DEMOCRACIDE: America on the Road to Fascism and Bankruptcy by Nathaniel Gilbert shows how the government’s use of fear at home and wars abroad is wasting thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars while curtailing our freedoms at home. An extraordinary flood of politically inspired laws, regulations and arbitrary presidential decisions is hurling us toward the desire of every dictator: “everything not compulsory is forbidden.”

Although the recent election gave the Democrats apparent control of Congress, it takes two-thirds of both houses to override a Presidential veto, and the President can still use executive orders and signing statements to subvert the intentions of Congress. Gilbert, an experienced foreign correspondent, financial reporter, magazine editor and business consultant, reminds us that most breaches of the Constitution during the last five years were by the Executive Branch, often secret and not authorized by Congress.

DEMOCRACIDE is important because it answers five questions that everyone needs to ask:
1. Why are the government’s wars and domestic initiatives, so costly in lives and dollars, failing to yield substantial results?
2. What can be done to protect America from crime and terrorism without perpetuating the prison industry and engaging in foreign wars?
3. What are the real motives and who are the real beneficiaries of our present foreign and domestic policies?
4. Does our “War on Terrorism” give the administration license to trash the Constitution, abandon sound economic policies, disavow treaties and ignore reasonable diplomacy?
5. How can we save America from becoming a fascistic and bankrupt nation?

Instead of focusing on one or two issues, DEMOCRACIDE examines America’s major crises to show how the government’s counterproductive methods have created more problems than solutions—at home and abroad. According to Gilbert, the Bush administration has fallen under the spell of our “culture of violence” and believes every problem can be solved by bribery, coercion, borrowing money, or military force.

While the administration pretends that democracy is a universal cure for solving the problems of every foreign country, it cannot solve our own problems: crime, inadequate healthcare and education, illegal immigration, and our extraordinary national debt. Gilbert also shows how America has become a disruptive world citizen, desperately seeking new resources and markets, cheap oil and cheaper labor, talking about peace while being the world’s largest manufacturer and seller of arms and war planes. This duplicity and corporate exploitation of foreign resources and labor have transformed the U.S. from being the most envied nation to the most hated country on earth.

Looking at America through Gilbert’s eyes, we can see how each piece of the puzzle—our history, crime, amorality, culture of violence, family problems, economy, justice system, and politics—impacts the others. The broad scope and depth of this book give readers a framework that makes it easy to understand the odd collection of disparate news bulletins that add to our confusion every day.

Fortunately, DEMOCRACIDE is more than a catalog of our troubles. Gilbert’s journalistic style reduces these complicated issues to matters of common sense. He also provides definitive solutions that show ways to revitalize our democracy without a constitutional amendment, revolution or other fundamental changes. This is more than a book about today’s headlines; it is one you will want to keep at hand to remind you that there are many ways to stop "democracide" and restore our liberties and personal freedoms.