Go Bananas!

In writing Banana Republicans, authors Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber experimented with collaborative research, inviting Disinfopedia users to contribute their own research and analysis while the book was being written. That process of collaboration is still continuing. If you'd like to contribute, you can do so through the links below. They point to Disinfopedia articles summarizing the main points of each chapter and the sources on which it is based. Like all articles on the Disinfopedia, they are designed so that anyone, including you, can edit and revise them, adding your own research and insights.

INTRODUCTION: The War at Home

While Democrats seem to see politics as a debate over issues, Republicans have been treating politics as a war for power, and they're winning.

CHAPTER 1: The Marketplace of Ideas

Republicans have prioritized the promotion of ideas and ideology, with a decades-long strategy of aggressively funding conservative think tanks. They are now enjoying the fruits of this long-term investment.

CHAPTER 2: The Echo Chamber

Republicans are usually able to dominate the news cycle, through a three-part strategy: (1) Using complaints of "liberal bias" to "work the refs"; (2) building their own, ideologically-driven media as an alternative to the mainstream; and (3) effectively promoting conservatives WITHIN the mainstream media--helping the find jobs and advance their careers and visibility.

CHAPTER 3: The One-Party State

Republicans have begun to use their dominance at different levels of government to achieve "synergies of power," as for example when they pressure lobbyists to hire Republicans, which in turn reinforces their fundraising advantage. This also creates a dangerous "incestuous amplification loop" in which they only talk to like-minded people, pushing their ideology further to the extreme and creating a new "Lysenkoism lite," as ideology undermines the independence of science on issues such as global warming.

CHAPTER 4: Pumping Irony

Although the entertainment industry is "liberal" in the sense that it gives most of its campaign contributions to Democrats, Republicans have been more effective than Democrats at capitalizing on the ways the entertainment industry has transformed politics -- Arnold Schwarzenegger being a recent case in point.

CHAPTER 5: Block the Vote

Blacks and other minorities consistently vote Democrat, so Republicans have developed techniques such as gerrymandering that effectively marginalize minority voters.

CHAPTER 6: Traitor Baiters

The conservative movement has accused its ideological adversaries of "treason," "terrorism" and "un-Americanism," threatening long-standing traditions of tolerance and diversity.

CONCLUSION: The Three-Banana Problem

Solving the problems posed in this book will not be simple, but a number of positive trends already exist. The Internet has emerged as a potentially democratizing force, enabling citizen movements to organize quickly and overcome some of the advantages of the right's superior wealth. To upset Republican dominance, however, progressives need to develop their own clear vision and a coherent organizing strategy, beginning at the grassroots.