Kill It to Save It

How have powerful Americans convinced their fellow citizens to support policies beneficial only to the wealthy? Why have so many given up on public education, safe food and safe streets, living wages – even on democracy itself?

Kill it to Save it lays bare the hypocrisy of US political discourse by documenting the story of capitalism’s triumph over democracy.

As the Progressive Left tries to understand how President Trump came to power, Corey Dolgon documents his historical, political and cultural road map. Dolgon argues that American citizens now accept policies that destroy the public sector and promote political stories that feel right “in the gut”, regardless of science or facts.

Covering the post-Vietnam era to present day, Dolgon dismantles US common sense cultural discourse and explains why the endless crisis in US policy will continue until American citizens recognize what has been lost, and in whose interest.

"A precious trove of information and analysis for policy makers, “social partners”, NGOs and researchers in quest of policies and consensus-building for barring the road to populism by strengthening democracy that should lead to an economy and society with a human face." Relations industrielles/Industrial Relations

"Dolgon’s analysis will be useful in efforts to oppose privatization and reassert the idea that government’s main function is serving the people, not propping up business. What’s more, Kill It to Save It...offers a clear and accessible look at how policy is crafted, marketed, and ultimately sold or rejected." - Rewire

"Longtime activist and provocative thinker, Corey Dolgon, has written a compelling and timely new book, "Kill It to Save It," which explores neoliberalism, popular culture, the decline of public institutions, and the serious challenges activists and organizers face as we imagine a world beyond the crumbling edifices of U.S. capitalism." Barbara Ransby, University of Illinois, Chicago

"The left is in disbelief by Trump’s election. Thankfully, Corey Dolgon’s book had anticipated such a development. Dolgon shows how capitalist hegemony and hyper-individualism reshaped America’s national identity, making us ever more susceptible to embracing a Reality TV star who promises to “Make America Great Again” despite promoting the worst elements of the country’s historical DNA. Required reading for those hoping not only to resist Trumpism, but envision a new left for the 21st Century." Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

Author of Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America

“A provocative, thoughtful, and engaging book, a must-read for people trying to find out “what’s that sound and what is goin’ down.” Policymakers looking out for the interests of their corporate benefactors are selling our institutions to the highest bidders and idly looking away as the lives of the most vulnerable among us are pushed to the edge of survival.” Rogelio Sáenz, University of Texas at San Antonio

"Overall, the book is engagingly written and persuades the reader of the need to save our public institutions by investing in them, not by killing them." - Choice Reviews

"To understand the popularity of Donald J. Trump and the prevailing logic that turns billionaires into job creators, unions into job destroyers, and climate scientists into godless Communists, we need Corey Dolgon. .... Kill It to Save It is mandatory reading if we are to replace the neoliberal “common sense” with the radical possibilities of “good sense." Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination

“I always love a good whodunit and like a good Agatha Christie mystery, Dolgon peels back the layers of neoliberalism to expose not only the crimes and who committed them, but the weapons they used and the fake alibis they told. If you want to know why reality TV politics and budget austerity killed our democracy and economy, read this book.” Jim Hightower, Author, radio commentator, and editor of The Hightower Lowdown

“There is no better time in US history to examine how common sense ideas have made American life and freedoms worse, not better - ours is a crisis many years in the making. This is a must read book if, like me, you are trying to make sense of a society that seems to have gone bonkers!” Dr. David G. Embrick, University of Connecticut

Introduction: In My Life;

Part One: The Strange Life of Kill it to Save it: Origins, Theories and Myths;

Part Overview: Why an Autopsy? The Politics of History;

The Vietnamization of American;

Mourning Again in America;

Part Two: Learning American Style: The Life and Death of American Education;

Part Overview: History of Learning American Style;

How the Knowledge Economy Killed Knowledge, and Other Scary Stories Out of School;

The University Burns While the Knowledge Factory Hums;

Part Three: Junk Food, Junk Science, and Junk Freedom: Life and Death in America;

Part Overview: History of Health in America;

Industrialized Food and Industrialized Farmers;

Junk Food, Junk Science and a Bad Case of Mad Truth Disease;

Junk Freedom, Broken Windows, and Black Lives Matter;

Part Four: The Life and Death of America’s Economy and Government;

Part Overview: It’s the Political Economy Stupid;

Beyond Voodoo Economics: The Myth of Marco Rubio;

Shock Doctrines, Disaster Capitalism, and Smart ALECs;

The Myth of Common Sense Austerity and the Slow Death of America's Economy;

Epilogue: Innocents Abroad; Trouble at Home: Kill it to Save it Goes Global.

Postscript.