THE DEVIL'S MARRIAGE
 ABOUT AND PRAISE FOR THE BOOK 
 (This Book Needs to be in Every Library in the Nation)

The central theme is this: Americans are governed by an undemocratic and powerful regime that advances corporate and political self interests at a terrible cost to the American public. Current efforts to end the regime are totally inadequate. The only civil and lawful way to end it is to organize and unleash democracy power that leads to political, legislative, judicial, and economic reforms backed up by massive political pressure.

Why I Wrote It

Looking on and doing nothing while America is being dominated, exploited, and ruined by the corpocracy isn’t an option for me and I hope it isn’t for you either. If I could I would donate a copy of my book to every library in America, but then, if I could afford to do that, I would be a filfthy rich corpocrat who did not write this book.

The Chapters

Chapter 1 shows the many telltale signs (e.g., deteriorating socioeconomic and environmental conditions; endless and winless wars; etc., etc.) of the corpocracy and explains why they aren’t yet very telling to most Americans. The corpocracy’s allies, including foreign enemies that every regime needs, are also identified and discussed.

Chapter 2 tells the episodic history of democracy alternating with the corpocracy. When you finish this chapter, I implore you not to be complacent, thinking that the ups and downs of the corpocracy mean we just have to wait for its next downer. Massive street demonstrations over Vietnam didn’t end the corpocracy, nor has the American blood and money wasted on Iraq and Afghanistan, nor has “Economic Katrina,” the greatest depression since the Great One. If the corpocracy isn’t ended it will eventually end America, probably by triggering WWIII.

Chapter 3 describes the weak and fragmented opposition to the corpocracy. If George Washington’s army had been as weak and divided America would still be a British colony.

Chapter 4 proposes organizing and unleashing “democracy power.” It can take many different forms. The one proposed in this chapter would be a double-barreled power, one for strategy and one for political pressure. Strategic reforms would be planned and undertaken by a “U.S. Chamber of Democracy” that unites the many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that mostly on their own have been challenging the corpocracy. A “People’s Reignbow Coalition” of many different segments of the populace would apply massive political pressure behind each and every reform initiative.

The corpocracy has been bamboozling the public for decades. Chapter 5 proposes telling the truth about the corpocracy in classrooms and the major media.

Chapter 6 proposes numerous strategic initiatives for closing the political/judicial circus of clowns that do the bidding of the corporate ringmaster. The clowns are the lifers and vote peddlers, the party twins, oval office puppets, the corporatized courts, the touts, the revolving doors and archways and their comers and goers, the burrowers, the vote hurdle makers, and the beastly bureaucracy.

Most corporate wrongdoing is legally rooted by “our” government in sham corporate charters, corporate personhood, and limited liability. Explaining them and proposing strategic initiatives for uprooting them is the subject of Chapter 7.

Chapter 8 examines the government’s hands-off policies and practices that are soft on corporate crime, to put it mildly. I refer to them as lap dogs, escape hatches, pampering, and reckless deregulation. The chapter ends with a number of proposals for toughening up law enforcement on crime hatched in corporate suites. 

Chapter 9 is about all the government’s hand-outs to corporations. Remember the “Cadillac welfare queen?” Ronald Reagan conjured her up to show his disdain for social welfare while on the campaign stump. Do you know what he and subsequent puppets did once they were elected? They have starved the neediest and fed the greediest. That government won’t tell us exactly how much corporate welfare is costing taxpayers tells us that the cost is astronomical, particularly the one feature of the corpocracy most likely to end America singlehandedly, warfare welfare. The chapter ends with proposals for turning off the government’s spigot of handouts.

“Economic Katrina” devastated Main Street and left Wall Street high and dry. America is deteriorating before our eyes economically because the corpocracy controls our economic system. In Chapter 10 is a very sweeping blueprint drawn from others’ ideas as well as my own for establishing a form of capitalism worthy of a true democracy. In this chapter I direct you to Appendix C., Creative Economic Thinking from A to Z Minus E for Economists. Please don’t overlook it. It is a synopsis of some of the best thinkers and their thinking on economics and capitalism. And they’re not economists- a deliberate omission on my part!    

Chapter 11, the last one, exhorts you to unleash your democracy power along with other true patriots (i.e., “my country do right and no wrong;” not “my country right or wrong’) to help end the corpocracy before it’s too late.

                                                                                        A Look Inside

                                        Excerpt from Chapter 1: The Current Corpocracy: An Overview
                                               
                                               Is the Corpocracy Turning America into a Fascist State?

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state
and corporate power."--- Benito Mussolini.

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of government by an individual, by a group or by any controlling private power." ---FDR 

These two people, Mussolini and FDR, certainly knew what fascism is. Mussolini presided over Fascist Italy. FDR went head to head with the Robber Barons and then not much later with the Fascists. His quote appears to characterize today’s regime in America. We are no Nazi Germany, but it also had its own corpocracy. Were it not for the support of its industrialists wanting to quash organized labor and to profit from the rearmament of Germany, Hitler’s Third Reich might never have materialized.

Naomi Wolf knows what fascism is. She was the political consultant to the Clinton and Gore presidential campaigns. She studied the history of Nazi Germany, and in her book, End of America, draws numerous parallels from the Third Reich to what has been happening in America; the recruiting, training, and deploying of a paramilitary force; the reliance on the threat of enemies to terrify, distract, and control the public; the surveillance of American citizens; the harassment of citizen groups; the targeting of individual citizens; the gagging of the press; the building and operation of an extra-legal prison system and the like. 

                                                               Praise for and Recognition of the Book 

“This is an extraordinary and timely book that deserves to be widely read. Gary Brumback tells it like it is: America is no longer a democracy, governed by and for the people; we are a ‘corpocracy’ governed by and for large corporations with the massive help of an obliging government. Their grip on our nation is tight, but not unbreakable. Brumback shows how we can loosen it and reclaim our democratic heritage.”---Peter Barnes, author of Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons, and co-founder of Working Assets.

“Gary Brumback's passion for social and economic justice shines through every page of his new book. He tells it as he sees it, mincing no words. He shows how essential it is for us to change the rules of the game so that we may break the ties that bind corporations and government -- and move to a more equitable and sustainable future.”---Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and The Blade and The Real Wealth of Nations.

"A refreshing, exuberant read, full of sock-it-to-them creative insights about how corpocracy in the US has subverted democracy and what to do about it. This book is a political version of “On the Road"-- a passionate out flowing of analysis, critique and transformative strategies, including a vision of a national coalition of NGOs and movements uniting to challenge the corpocracy, spearheaded by a US Chamber of Democracy. Not for the faint of heart but red meat for progressives and activists everywhere." ---Charles Derber, author of Corporation Nation, Regime Change Begins at Home, and, most recently, Greed to Green.

"At a time when corporations continue to tighten their grip on the reins of power, Gary Brumback's book provides a clear guide for action. Thoroughly researched yet easy to read, The Corpocracy pulls together a breadth of topics -- from the history of corporate empowerment to current topics like corporate welfare and corporate criminality. Brumback's proposals for reform are straightforward and sensible." -- Ted Nace, author of Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy

“Gary Brumback has written a book that every disgruntled American should read. He identifies the source of our nation’s most troubling problems (corpocracy), traces its history, and offers some practical albeit difficult solutions. Our democracy has been taken from us by unbridled corporate power. The Corpocracy is a manual of sorts for those who wish to recapture the essence of what America once was—and can be again.” —Roger Terry, author, Economic Insanity: How Growth-Driven Capitalism Is Devouring the American Dream.

"Brumback makes a powerful argument for a radical democratic movement to take on corporate rule that Americans need to hear." ---Steven Hiatt, Editor, A Game as Old as Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption, and president of Edicetera.

“This book is a call to action for a society desperately trying to understand what is going wrong and why. Brumback’s message to our generation is clear, simple and straightforward: “It’s the corpocracy (big government married to big government), stupid.” The book is well thought-out, important, and demands our attention.” --- Professor Howard Karger, Head of School | School of Social Work & Human Services, The University of Queensland and author, Shortchanged.

"NGOs have been fighting the Corpocracy one company at a time for 30 years…and losing. Brumback tells us why, gives us a battle plan, and issues a challenge to join forces to reclaim our democracy. This is the pre-eminent American challenge for the 21st Century. The Corpocracy could not be more timely. Don’t just read this book. Take action. Now!” ---Michael Marx, PhD, Executive Director, Corporate Ethics International

"While you may not agree with his entire wide-ranging analysis, Gary Brumback's book is a tremendous tocsin that will rouse you from the malaise that plagues this country. We desperately need a democracy movement here in the U.S. to shake off the "corpocracy" that has colonized our culture and politics. This book has many good suggestions for building it."  -- Charlie Cray, Director, Center for Corporate Policy, and co-author, The People's Business.

“A devastating analysis of the relationship between government and business in America. Brumback’s cutting insight and lively writing make The Corpocracy a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of this country.” ---S. Bartholomew Craig, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology, North Carolina State University and a former book review editor for Personnel Psychology: A Journal of Applied Research.

“From warfare welfare to health care, Gary Brumback identifies the biggest challenge to the great American experiment we face in this modern era.  If you wonder why the two political parties in Washington D.C. are fast becoming indistinguishable from each other it is because corpocracy has them right where it wants them.   Gary names this for what it is and tells us what is required to save free society from corporate take-over.  Americans who wish not to be awakened every morning by a big screen Big Brother (our Chairman of the Board!) need to read this book.” ---Jeffrey DeYoe, D. Min. Sr. Pastor, Worthington Presbyterian Church, Worthington, Ohio.

“In terms of its potential, Brumback's fine work is to political reform what General Smedley Butler’s War Is a Racket is to the anti-war movement. Brumback’s undermining of obsolete notions -- habitual ways of perceiving the electoral arena -- is refreshing, and if his recommendations were to be embraced we'd have a shot at citizens returning to the polls in large numbers.” -- Richard Martin Oxman, founder of California political movement, TOSCA.

“I hope you are as thrilled with my Corpocracy as I am with yours.”---Robert A.G. Monks, founder of ISS, The Corporate Library, the LENS Fund, and Governance for Owners and author, Corpocracy: How CEOs and the Business Roundtable Hijacked the World's Greatest Wealth Machine and How to Get it Back.

"A sound argument that corporate America has too much power."  Library Journal Review, July 14, 2011. 

Amazon customer review August 10, 2011: 5 out of 5 stars by Edward A. Hacker, Professor Emeritus, Northeastern University. "Want a Democratic Government? Read This Book." Read This Book. Gary Brumback's book "The Devils's Marriage: Break Up the Corpocracy or Leave Democracy in the Lurch" is much more than a warning that powerful corporations have taken over our political system and that the middle class is on the verge of extinction. It is also a handbook for political action, for those who wish to fight for a government that is responsible to the people, not to corporations.  
In Part Three "Unleashing Democracy Power: The Possibilities" Brumback discusses in detail how people can organize and take back their government. He points out that we must act soon, else democracy, in any true sense of the word, will cease to exist. What is most refreshing about the book is the practical organizing procedures Brumback presents, procedures that if followed would allow us to fight the powerful corporations that now dominate our government.  
I have read dozens of books detailing how our government has been invaded and taken over by corporate powers, but this is the first book that has given me hope that these powers can be successfully fought. Brumback gives his e-mail address towards the end of the book and ask his readers for suggestions.
Gary Brumback has given us the tools we need to fight for a government of the People, by the People, and for the People. It is now up to us to use these tools.

Amazon customer review January 15, 2012, 4 out of 5 stars by Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall, New Plymouth, New Zealand, author of 21st Century Revolution. "Mussolini would call the US a fascist state."
"In the Devil's Marriage, Brumback outlines how corporations have systematically taken over democratic government. The examples he gives are all from the US, where the problem is the most extreme. He reminds us that the popular anger that led to the first American Revolution was directed against the corporations (such as the Hudson Bay and the Virginia Bay Company) that ran the original colonies, under authority granted by the King. He also traces the historical roots of America's current "corpocracy" through the Robber Barron era of the early 20th century and recent Supreme Court decisions that the Bill of Rights gives corporations preferential rights over ordinary citizens. Has the US become a fascist state? According to Brumback, if we go along with Mussolini's definition of fascism as a merger of state and corporate power, it surely has.

Brumback, a psychologist, also offers some possible explanations why the American people have allowed this to happen and what they can do to fix it. In his view, the fragmented state of the progressive movement results in a pitiful situation in which a handful of activist end up trying to battle one corporation at a time. He stresses the urgency of progressive groups joining forces and paying particular attention to taking back control of the corporate-run media. A good introduction to the concept of government by and for corporations.

Review by a person who, along with her family, has been devastated financially by the corpocracy.
"I am reading The Devil's Marriage for the second time. This material requires a lot of thinking on my part, as most of it is new to me. I find myself wishing I'd paid more attention in my economics classes. I'm one of those people who read the contents, introduction, the index and notes. I am amazed at the research that went into this small book. That said, there are no words wasted in the copy. Everything he says means something. One of the things I appreciated most in the book is Brumback's suggestion that we stop subsidizing war. If we would just start by changing the war mentality into one of peace and cooperation, we would be half-way there.” ------

Selected for recommended reading in The CEO Refresher, April 2011. www.refresher.com

Listed June 2, 2011 as a “great read” at “The Economic Collapse Book Store.” 
http://astore.amazon.com/theeconomiccollapse-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=19 

Two radio show book author interviews.