[Hac-announce] May 2015 Book Discussion: "Fighting Back the Right" by David Niose

[Kevin Gough or Paula Jones]

We are pleased to announce a special Humanist Book Discussion for May: David Niose will join us via Skype to discuss his recently published book Fighting Back the Right: Reclaiming America from the Attack on Reason.
 
David Niose, Legal Director of the American Humanist Association (AHA), posits in Fighting Back the Right          that a true “progressive policy should by synonymous with human-centered policy.” Consequently, political struggle must first and foremost be an effort by real people to retrieve the political system from institutional, nonhuman interests, i.e. “corporate people.” In making his argument, Niose reviews the historical trajectory that led America to this point, discusses how the anti-intellectual right and corporate interests in tandem have capitalized on these events, and suggests what progressive humanists must do to retake control of the country. (Hint: Overthrow the notion of “corporate personhood.”)
         
 Per Robyn Blumner, Executive Director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science: “In his direct, clear-eyed analysis, David Niose ably diagnoses America’s problem as the demise of human-centered public policy. He then zeroes in on its cause as a toxic combination of anti-intellectualism, religious fundamentalism, corporatism, and ineffectual democracy.”                
         
        
Since the book is relatively new, only a few copies of the book are available in area libraries. However, many members purchased copies earlier in the year through HAC, so another option is to check around and borrow a copy.        
        
         
        
To discuss “corporate personhood” and the structure/culture of governing power, there are also several (mostly short) readings for the discussion:        
        
·                  “Help! I’ve been colonized and I can’t get up…” by Jane Anne Morris (available at: http://democracythemepark.org/articles/help-ive-been-colonized/)        
        
·                  CELDF’s Statement on Efforts to Amend the U.S. Constitution following Citizen’s United (available at:          http://www.celdf.org/citizens-united-v-fec---celdf-statement         )        
        
·                  Chapter 3: Power from Contractionary Revolution by Frank Rotering (available at:          http://contractionism.org/books-2/         )        
        
·                  Preface to Why America Failed: The Roots of Imperial Decline by Morris Berman        
        
         
        
All but the last, which is attached to this e-mail, are available on-line.        
        
         
        
The discussion will take place on Saturday, May 16, 2015 in the library of the Unitarian Society of New Haven at 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden. Please note, to respect David Niose’s schedule, the discussion will begin shortly after 2 pm, so please plan to arrive a few minutes early so that we can begin promptly a few minutes after the hour.       
        
         
Refreshments will be served.



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