Restore American Democracy Fund - Support Engaged Writers

My name is James Rowles. I am a columnist and author. I write about national and international politics.

Recently I have published two books which deal with national political developments in the U.S. since 2016.

While some will try to label me as liberal or conservative, I try to be objective, without shying away from conclusions that seem warranted by the facts.

I studied history as an undergraduate at Stanford, and even won the prize for the best senior honors thesis in history. I am also an expert on international law and international politics (J.D., Stanford, S.J.D. in International Law, Harvard), and write incisive analyses of developments in these fields.

My columns and books are well-documented and draw on reliable sources. My analyses and conclusions are based on the facts. My columns and books contain highly accurate accounts of current history.

In recent years, my columns and books have focused in particular on the authoritarian threat to American democracy posed by Donald Trump and the Republican Party, and on the decision-making related to the Ukrainian war. Unlike most analysts, I have been a caustic critic of President Joe Biden's disastrous foreign policy, beginning with his calamitous decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.

These are serious topics which deserve serious treatment and consideration by citizens in our democracy.

With the publication of two important books, I have advanced this project as far as I can on my own.

I appeal for financial support to enable me to launch a marketing campaign for the books in order for them to sell and be read widely , and to encourage public discourse on these topics in a serious, rational manner which goes far beyond the "baby-talk" (Neil Postman, Amusing ourselves to Death, Public Business in the Age of Showbusiness, 1985, 2006, p. 155-56) commonly employed in part as the result of massive propaganda.

The recent books and information on ordering them are listed below:

1) The Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021 (Amazon and IngramSpark, 2024).

2) Don’t Be Stupid. Pay Attention, Damn It! Advice for Undecided Voters and Voters Leaning Toward Trump (IngramSpark, 2024).

Information on ordering these books is found here .

Your support of these efforts to counter the authoritarian threat to American democracy is of critical importance. It will to enable me to launch book promotion campaigns for the two books cited, to publish a revised post-election edition of Don't Be Stupid. Pay Attention, Damn It! , to continue reporting and analysis during the next five years, and to meet my modest monthly expenses.

Description of the two books

These chronicles span the eight years of political turmoil and trauma in the United States between 2016 and 2024 (The Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2017-2021) and from 2021 up to the eve of the November 5, 2024 elections (Don't Be Stupid. Pay Attention, Damn It!; Advice for Undecided Voters and Voters Leaning Toward Trump). Books in the series are comprised of dispatches written at particular points in time, based on information that was publicly available. They tell the story of what we knew or could have known if we had been paying attention.

The author was paying attention. Here, he shares his contemporary analysis of events as they unfolded and the fears and passions they unleashed.

Unlike most books on Donald Trump in his last year in office and in the run-up to the November 2024 elections, these accounts address the responsibility not only of the Republicans but also of the Democrats over these eight years for the political situation and the fascist threat that the country faced on the eve of the November 2024 elections, including the Democrats' failure to prosecute Trump in a timely manner.

Drawing on reliable sources, James P. Rowles has written in these two books a powerful narrative whose stark conclusions cannot easily be cast into doubt.

In the second volume, the author draws particular attention to the use of lies and propaganda to influence voters' decisions, and raises fundamental questions which must be addressed in all future elections.

Together, these books connect the dots and address the fundamental question of what it all means for democracy in America today.

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