New Book Chronicles Rising Authoritarian Peril in the US

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross." That's from the 70 year-old satirical novel, It Can't Happen Here, written by Sinclair Lewis to dramatize the dangers to American democracy prior to World War II. Now, contemporary writer Joe Conason has a new book. It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush provides a litany of what Conason calls constitutional abuses by the Bush Administration, allowed by a Republican Congress which failed to exercise its responsibility to oversee the executive branch. Now, the Democrats are in charge on Capitol Hill, and the engine of oversight is shifting into high gear.