of dedicated modern-day tyrants, benignly called neocons, conservatives and the religious right. Juxtaposing American historical turning points with such modern concepts as George Orwell's "1984" and Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, Hartmann rationally and systematically explains how American-based multinational corporations have bought our government, and can soon enslave us by exploiting perpetual wars.

The author reminds us: On April 20, 1795, James Madison wrote, "Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few."

Hartmann's We the People entertains and teaches. Brilliantly illustrated by Neil Cohn and co-edited with Gene Latimer and Paul Burke, the book uses the vehicle of a personalized memoir with Thom as the main cartoon character. Thom leads the reader through the juxtaposition of American historical flashbacks with ongoing events. His publisher calls Hartmann "our contemporary Thomas Paine." Perhaps he is.

The illustrations by Neil Cohn are reminiscent of Art Spiegelman's highly acclaimed "Maus" I and II. But Spiegelman mainly delves into his father's experiences as a survivor of Nazi Germany's death camps. Cohn, Hartmann et al take us through the contemporary, burgeoning American tyranny brought down on us by President George W. Bush's administration with the complicity of America's global corporations. And, by the way, unavoidable comparisons are made between Hitler's exploiting the Reichstag fire and Bush-Cheney exploiting the 9/11 catastrophic terrorist attacks--for launching an unprovoked and illegal invasion of Iraq.

We the People is a logical extension of Hartmann's other book, his seminal Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights. But these are not knee-jerk condemnations of American corporations. Rather, it is a call for putting the corporate genie back in its bottle by removing constitutional personhood rights from inanimate corporations before real live American citizens are literally reduced to slavery by them. Moreover, there are many important, timely, and expertly reported issues covered such as the dangers to American democracy of computer driven voting machines.

Specifically, We the People carefully provides examples of known computer voting fraud in the chapter, "The Theft of Your Vote." Startling examples are used, such as the "stunning" landslide election of the Nebraska Republican Chuck Hagel in 1996 within solid Democratic territory. Referring to Bev Harris' book Black Box Voting, we are led through the history of Hagel's win in solidly Democrat precincts--fraudulently manufactured by the 80% of the computer voting machines stealthily installed by a company earlier headed by Hagel. The alarm is sounded: "As Charlie Matulka suggests: 'They can take over our country without firing a shot, just by taking over our election system'."

We the People is a deadly serious comic book. In 12 chapters and 205 pages, this book covers virtually all important issues facing Americans and the democracy under which we live. This is one of the most informative and authoritative socio-political analyses of our time. Its warnings and remedies should be taken to heart before the freedoms that we have taken for granted for so long shall be systematically stolen from us. As the book's title proclaims, this is: "A Call to Take Back America."

You must read this book and urge others to read it.

BUY THE BOOK

Frederick Sweet is Professor of Reproductive Biology in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. You can email your comments to Fred@interventionmag.com

Posted Friday, May 14, 2004

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