20. Post War by Tony Judt

Post War
Originally uploaded by buzby.

This is a beast of a book at about 900 pages but I am proud to have made it through.

The relationships drawn by the author between the psychological impact of the war on European people, the subsequent birth of social democracy (as opposed to comunism or conservatism) and the resulting differencs between European political thought and American political thought is quite enlightening. As are the authors descriptions of the period between 1945 and 1955 when cold war communism was being born, the cold war battle lines were being drawn and there was still widespread persecution of Jews and other minorities.

It is a challenging book to make it through becuase it is so filled with facts, figures and arguments but it is rewarding to have read a book like this. I would recommend it.

The Fallacy of American Democracy

Federal congressional redistricting and State sanctioned redistricting has gotten so out of hand that even though, based on Tuesday's elections, many voters appear to want to oust their republican incumbent congressmen in the 2006 mid-term elections they will not be able to do so because, as the Wall Street Journal says:

"Even in their improved position, Democrats will have limited numbers of targets. Because congressional boundary lines place most lawmakers in districts clearly favoring one party or the other, fewer than 10% of House seats held by Republicans currently are considered at risk. Most Senate Republican incumbents facing re-election next year remain favored to win."

Between the Electoral College and overt partisan redistricting, how can we really say that there is a great American democracy?