Savage New Territory: Trickle Down Tyranny
In the "Acknowledgments" at the end of his new book Trickle Down Tyranny, Michael Savage states that this book is his "most seminal work." Since "seminal" means, "strongly influencing later events," Savage is offering a prediction about -- not a description of -- the book. He probably will be proven right. Trickle Down Tyranny breaks new political ground for the reader and for the writer.
"Seminal" is also a term used in botany -- a field that Doctor Savage knows inside and out. In its botanical usage "seminal" means something that is related or derived from a plant's seed. In Trickle Down Tyranny, Savage is breaking fresh ground and planting original seeds. This is new Savage Territory.
In old Savage territory (e.g., The Savage Nation and The Enemy Within) the writing was populist. The problems addressed were abstract. The villains were numerous -- and sometimes obscure ("Republicans" and "Democrats"). Not any more.
In his immediately preceding book, Trickle Up Poverty, Savage had been refining his writing style and honing his political rhetoric. There were still a few glitches in Trickle Up Poverty -- like an awkward thirty-plus wish list of suggestions for the TEA party. But Savage was on the right track. He had narrowed the field of inquiry. He began naming names and citing sources. Trickle Up Poverty was well researched. Savage was starting to zero in on the specific problems facing America.
Dr. Savage attains full momentum in Trickle Down Tyranny. The book is impeccably researched. It is written in a straightforward and accessible manner. The book hits the reader like a head on collision with a freight train of facts.
Having followed Savage's career (as a writer and broadcaster) for about ten years, the question for me as reviewer was: What has driven Michael Savage to write the best, the most accessible, and the most powerful book in his life -- now? The first clue was in the opening pages of the book.
Savage is convinced that "we will very likely not survive as a free nation after four more years of Obama's rule." (Page 3.)[i] His solution is surprisingly pragmatic: "We need to nominate and support the most electable Republican in the field, because an Obama victory in 2012 would doom this country." (Ibid.)
Trickle Down Tyranny is an indictment of Barack Obama, his crony capitalist enablers, and the cadre of confused leftists still clinging to an empty promise of hope and change. Savage shows how Barrack Obama has created a political, cultural, economic, and existential crisis in America. Savage explains, with unrelenting precision, the nature of this crisis.
The first two chapters are prefatory. Chapter One contains "advice to the next [Republican] president." This chapter is a general introduction to the crises America faces in foreign policy, national defense, energy creation, economics (national and global), health care, and immigration -- with a focus on solving these problems using reforms grounded in constitutional integrity. Chapter two sketches Obama's unconstitutional usurpation of power. The nine chapters that follow provide no-holds-barred arguments in support of the positions introduced in these first two chapters.
Michael Savage, as his readers and listeners know, is a complex man. It was not surprising to find that the first sentence of Chapter Three ("Tyranny of the Government-Media Complex") is a teaser. Savage opens his chapter on the corruption of the mainstream media with these words, "I am no friend of Rupert Murdoch." When it comes to understanding the mainstream media, no one is as in the know -- while, at the same time, forced outside of the loop -- as Michael Savage. This inside perspective from an outside vantage is part of Savage's mystique.
But Trickle Down Tyranny is new Savage territory. Dr. Savage wastes no time on personal rivalries. He is focused, like a laser, on the real culprits. Murdoch is not savaged in this chapter -- George Soros is. Chapter three goes into explicit details of the "Soros-Murdoch Media War."(Pp. 48-55.) Later in the Chapter in "The Rise of Government Regulation" (pp. 56-60) Savage explains why Murdoch's newspapers are harassed by government investigators while the New York Times, time and again, gets off scot-free.
The purpose of Chapter Three is to reveal the incestuous relationship between the mainstream media and the leftist power structure in Washington, DC. Savage does an admirable job of piecing this tawdry puzzle together. But there is an astonishingly honest insight at the end of the chapter -- a personal revelation that leads the reader deeper into the new Savage territory.
The section is called "The Tyranny of Blame: Norway's Christian Killer" (pp. 60-65). It is a candid discussion of his view of religious extremism and what it means to be an extremist without resorting to violence. Savage puts his heart on the line:
That's the whole point of my [radio] show, which is not to withdraw from the field of battle with multiculturalism, not to shrink from combat with socialism, not to retreat from fighting cultural and economic Marxism, but to redouble your efforts to fight them with everything in your power -- but without resorting to violence.
This message is the soul of the book. Savage uses the word "your" -- but he is also talking about his recommitment to defend America. (Savage thought of retiring when he was banned from traveling to England -- he said so on air.) Trickle Down Tyranny is the proof of his rededication.
Having established in Chapter Three how the news is processed and perverted, in Chapter Four Savage moves into the coordinated corruption that exists between crony capitalists and the U.S. government. Goldman Sachs, George Soros, the IMF, and the Obama administration come under microscopic scrutiny. Savage isn't dealing in speculation. He's telling us some very unpleasant truths. Nearly every claim is backed with an endnote to a leading publication (like the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, the NYT and to our own American Thinker). There are 32 pages filled with 511 endnotes in this book.
Chapter Five deals with the practical responses from the right to leftist radicalism or "community organizing," specifically to Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. This is the only "how to" chapter -- and it is a good one. After dissecting Alinsky's influence and ideology, Dr. Savage lists six "Rules for Beating Radicals" (pp. 120-122). In keeping with the Savage extremism discussed in Chapter Three, Rule 5 is of particular interest -- and, I suggest, is a unique insight:
Attack Democrats before they attack you. Democrats like our president have no core principles except the lust for power. Following Alinsky, they say, "Make the enemy live up to his/her own book of rules." Because those on the left are unprincipled but will nonetheless attack you if you violate one of your principles, it is important to call them out based on your principles and demand that they act in a principled manner. [Page 121.]
This new Savage territory is simple and profound.
Chapter Six digs deeper into the background of "Obama's Corporate Cronies." Focusing on kickbacks and corruption, it explores the extraordinary tension between Obama's officially appointed Cabinet and his (sometimes illegally) appointed "Czars." (There are over 40 Czars and counting. Among other things, Savage shows that the salaries of many of these "public" employees are not available to the taxpayers who pay their wages.)
The most original argument in the book appears in Chapter Seven. Here Dr. Savage examines Obama's policy of foreign intervention based on the "responsibility to protect." He convincingly argues that the policy amounts to unilateral U.S. military intervention whenever and wherever it suits the Obama administration's radical goals.
The next chapter shows the practical and economic consequences of the "Soros Doctrine" -- treating our enemies as allies and our allies as enemies. Savage does this on a country-by-country basis. He gives nine detailed examples: e.g., from Pakistan to England, from to Iran to Israel. Savage shows how the Soros Doctrine, combined with "responsibility to protect," is threatening worldwide freedom.
Savage is a scientist. It shows in his in-depth discussion in Chapter Nine, "Tyranny of Green Energy." Here is just one of the Savage gems from this chapter:
[A] total of 64 senators voted to approve at least one of the amendments [to prohibit the EPA from regulating carbon]. There is a majority in the Senate who want to deny the EPA this overreaching and dangerous authority, but the idiots in the chamber can't figure out a way to do it.
There are plenty of other facts about the green energy fiasco in this fascinating chapter.
The book was going to press as Eric Holder's Fast and Furious scandal unfolded. Savage gathered all of the data available at the time and has created a powerful and damning narrative of Holder's Justice Department in the penultimate chapter. An updated chapter on this topic would be most welcomed in a revised edition of the book.
The final chapter is a kind of pep talk for the reader. It serves to remind the reader that Dr. Savage has not given up on America -- and neither should we. This is the reason to celebrate (and buy) Trickle Down Tyranny. The book moves the Savage nation into new Savage territory.
Larrey Anderson is a writer, philosopher, and Senior Editor for American Thinker. He is the author of the award-winning novel, The Order of the Beloved, and the memoir Underground. He is working on a new book The Death of Culture.
[i] All page numbers are to Michael Savage, Trickle Down Tyranny, William Morrow, 2012.