Where We Stand: Voices of Southern Dissent

by Tony Dunbar and Anthony Dunbar

Book Overview

Editor Anthony Dunbar has assembled essays from 12 leading Southern historians, activists, civil rights attorneys, law professors, and theologians to discuss militarism, religion, the environment, voting rights, the Patriot Act, the economy, prisons and crime, and other subjects. The writers share the beliefs that the current policies of our national administration sacrifice the interests of the poor and the people who work for a living to the interests...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1588381692
• ISBN13: 9781588381699
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: NewSouth Books
• Length: 234 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Valuable Contribution But As Cynical As Ever!

It is important to distinguish between Democrats and liberals when describing the slant of this work, as the latter retain their dignity, even amidst the crushing economic conservatism and hypocritical religious fundamentalism of the Bush regime. In this respect, then, as liberals, the authors of Where We Stand are to be applauded, admired, and rejoiced for having the courage to cry out against the Republican Bull in the world's fragile china-shop. But just as the old philosophical dilemma asks if a falling tree in an empty wood is heard, one wonders if the (mostly) reasonable objections to current American policy raised by these twelve essayists are capable of reaching the ears of those who should hear them. Cynicism is apparent in each of the twelve works contained within Where We Stand, albeit in different degrees. But this should not be considered a criticism of the work, only an acknowledgment of how far things have swung to the Right. Like a cornered animal, liberals have become desperate; and sometimes, the first sacrifice made to desperation is rationality (just as Conservatives behaved during the Clinton years). Some of the arguments made in Where We Stand are self-defeating, as they are guilty of the same divisive mud-slinging that liberals so often accuse of Republicans. The best example of this is the very first selection by Dan Carter. I am on the fence concerning the current American policy of preemptive war, leaning precariously toward a position against it. That being said, Carter's essay antagonized my fair-minded sensibilities. I was amazed when I came to the end of this lengthy essay, replete with numerous statistics dubiously connected to cynical conclusions, and found that not one single attribution existed as to where Carter got his information - no foot-notes, no endnotes, nothing. This, for me, destroys Carter's credibility completely and thoroughly. He becomes, then, just a Left-wing version of Rush Limbaugh, a butcher of context and meaning that wraps every issue in a web of intermingled facts, lies, and false conclusions. There is much to remark upon after one reads Where We Stand, many ideas and connections that (besides Carter) offer much to one's opinion concerning current American policy. I would like to touch on a few of these, briefly. Susan Wiltshire's essay concerning the difficulty in reconciling religion with modern issues was very insightful, and light on the cynicism. Gene Nichol makes an impassioned plea for us to fight for justice for all, not just the powerful and privileged. I was turned-off by Leslie Dunbar's assumption that support for our troops equals support for our President. This is very simplistic and cynical. I was inspired by Janisse Ray's refusal to shop at Wal-mart, and her alternative life-style that puts rebellion in the realm that it should be: in action and not words. Daniel Pollitt opened my eyes to the constitutional pitfalls inherent in the debate of individual freedom versus securi

A Must Read

All of the essays in "Where We Stand" were informative and thought provoking. Each essay explores a different topic but all explore Southerners' cultural and religious belief systems in an historical account of how these affect the political system and outcome of political elections as well as public policy in general. All Americans should read this as a wake-up call. I literally could not put the book down for each essay had something very important to convey. The book provides various insights on the need and urgency to look critically at ourselves politically. At the end of the book I was very proud to be a southerner and to know such powerful voices were speaking out.

The More Things Change, . . . the more they stay the same.

The twelve voices of dissent in WHERE WE STAND demand, in heartfelt prose, for an end to the domination of America by ideologically right-wing Republicans, a majority of whom are southerners, all of whom are in bed with the military-industrial-complex. WHERE WE STAND traces the rise of the modern Republican South from the entry into national politics of racist southern politician George C. Wallace, to the subtly racist "Southern Strategy" of Richard Nixon, through Ronald Reagan, who sanitized Wallace's bigotry by creating race-loaded "buzz words" that enabled Americans to be "comfortable with their prejudices." As in the antebellum period, as during Reconstruction, as in the era of segregation, the South by the 1980s was again united on the dominant theme of the South's existence-race-this time within the Republican Party. In their historic fight to preserve the "southern way of life," southerners had always maintained that the struggle was NOT about money. But in the 1980s, when southern ideas were becoming dominant nationally, southerners changed; money became half to goal. Thus, in the last three decades of the twentieth century, southern right-wing Republican politicians and their northern Republican allies have arrogantly united with George W. Bush upon economic policies that benefit only the wealthy, and an unjustified imperialist war which will benefit the military-industrial-complex at the expense of people at the bottom of society. Every patriotic American who is worried about the current policies our nation at home and abroad should read this enlightening book!