlin agents who had infiltrated the Roosevelt administration and subverted it. Like McCarthy, whom West believes got everything correct, she believes a conspiracy was at work that effectively enabled the Soviets to be the sole victors in World War II and shape American policies in the postwar world. . . . Conspiratorial theories of history are easy to create once you are prepared to ignore the realities on the ground, or regard those who do take them into account as part of the conspiracy too. This is the path that Diana West has taken in her misconceived and misleading book." (Source: McCarthy On Steroids: How Diana West's new book, American Betrayal, spins a vast conspiracy theory without the evidence to back it up, Ronald Radosh, Frontpage Mag)


West's Book Is Insightful to the Point of Wisdom about Multiculturalism and Political Correctness

West was given the opportunity to respond to Ronald Radosh's Frontpage Mag takedown of her book. She refused in a huff and proceeded to respond to the takedown on her own website, resorting to namecalling and personal attacks. In short, she misrepresented intellectual differences as acts of political treason or suppression.

West was given the opportunity to respond to criticism of her book; she refused in a huff and proceeded to respond with namecalling and personal attacks
West was given the opportunity to respond to criticism of her book; she refused in a huff and proceeded to respond with namecalling and personal attacks

On the other hand, the thing that is most correct about her book is its cynicism about and distrust of political correctness, and its insights about how political correctness has endangered the nation when wrongly applied to situations like giving jihadist and Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers access to secret highly secure places in the Pentagon. Even though burdensomely overwritten, the book is insightful to the point of wisdom about multiculturalism and political correctness, which has not only wrecked much of our high school and university educatonal experiences for millions of students, it has created dangerous vulnerabilities in our nation's defense as the stooges in charge prioritize political correctness over national security, just as the school administrators prioritize political correctness over learning.

Multiculturalism is at its best when successfully assimilating happy immigrants—including Islamics—into nations, and at its worst when it is used as a garrote to strangle free speech and replace it with the ugliness of political correctness, social justice classes, privilege accusations, safe spaces, and micro-aggressions.

Noticing that we're teaching racist white hatred, racist black skin privilege (affirmative action), and Islamic jihadist tolerance, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that not just the USA but the West in general has been the victim of mass infiltration by culturally degenerate ideas out to bring down our democracy. Russia is known to desire to weaken our democracy to strengthen its own power—or at least its own standing and reputation on the world stage, but the mass infiltration of these ideas seems to us to have been the result of the Left's degeneration into a kind of political correctness sickness that warps thinking until they sink into a gooey hell of microexpressions, white guilt, safe spaces, arguing over racial privilege, and kowtowing to authoritarian oppression by social justice warriors. The dominance of multiculturalism has, on many campuses, bred speech codes, intolerance of opposing opinions and in some cases it has spawned violence against dissidents. See:

Okay Vladi, you old dog, I lead or you bleed—got it? Okay Donny, whatever, dude! (Jeez—he's so bossy!)
Okay Vladi, you old dog, I lead or you bleed—got it? Okay Donny, whatever, dude! (Jeez—he's so bossy!)

Putin wants to be lead dog in a pack of cooperating authoritarian regimes. These regimes may even continue to use the word democracy for cosmetic reasons. But democracies they are not. All of which suggests the question: since Putin won the 2016 election for Trump and Trump respects strongmen and wants to be one himself, exactly what deal did Trump make with Putin if he delivered the presidency to Trump? Is it Russia that is eroding our cultural integrity with multiculturalism and political correctness or is this Uncle Sam's self-inflicted wound?

Is it Russia that is eroding our cultural integrity with multiculturalism and political correctness or is this Uncle Sam's self-inflicted wound?
Is it Russia that is eroding our cultural integrity with multiculturalism and political correctness or is this Uncle Sam's self-inflicted wound?


West argues that during the New Deal the United States was an occupied power, its government controlled by Kremlin agents who had infiltrated the Roosevelt administration and subverted it
West argues that during the New Deal the United States was an occupied power, its government controlled by Kremlin agents who had infiltrated the Roosevelt administration and subverted it (this sounds like another desperate attempt by a conservative to throw mud on the best president in history, FDR—we haven't seen such integrity in presidents before or since)

USSR Made America a Puppet of Its Kremlin Masters. SERIOUSLY??!!

But she takes the paranoia even further than McCarthy's rantings using her standard m.o.: faulty scholarship and exaggerated narratives. McCarthy, for the most part, ranted about commies to do what all demagogues do: get attention and power and further his career by finding an evil enemy that he will help save us from as long as we are willing to focus attention on him and give him power. (You may recognize these demagogic strategies in Trump who demonized immigrants, the media—except Fox, Mexicans, Hillary, the Left, Islamics, and everyone who didn't buy his lies—all to solidify his base and gain power and attention.) West says USSR spies ended up making America a puppet of its Kremlin masters. That is surely an insulting slap in the face to all the political, military, intelligence, and security personnel in 20th century America! Perhaps West is channeling McCarthy’s ghost! Oh well, conspiracy theory is the new fad in the 21st century, so welcome to the fray, West.

Perhaps West is channeling Joseph McCarthy’s ghost!
Perhaps West is channeling Joseph McCarthy’s ghost!


West tells us the emperor (historical CW) wears no clothes—but we find that her radical, over-the-top, anti-commie theories are a bit bare
West tells us the emperor (historical CW) wears no clothes—but we find that her radical, over-the-top, anti-commie theories are a bit bare

West tells us our history is hollow and false, as false as those watching a naked emperor walk by but pretending to see clothes where there are none, even though a child says he's not wearing clothes. She sees herself as the child proclaiming our history is false—she wishes to be the bellwether, the harbinger of the true extent of the commie threat. "But the child is always true, always real. It is the rest, the emperors and chamberlains all around, who are as false and hollow as the historical narrative they create, assuming we will follow along. As, in fact, we do. That is our problem today. Heirs to a false and hollow history, we become unwitting participants, perpetuating and entrenching many, many lies as we take our places in a secretly subverted pageant—and never know it."


West's Assertions about Islam's Koran Are Also True of Christianity's Bible

West tells us "Islam is a religion of peace" is a lie, and to radical Islamics and terrorists she is right. But since most Muslims are peace loving, she is mostly wrong that Islam is about violence and war and killing, decapitating and maiming, even though the Koran contains such things. The Bible contains similar violence and war, but also contains—like the Koran—peace and love. To say that later parts of the Koran cancel earlier parts is arbitrary and self-serving—a rationalization at best. It is like saying West is a poser since she was born in Hollywood, or that she's a hippy since she was born in the 1960s. A logical fallacy known as the Hasty Generalization means drawing a conclusion from scanty evidence. Chicken Little thought the sky was falling when a leaf fell on her. West, like McCarthy, sees a commie under every rock because she chooses to interpret historical facts from a radical perspective.

Chicken Little thought the sky was falling when a leaf fell on her. West, like McCarthy, sees a commie under every rock because she chooses to interpret historical facts from a radical perspective
Chicken Little thought the sky was falling when a leaf fell on her. West, like McCarthy, sees a commie under every rock because she chooses to interpret historical facts from a radical perspective

West's book title says there's a secret assault on our nation’s character going on: perpetuating false history. Ronald Radosh, David Horowitz, and others would argue that it is West who is the one assaulting our nation’s character when she says USSR spies ended up making America a puppet of its Kremlin masters. That is surely an insulting slap in the face to all the political, military, intelligence, and security personnel in 20th century America! The good news is that she is trying to keep us vigilant, a.k.a. the price of freedom. The bad news is that politicians almost never act because of reading an ebook—especially one based on faulty scholarship and exaggerated narratives.


James Perloff Said Most of What West Says, But 25 Years Earlier

The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline is a 1988 book by James Perloff saying a lot of what West says. However, it's not an opinion piece; it is an assembly of hard facts that state their own conclusions. Perloff, a John Birch Society member, is like West in that he sees a commie under every rock where we see only slugs and smails. He makes a good point that there is a lot of evidence that something was fishy when the world lost China and Vietnam and Cuba and Korea to communism in spite of the U.S. seeming to be in a position to prevent that from happening and yet, suspiciously, they failed to act. On the other hand, since WWII, it is the balance of commie versus "democracy" (USSR vs U.S.) in the Cold War that kept the U.S. from going power-mad in their neocon-run empire building.


"Spread the Wealth Around" Is Marxism to West

So we all have a choice to believe radical conspiracy theory history where the commies run the show in the U.S. (as Perloff, the John Birch Society, West, and Joseph McCarthy believe), or regular history where we believe the propaganda-laced high school history textbooks. We choose neither. We do not see a commie under every rock nor believe that the USSR won WWII nor believe USSR spies ended up making America a puppet of its Kremlin masters. But neither do we believe the sanitized high school history textbooks. West sees liberals' faith in a fairly progressive tax rate where richer get taxed more and poorer get taxed less as Marxist and socialist and proof of Soviet influence. We don't.

Most Americans believe this is simply logical and fair and what the situation obviously demands. Spread the wealth around is how a mature culture faces reality and damn few of the citizens are interested in or subscribe to Marxism, in spite of West's beliefs. If the U.S. had not taken large amounts of wealth from the rich to finance WWII, we'd all be speaking German and worshipping der Führer now, although Hitler would have been superseded. On the other hand, since our wars are fought to enrich rich oligarchs, every time they start one up (e.g., attacking Iraq in 2003) not related to national survival like WWII was, we believe the rich alone should have to pay for it, not the citizens. Why should we add these costs to the national debt? We never wanted Dubya Bush's rotten war.


West Paints Henry Wallace as a Communist—She's Totally Wrong

Painting Henry Wallace as a communist is an example where West grabs at straws. Wallace at first gave Stalin the benefit of the doubt when he didn't know the facts about him. Once he learned those facts, he became an anti-communist. Being openminded is a good thing—it means one doesn't jump to conclusions based on rumors or opinions of others. But once one has the facts and decides, this is when one should be judged, not while they're discussing it or pondering it—one of West's errors. Henry Wallace was a true American hero of the 1940s, a "visionary" on both domestic and foreign policy, one of the smartest and wisest politicians who ever lived. Wallace opposed the cold war, the arms race with the Soviet Union and racial segregation. He was a strong advocate of labor unions, national health insurance, public works jobs and women's equality, and was the New Deal's evangelist. He did the work, FDR got the credit. The candidacy of Henry Wallace defined itself by opposition to American “militarism” and rejection of the Cold War policies, and the more one learns about history and neocon greed and empire building aspirations, the more you realize Wallace could have kept us from spending a king's ransom on unnecessary hot and cold wars and weapons build-up all just to appease hawks and banks and the Corporatocracy.


We Agree with Kirkus Reviews—West's Book Is "A Frustrating Mixture of Incontrovertible Facts and Dubious Speculation. Proceed with Caution."

The domino theory—if one goes commie they all would—was foolish dogma invented by warmongers wanting to engage in war profiteering
The domino theory—if one goes commie they all would—was foolish dogma invented by warmongers wanting to engage in war profiteering

West seems to find Republicans the good anti-commies and Democrats the bad pro-commies throughout history starting in 1933. If a Democratic policy was more favored by the Ruskies than a Republican policy, that shows "infiltration" at work. When the left went against the murderous and unnecessary Vietnam War, they must be Marxists—commies trying to get us to let everything fall to the commies. But the left saw through the "saving the world from dirty commies" lie that West seems to have bought hook, line, and sinker since she was a kid. The American failure in Vietnam, McNamara said, was seeing the enemy through the prism of the cold war, as a domino that would topple the nations of Asia if it fell, which turned out to be poppycock, illogical, and foolish dogmatism.

West's and Perloff's books point out some important embarrassing facts about history, for which we owe them our thanks. But the over-the-top disaster-context interpretation of said facts is not the logical deduction they paint it as. Anyone can look at dozens of embarrassing facts about history and "see" an evil pattern of commie takeover. Contrariwise, anyone can look at dozens of encouraging facts about history and "see" a pattern of God is on our side, or right always wins in the end, or the U.S. is doing God's work, or anything else they want to see. In the book reviews in the articles sections about America and Politics, on our website, you'll see our take on the hundreds of books reviewed, including some containing what some call conspiracy theory—which is a judgment with which our government's propaganda wing smears books with inconvenient truths in them sometimes—some of these theories represent truth but others represent overactive imaginations.


West Is Right about a Rogue Element Making the U.S. a Puppet, But She Fingers the Wrong Puppeteer

The Shadow Government, not the Kremlin, is the rogue element making the U.S. a puppet of its whims
The Shadow Government, not the Kremlin, is the rogue element making the U.S. a puppet of its whims


If the Founders heard about this corrupt shadow government mess, they'd turn over in their graves
If the Founders heard about this corrupt shadow government mess, they'd turn over in their graves

By sheer coincidence, West is right about a rogue element making the U.S. a puppet of this rogue element. But the rogue element is not USSR spies and the puppeteers are not Kremlin masters. See:



Various authors see the shadow government from various perspectives—like the blind men and the elephant, but the overall gist is creepily similar
Various authors see the shadow government from various perspectives—like the blind men and the elephant, but the overall gist is creepily similar