'The Great Stain' on Our Nation

Review by Bill Doughty

Author Noel Rae brings us face to face – and nose to nose – with the horrors of the great stain and stench on our nation's history.

In "The Great Stain: Witnessing American Slavery" (The Overlook Press, 2018) Rae succeeds takes us back hundreds of years. He shows us, using source materials from various perspectives, "the everyday reality of life as experienced by the slaves themselves – and the way to this was to accumulate as much eyewitness material as I could find – in the words of those who were there."

Those eyewitnesses include African and European slave dealers, New England and Confederate slave holders, American abolitionists, black sailors and soldiers and, of course, slaves themselves. We read their first-person accounts of brutality, dehumanization, escape, resistance and war in letters, diaries, newspaper stories, travel journals and other personal histories.

The assault on fellow humans is an assault on the senses, especially in the "horrible conditions aboard slave ships when crossing the Atlantic and the brutal way slaves were sold on arrival."

Here is how former slave Olaudah Equiano, who was purchased by a Royal Navy lieutenant but eventually found freedom in England, described the conditions:

"At last, when the ship in which we were had got in all her cargo, they made ready with many fearful noises, and we were all put under deck so that we could not see how they managed the vessel. But this disappointment was the least of my grief. The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship's cargo were confined together, it became absolutely pestilential. The closeness of the place and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship being so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspiration so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves of which many died, this falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This deplorable situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs [latrines], into which the children often fell and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying rendered it a scene of horror almost inconceivable."

Abolitionists learned that 12.5 percent of slaves died in the voyage from Africa across the Atlantic. A ship's doctor, Alexander Falconbridge, testified to an abolitionist-inspired committee of England's Privy Council in 1789:

"During the voyages I made I was frequently a witness to the fatal effects of (the) exclusion of fresh air ... But the excessive heat was not the only thing that rendered their situation intolerable. The deck, that is, the floor of their rooms, was so covered with the blood and mucus which had proceeded from them in consequence of the flux that it resembled a slaughter-house. It is not in the power of the human imagination to picture to itself a situation more dreadful or disgusting. Numbers of the slaves having fainted, they were carried up on deck, where several of them died ... The place allotted for the sick Negroes is under the half-deck, where they lie on the bare planks. By this means those who are emaciated frequently have their skin, and even their flesh, entirely rubbed off by the motion of the ship from the prominent parts of the shoulders, elbows and hips, so as to render the bones in those parts quite bare. The excruciating pain which the poor sufferers feel from being obliged to continue in such a dreadful situation, frequently for several weeks, in case they happen to live that long, is not to be conceived or described."

Greedy slavers, owners and apologists justified their actions, including severe beatings and family separations, in various ways: even in slavery, blacks would have a better life in the West Indies or British Colonies than in Africa; conservatives argued, "it was vital to the nation's security by training sailors who in time of war could be recruited into the Royal Navy;" a slave-economy was supposedly a good, harmonized economy; and Christian slave traders and owners believed they were saving souls. They based their convictions on the Bible, especially the Old Testament.

Early Portugese naval vessel crews were motivated "for the holy purpose to seek salvation for the lost souls of the heathen." The Vatican, which indirectly profited, endorsed capturing "idolators." The English came "in their usual vigorous and self-righteous manner – a drawn sword in one hand and a Bible in the other." In the New World, Cotton Mather based his justification of slavery and New England witch hunts against Africans and American Indians on his faith in God. 

Reverend Thornton Stringfellow said in his book "The Bible Argument, or Slavery in the Light of Divine Revelation" evidence of God's authorization was in plain sight. It could be found in the Bible, including in Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians; Genesis IX, 18-27;  Exodus 21, 16; and the Ten Commandments.

Stringfellow claimed that "servant" equaled "slave" in the Bible and noted that Abraham owned hundreds of slaves, Stringfellow wrote, "The next notice we have of servants as property is from God himself, when clothed with all the visible tokens of his presence and glory, on the top of Sinai, he proclaimed his law to the millions that surrounded the base: 'Thou shalt not covet they neighbor's house, though shalt not covet they neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, not his maid-servant, not his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's." Servant meant slave, he said.

On the other hand, reformed Christianity helped inform some of the abolitionists, who found other interpretations to make their case against slavery. We learn of the colorful abolitionist and Protestant Benjamin Lay, and we get this "found" haiku from enlightened free-thinker (and, like George Washington, flawed former slave owner) Benjamin Franklin: 

Slavery is such

an atrocious debasement

of human nature

Frederick Douglass

The "charismatic leader" of American abolitionists, Frederick Douglass, made a conflicted peace with religion, choosing to base his views on logic, human values and civil rights earned from personal experience.

"The Great Stain" provides first-person accounts of resistance, mutiny and insurrection, as well as harrowing escapes, in which slaves would use the stench of Indian turnips, turpentine and onions to throw dogs off their scent. The narrative continues with an assault to the senses.

John Warren, who escaped from Mississippi to Canada, described how he disguised his scent from the dogs: "I could do it with red pepper. Another way I have practised is to dig into a grave where a man has been buried a long time, get the dust of the man, make it into a paste with water, and put it on the feet, knees, and elbows, or wherever I touched the bushes. The dogs don't follow that."

U.S. Air Force graphic by Tommy Brown

"The Great Stain" concludes with the Civil War – a war fought to end slavery – and descriptions of the heroism of William Tillman, Robert Smalls, and the Massachusetts 54th regiment in the attack on Charleston and assault on Fort Wagner. "Fort Wagner, said the New York Tribune, would be to black Americans what Bunker Hill was to white Americans."

Two Douglass speech excerpts close the book. 

Douglass urged all Americans to fight for the Union and "resolutely struggle on in the belief there is a better day coming, and that we by patience, industry, uprightness, and economy may hasten that better day."

John Kerry's Character Forged in Vietnam

Review by Bill Doughty

After returning to the States, decorated Swift Boat skipper John Forbes Kerry took a stand against the Vietnam War nearly 50 years ago. Some fellow veterans of the "America, Love It or Leave It / America, Right or Wrong" mindset never forgave him.

On the other hand, Kerry believed this about America: "When right, keep it right, and when wrong, make it right."

He believes the truth, like freedom and democracy, is worth fighting for.

"Every Day is Extra" (Simon & Schuster, 2018) is a remarkably readable and compelling personal journey of a life dedicated to service, honor, diplomacy and keeping America great.

Kerry, like most Americans, is from an extended family of immigrants. "Perhaps the sea was in our blood," he writes. "Not only did our passions always stay connected to the ocean, but the original journey by which we came to America (was also) by sea..." Kerry's love of the sea informed his choice on which service he joined. 

"On February 18, 1966 I raised my right hand and took the oath to enlist in the U.S. Naval Reserve." Kerry prepared to attend Officer Candidate School in Newport Rhode Island.

But he remembered Mark Twain's admonition: "Never let school get in the way of an education."

Kerry's Naval Education

His first ship was USS Gridley (DLG 21), which was "an introduction to hands-on responsibility. The first thing I noticed when I stepped aboard was how big and clean it was."

"I took the Gridley responsibilities seriously. One of the most important lessons learned in OCS is that you don't walk in as the new kid with a pair of bars on your shoulder and start ordering people around. I've seen so many guys screw up, thinking that just because they're an officer, they're automatically in charge. Wrong. The bars represent an opportunity to learn how to be an officer. Some guys don't see it that way, and folks resent the hell out of them. The sergeants in the Marines and the chief petty officers in the Navy are the guys who know the ropes. You just have a college degree and four months of OCS; you really don't know anything, especially compared with the chief petty officers twice your age who have been in the Navy for twenty years. To be successful, listen to them."

Kerry in Vietnam

Another thing Kerry learned in the Navy is "that no one prospered unless everyone prospered. One of the great lessons of the service is that no one does well or right by doing alone."

He recounts his first full deployment:

"When we set out from San Diego in February 1968, I was full of anticipation for the adventure. We sailed away from the California coast in a four-ship group – one frigate, Gridley, and three destroyers – steaming in formation to Pearl Harbor. Just getting one or two nights away from the coast was magical. In all our training runs we had stayed pretty close to California. Now we were cranking up speed, heading west across the Pacific Ocean, honking along with the ship plowing through rolling waves as the sunset lit us up in bursts of crimson and orange. We created an enormous wake. I stood on the fantail feeling the ship vibrate and churn beneath my feet, watching the ocean race by at a pretty good clip."We were the squadron flagship for this convoy, so we took the lead position in a diamond formation. Standing on the bridge on a 535-foot Navy frigate moving at over 20 knots; sensing the harmony of ship, ocean and sky; feeling the ship shudder as it rises and falls with the waves; and watching the sun set into the horizon and looking for a green flash is a pretty damn good sight. It's why people go to sea and never get over it, why, as John Masefield wrote, men 'must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide, / Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied.'"

Kerry takes us aboard his swift boat and into bone-jarring combat in 1969, including a heart-pounding description of how he chased and killed an enemy combatant.


Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, future Chief of Naval Operations, then-commander of all naval forces in Vietnam, said Kerry's mission that day, "stood out among heroes as acts of total heroism."

Lt.j.g. Kerry stands with his swift boat crew in Vietnam.

In Vietnam, Kerry remembers how he received news of the deaths of friends and the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. MLK's self-described "maladjusted" stand for justice – and against the war in Indochina – influenced Kerry's thinking.

At a peace rally, young John Kerry introduced John Lennon.

The mid to late 60s was a watershed time for the United States as the nation dealt with Civil Rights, the Vietnam War and "electrifying change" in culture brought about by Dylan, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Kerry's "maladjustment" flowered after his return Stateside. 

John Kerry's Found Haiku

Remembering his fallen comrades and the service members still serving in Vietnam, he marched, spoke and eventually testified to Congress against the war, offering this "found" double haiku:

How do you ask a

man to be the last man to

die in Vietnam?

How do you ask a

man to be the last man to

die for a mistake?

His leap into politics eventually led to a successful campaign to become the junior senator of Massachusetts.

Kerry was sworn in to the Senate by then-Vice President George H. W. Bush, who "loved the Navy as I did," Kerry remembers.

Kerry and McCain

He describes the vivid characters he worked with as a fellow senator: Max Cleland, Ted Kennedy, John McCain, John C. Stennis, Joe Biden, Robert Byrd, Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond and John Glenn, among many others.

He remembers a time of collaboration, cooperation and compromise in Congress, when senators placed the needs of the nation above their own, including during investigations. He also relearned lessons from Vietnam: to compartmentalize in order to stay on track.

An Early Mueller Prosecution

Oliver North, USMC

Kerry, along with Senators Inouye, Mitchell, Nunn and Sarbanes, served at the heart of the Senate's Iran-Contra investigation during President Reagan's second term. Col. Oliver North had arranged for arms sales to Iran to fund military support to the cocaine-growing Contras in Nicaragua's civil war.

"I knew of Oliver North. We were the same generation and had both fought in Vietnam. He had come home from the war a decorated combat vet, with a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts. I didn't know what his politics were, but I respected his service and his courage. I wondered how someone with his credentials could be led down a path of illegality. The Marines live by a code. If what we were hearing was true, a Marine should have been horrified."

As part of the investigation, Kerry followed the money.

Robert Mueller, USMC

"We discovered a shady and unsavory bank with an innocuous acronym: BCCI. It stood for the Bank of Commerce and Credit International. BCCI was a dream for criminals and money launderers, and it was hiding in plain sight ... We learned that the CIA had prepared hundreds of reports outlining the criminal connections of BCCI. Thankfully, the Department of Justice soon had a new head of its criminal division: my St. Paul's classmate, a Vietnam veteran and a diligent law enforcement professional named Bob Mueller. Our subcommittee's two staffers had exposed the perfidy of BCCI, and I felt vindicated when Mueller assigned thirty-seven prosecutors to the case. By July 1991, regulators had seized the bank. BCCI was dead."

The ghost of BCCI would later come back a decade later in the wake of 9/11 in how al-Qaeda funded its terrorism. "When my investigation and Robert Mueller's prosecution shut down BCCI, it cut off Osama bin Laden's foothold in Sudan; now we needed to go after the entire dirty financial network that operated in the shadows," Kerry writes.

Smears and Retaliation

In 1996, Kerry was challenged for reelection by William Weld, former governor of Massachusetts. During the campaign, political operatives and a reporter, who was classmate of Weld, questioned Kerry's military record.

Kerry and Zumwalt.

In response, Admiral Zumwalt led a contingent of commanders who had oversight of swift boat shoreline operations to set the record straight. They conducted a press conference at the Charleston Navy Yard, "where USS Constitution stands as a reminder of our country's naval origins."

"Every Day Is Extra," includes a contemporaneous message about Kerry's key swift boat operation from then-Capt. Roy Hoffmann commending the mission: "The extremely successful raid and land sweep conducted along the Rach Dong Cung which demonstrated superb coordination and aggressive tactics stands as a shining example of completely overwhelming the enemy."

Decades later, when Kerry ran for president against George W. Bush, Hoffmann was recruited by anti-Kerry forces. Those forces were led by several principals: Ted Sampley, a "self-appointed POW activist (who) profited grossly" from myths and lies about POW/MIAs; John O'Neill, an ally of Nixon and Chuck Colson; and Jerome Corsi, an anti-Obama birther theorist and close associate of Roger Stone.

Kerry visits Afghanistan April 9, 2016. (Photo by SSgt Tony Coronado, USAF)

O'Neill and Corsi wrote the smear-book, "Unfit for Command," which was discredited by Zumwalt's previous statements, Navy and Coast Guard records, John McCain's testimony, and Sailors who served with Kerry during the missions for which he was decorated.

"It was extraordinary," Kerry writes about Hoffman, Sampley, O'Neill and Corsi. "They were lying about me, lying about themselves, lying about history – a history they knew was documented, in some cases by themselves, but always by the Navy they purported to love and respect."

To Tell the Truth

Respect for truth, honor and justice is a theme that runs through Kerry's life and this book.

For example, he explains why he felt it was important to take on BCCI with Robert Mueller:

"Because if you start backsliding and trimming on the rule of law, you contribute to the inexorable deterioration of democracy. Corruption is cumulative. I believed the rule of law has to mean something in the United States. If we knowingly turn a blind eye on the rich and powerful, enabling them to escape accountability while two-bit criminals go to jail for years, we create a tiered system of justice. That is no justice at all."I had learned a great deal as an investigator, both in Iran-Contra and in BCCI. I'd been reminded that when you push hard for truth, people who are invested in lies or in convenient avoidance resist, and they retaliate. But truth is worth fighting for; truth is the American bottom line."

"Every Day Is Extra" opens with a poignant recounting of the death of Kerry's father. Scattered throughout the book are the shadows of combat deaths, cancer diagnoses and the losses of friends and family members "...so many of life's sad, sudden turns."

Senator John Kerry participates in a remembrance ceremony at Utah Beach, June 6, 2011. Kerry joined paratroopers from the U.S. Army, U.K, Germany, and France in honoring those who fought and died in Operation Overlord, the D-day landings. Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Armed Force Committee, was the senior U.S. representative at the ceremony. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Felix Fimbres, U.S. Army)

A deeply personal encounter comes with Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry visiting Normandy Beach. I won't ruin the experience, made better with Kerry's context and nuanced prose, but you can find the passage on page 209 of the 2018 hardbound edition.

A thorough report of John Kerry's time in Vietnam and his journey to warrior diplomat and healing with friend and colleague John McCain is presented in Douglas Brinkley's "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War" (HarperCollins, 2004).

According to Thomas Cutler, author of "Brown Water, Black Berets," "Douglas Brinkley's vivid rendition of brown-water operations in 'Tour of Duty' rings true, with all the sights, the sounds, and the smells that make it such a unique experience. But this is far more than another war story. It is an account of a young man's journey through his own 'heart of darkness,' ultimately emerging with his soul intact and his need to serve undiminished, ready to wage a different kind of war."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry crosses the brow of the Avenger-class Mine Countermeasures ship USS Devastator (MCM 6) April 7, 2016 at Naval Support Activity Bahrain in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan D. McLearnon)

Secretary of State John Kerry lays a wreath Aug. 13, 2014 at the USS Arizona Memorial. Kerry visited U.S. Pacific Command to discuss cooperation strategy in the Asia-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jay M. Chu)

Kerry signs the Paris Climate Agreement while holding his granddaughter, Apr. 22, 2016.

Green New Deal Imagined in 'This Moment on Earth'

Review by Bill Doughty

Vietnam branded John Kerry. His missions in the Navy, as a senator and as Secretary of State informed his life. And his confrontation with mortality brought insight and wisdom.
Kerry focuses that perspective on his most important mission on "protecting the planet." That's the last chapter in his new autobiography, "Every Day is Extra," and it's the subject of a book he and wife Teresa Heinz Kerry wrote in 2007, "This Moment on Earth" (PublicAffairs, Perseus Books).

Kerry and Gore at Yale University.

If the seeds for the Green New Deal were first planted by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Roosevelt, Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Rachel Carson – and in 1970 with the world's first "Earth Day" – those seeds were certainly watered and given sunshine by Bill McKibben (350.org), Al Gore ("An Inconvenient Truth") and the Kerrys.

"This Moment on Earth" is a call for action, acknowledging the reality of global climate change, the hazards of relying on fossil fuels for our energy, and the poisoning of earth's air and water. The authors offer a number of examples of individuals and communities – from Pittsburgh and the Carolinas to New Mexico, Washington State and Portland – taking responsibility and action.

United States Marines to the Rescue

Former Marine Bob Boyle organized fellow fishermen and helped clean up the Hudson Bay, inspired "by their growing disgust about the deterioration of the environment and our poor stewardship," demonstrating how Americans are a government of, by and for the people.

Former United States Marine Rick Dove, a Riverkeeper enforcer.

Another Marine, Rick Dove, a retired colonel, took on the unregulated hog farming industry and their political supporters.

"Listening to Rick talk about his work is inspirational. Sixty-seven years old – a marine – he could have been doing almost anything else; he'd earned it. But his personal sense of responsibility and love for the river kept him on the job. 'Semper Fi' – 'Always faithful' – the motto of the Marines, was his for life. His story conclusively demonstrates the connection between the choices we make and health of our communities. Few of us likely give much consideration to how our everyday choices – such as the seemingly straightforward decisions we make at the grocery store to provide food for our families – may have an impact on people we will never meet, in places we may never visit."

Americans Connected

"In recent times, particularly since the 2000 presidential election, we have generally bought into the idea of blue states and red states. But it takes people like Rick to remind us that, regardless of how we vote or which party we align ourselves with, we all share many very basic ideals. All of us certainly want clean water. No fisherman should be sickened by toxins in the water. No mother should worry that her child will become sick from swimming at the local beach. Nobody among us – young or old, farmer or artist, Democrat or Republican – should demand anything less than safe, available water. This is not a matter of politics; it is a matter of common sense, morality, and responsibility."

True conservatives are conservationists, by their very name. "Evangelicals talk of "creation-care" – that any damage that we do to God's world is an offense against God," an idea that "appeals to all religions of the world and to anyone with a moral guidepost."

President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy watch the first race of the 1962 America's Cup from aboard the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Also pictured: Hugh D. Auchincloss; Under Secretary of the Navy, Paul "Red" Fay; Jamie Auchincloss; Janet Auchincloss; John Forbes Kerry; Press Secretary, Pierre Salinger; Naval Aide to the President, Captain Tazewell Shepard; Rep. Fernand St. Germain (Rhode Island). Newport, Rhode Island. (JFK Library)

In his recent autobiography, "Every Day Is Extra," Kerry reprises a JFK quote also published in "This Moment on Earth" in a chapter called "The Water of Life." 

"As (Navy veteran) President John F. Kennedy said in a speech he gave in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1962: 'All of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea – whether it is to sail or to watch it – we are going back from whence we came.' Water accounts for up to 90 percent of the weight of cells in the human body and three-fourths of the body's total weight. Essential to our survival, so powerfully linked to our history and culture, such a precious resource ought to receive the highest level of protection – nothing short of uncompromising stewardship."

John Kerry speaks of books and "storytellers of the sea" and rivers that influenced him over the years: Herman Melville's "Moby Dick," Rudyard Kipling's "Captains Courageous," Sebastian Junger's "The Perfect Storm," Richard Henry Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast," and Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn."

A Call for Boldness: 'The Green Rush is On'

John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry

Kerry's "This Moment on Earth" with Teresa Heinz Kerry – along with the final chapter of "Every Day Is Extra" – calls for the acknowledgment, will and action to combat climate change. His call, to include "an innovative and strategic national energy policy," is reflected in calls for a Green New Deal.

"There's no excuse for inertia. Even if, contrary to all science, the proponents of action on global climate change were proven wrong, what harm would the actions to combat global warming cause? We would have produced healthier people with cleaner air, sustainable farming and fishing practices, more healthful food, and more effective sources of cleaner energy, all of which adds to greater security. But if those who deny climate change get their way and then are proved wrong, we will suffer catastrophe beyond description."

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers uses solar energy at a remediation project at the former Nebraska
Ordnance Plant – energy-saving technology to treat groundwater and power equipment. (U.S. Army)

A Green New Deal would push innovation and ingenuity. "That ingenuity is alive and well among individuals and corporations engaged in the discovery of new and better ways to address our energy challenges" in a "post-carbon period," Kerry writes. "Americans have always pushed the frontier of discovery. We didn't become the most powerful economy on Earth by holding back. Innovation after innovation has unfolded because the American spirit has always pushed the limits. Innovation is in the American DNA."

The Kerrys call for individual action and offer to appendices: "The Energy Plan" and "What You Can Do," with a list of sites to get more information and get involved.

What's Up-Down in Venezuela

"Crude Nation: How Oil Riches Ruined Venezuela" by Raul Gallegos (2016, Potomac Books)

Review by Bill Doughty

What are the "odd things" that happen when toilet paper disappears? When did Venezuela become an "oil-drunk" nation and the "world's craziest economy"? How did this once-richest South American nation implode with hyperinflation and food and water (and toilet paper) shortages? Will the United States military be sent to intervene in the current crisis?

Raul Gallegos answers most of these questions and explores the history of Venezuela from the time oil – what one leader eventually called "the devil's excrement" – was discovered just over 100 years ago.

"This is a country where money simply oozes and bubbles out of the ground almost effortlessly, with very little human intervention," Gallegos writes.

A nearly worthless 100-bolivar note is now nearly worthless.

For years Venezuelans consumed gasoline like water in "4x4 sport utility vehicles, Humvees and fast cars" and "dilapidated gas-guzzlers from the 1970s" serving as taxis. Citizens spent money on plastic surgery, direct TV and brand clothing. The government did not invest in infrastructure, and few people saved for the future.

Gallegos writes, "For decades Venezuelans have been brought up to think that saving money in a bank is the fastest way to lose it, because oil riches are unpredictable and, with time, money becomes worthless."

Chavez's memory, policies and Chavismo kept alive under Maduro's clenched fist.

Under former and late dictator Hugo Chavez's Chavismo form of authoritarian socialism, "the government has lavished billions of dollars on fighter jets, helicopters and advanced military technology for armed forces that have never fought a war."

The government provided subsidies unequally to the richest families and haphazardly gave free housing to some poor people. This decreased self-reliance and created greater inequality in the face of hyperinflation. In February 2016 the government began printing higher denomination bolivar notes.

"Other countries have been down this path before, and it doesn't end well. it usually leads to episodes of hyperinflation such as those in Austria, Germany and Hungary after World War I, the Philippines under Japanese occupation during World War II, and even China when the Yuan Dynasty printed cash to finance its wars. The most notable hyperinflation episodes in history have occurred in countries trying to recover from a war or attempting to finance a military campaign. Venezuela is a country at peace, and the runaway spending that left the country with triple-digit inflation cannot be explained away by a military conflict."

Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro are only the latest in a chain of corrupt, greedy and/or incompetent leaders who came to power under questionable circumstances, a far cry from the freedom-loving founder of the nation, Simon Bolivar. 

Juan Vicente Gomez

Kleptocratic leaders have included Gen. Marcos Perez Jimenez, Carlos Andres Perez and the first Venezuelan leader who seized power just before oil was discovered, Juan Vicente Gomez. 

"There was no real government and no clear rule of law. Gomez was the state; he was the law; he was God. And Venezuela was his personal Eden," Gallegos writes.

The problem then was not socialism but a form of distorted capitalism.

"Oil became a godsend for Gomez. World War I was under way, and the navies of the world powers had converted from coal to oil as a source of fuel. The oil industry had begun in Pennsylvania some sixty years earlier, and oil was no longer used just to light kerosene lamps. Henry Ford had been producing his Model T for six years when the Zumaque oil well began production. Crude was a prized resource that brought Venezuela instant wealth and gave Gomez enough power to rule the country in one form or another for twenty-seven years. He allowed foreign companies to drill for oil, paying nothing in taxes and royalties, and they backed his dictatorship. He would first grant oil concessions to friends, family, and business cronies, who would later resell them to foreign companies for profit. This racket afforded him many friends and allowed him to build an immense personal fortune. By the time he died peacefully in bed in 1935, Gomez had become one of Latin America's richest men. He owned vast tracts of land and controlled paper, soap and cotton production, to name a few industries. At one point, every time a Venezuelan ate meat, drank milk or lit a match, Gomez would grow richer. He had little patience for dissent. Opponents would disappear or be tortured or poisoned in prison, because dictatorship seemed necessary at the time."

Today, the country ranks highest in the misery index. Gallegos shows how Venezuela ranks "dead last" in wastefulness, ethics and corruption rankings of the World Economic Forum's 2015-2016 Global Competitiveness Report. He compares the Andean nation with Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Finland and Norway, nations that have invested rather than squandered their resources.

In "Crude Nation," Gallegos suggests pegging Venezuela's bolivar to the dollar to bring rationality back to the economy.

"The first step in managing Venezuela's addiction to spending oil money uncontrollably is admitting the problem. Venezuela's long tradition of trying to spend more oil money than it can safely digest has deformed its economy, its institutions, and its society. Venezuela has become an upside-down world where politicians are not accountable to voters but to themselves, and voters have learned to beg their government for a living. The military is run by entitled generals who have never fought a war but who demand privilege, shiny new planes, and power over civilians. Businesses expect abnormally high profits without being competitive or efficient. Credit-card-happy consumers have no incentive to save any money but go into debt to shop compulsively instead. Poverty and inequality are legitimate concerns in Venezuela, but the country's underlying problem is wealth mismanagement. No amount of money has even been enough for Venezuela to become a stable, well-managed country. No amount of money has helped Venezuela consistently reduce poverty. In fact it often seems as if the more money Venezuela earns, the worse off it becomes. Venezuela has become a country with no future that lives only in the present."

But a therapeutic intervention does not necessarily mean a military intervention.

Stavridis

Retired Adm. James Stavridis said this on the Morning Joe show Jan. 31: 

"This is the country that Simon Bolivar centered. This is the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. This is where democracy began in the Americas. So, at the end of the day, the tragedy here is not Nicolas Maduro, the current leader; it's Hugo Chavez, who preceded him, invented this half-baked socialist strategy called Chavizmo named after himself, and destroyed the oil industry, cratered the economy and then died just as oil prices went down, and handed the whole mess to a bus driver named Nicolas Maduro. If there was ever an example of Karl Marx's line that history always repeats itself first as tragedy then as farce, it's Venezuela going from Chavez, the tragedy who destroyed the country, to Maduro, the farce ... There's not a good military option here. There'll be temptations to steam a carrier battlegroup down there or put the 82nd Airborne on alert. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This is political, economic, diplomatic ... I think there's a two in three chance we can sort this thing out reasonably, but us loading up the military and launching it is not the right next move," Stavridis said.

Gallegos sums up "Crude Nation" as "a tale of how hubris, oil dependency, spendthrift ways, and economic ignorance can drive a country to ruin." Unfortunately, a lack of toilet paper is the least of the problems facing the people of Venezuela today.