The Death of the West - Pat Buchanan - a review

Death Of The West by Patrick J. Buchanan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Written back in 2002, as something of a screed against George W. Bush’s policies (against whom he ran in the primary, I believe), I agreed with about 90% of what Buchanan wrote.

His basic thesis is that the West needs recovering and preserving, and that is a cultural war, not an economic one. Republicans today love to fight economic battles, but are less willing to fight cultural ones. With the rise of Trump/Vance today, this tide is turning somewhat, but it remains primarily focused on the economic interest of America, not a battle for its cultural soul. Conservative/GOP politicians are mostly AWOL in the cultural war. Today, for example, everyone knows that if Mifepristone and other chemical abortions were outlawed, there’d be a political furor and uproar, so Trump doesn’t touch it (or let his FDA touch it).


Areas I disagreed with Buchanan:
He basically has a “keep the foreigners out” mentality, believing they inherently degrade Western culture. There is some truth to this (witness recent Somali fraud), but it’s not automatic. I’ve known several immigrants/minorities who have contributed greatly to America, both culturally and economically. I’d hate for the Right to become essentially nativist, which I fear is happening.

Population is destiny, Buchanan says. Whoever has the most babies, wins. Again, this is partly true, but not automatic. We certainly have a plague of American women refusing to have children, and that will eventually lead to a demographic winter for us. But plenty of devout Christians are having many children, and to be hard-nosed about it, those are the ones we want multiplying, anyway. I found his concern that Palestinian fertility rates are slightly higher than Israel’s, as particularly strange. You can’t boil a culture war winner down to the highest fertility rate.

Buchanan bifurcates between economic and social issues. Paraphrase: “We shouldn’t be pursuing economic liberty and global free trade, but instead shoring up America and its values.” A global economy is bad for America, essentially, is his view. This view has prevailed in the Trump/Vance administration. And it IS a problem when American IT workers demand $65/hour, but Indian immigrants will come in and do it for $40. But I’m not sure the best solution to that is an essentially fascist policy, where the government dictates to private companies what they must do and who they must hire. The issue is that INS doesn’t have the resources to discern if those seeking entry are willing to assimilate to American culture, and not undercut American jobs but enhance our economy, instead. We want to bring in the best and brightest, not those who will steal our jobs for low pay.

Overall, this was a helpfully bracing book on the need to fight the cultural war, with a few concerning notes.

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The Martian - a review

The Martian by Andy Weir
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and have watched it several times. Then I saw Project Hail Mary and was also impressed. So I read the book Hail Mary and now read the Martian.

Both books are heavy on the science and physics, which isn’t my thing at all, but I stuck with it. The main theme isn’t really science, but enduring and solving problems to survive. It’s as much a psychological “OK, I can do this,” when faced with your own death, or the extinction of your whole species.

There’s a LOT of bad language in the Martian, and several sexual references. It starts with the first three sentences of the book. This is not for kids.

The benefit of the book is in conveying the human spirit’s desire and ability to survive against overwhelming odds. “Okay, I’ll need oxygen there for the next 2 months – how am I going to do that?” Times fifty. Until you get home.

Also, the human connection between people. Although Watney is on MARS, alone, for crying out loud, there is a strong bond with his crew returning to earth, and with NASA back on earth. He consumes crewmate Johannsen’s disco music and seventies TV shows. He constantly tells the crew it wasn’t their fault they left him on Mars. Even when they lose contact for several weeks, NASA and Watney are thinking of each other, and how each could help the other.

As with most modern books, my usual slogan is reversed. The movie is better than the book.
2 stars.

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