Don't put bananas in the refrigerator......

[whistle]

Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber spoke with The Hill recently about their new book Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing Is Turning America Into a One-Party State.

http://www.hillnews.com/daily_features/062404.aspx

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What is a Banana Republican?
The term "banana republic" has generally been used with respect to countries (usually in Latin America) that are dominated by corporate and mililtary elites and that use the pretext of national security to justify restrictions on democracy. We titled our book Banana Republicans because the right wing in the United States, under the banner of the Republican party, has moved the nation in directions that resemble the behavior of a banana republic. For example, the Bush administration, with support from a Republican-dominated Congress and Senate, has expanded the powers of government in precisely those areas that are most threatening to individual freedoms, through the USA Patriot Act and other measures that authorize spying on citizens and detentions withou trial. The likelihood that those powers will be abused has increased, moreover, as the right wing accuses its ideological adversaries of "treason," "terrorism" and "un-Americanism."

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In Banana Republicans, we also strongly advise progressives against adopting the vitriolic rhetorical style of the right. The nation has become increasingly polarized during the past four years, and some figures on the left are starting to sound like left-wing versions of the Drudge Report or Rush Limbaugh. We think that is a mistake. It's unlikely to succeed, and even if it does, the result will lower rather than elevate political discourse.

On the other hand, we think a great deal can be learned from the right's organizing strategies. The right wing's philosophy of "politics is war" may have contributed to its ideological discipline and its political ascendency in the United States, but really its main strength has been its success at marketing right-wing ideas, through a long-term strategy of networking, organizational development of conservative think tanks and grassroots organizations, and effective use both new and old media technologies to build an effective right-wing counterweight to the mainstream media. These are all areas where the left could be doing a much better job and where
perhaps they ought to be trying to learn some lessons from the right.

More information about Banana Republicans can be found at http://www.bananarepublicans.org