A Time to Fight -- Review

A TIME TO FIGHT: Reclaiming a Fair and Just America. By Jim Webb. New York: Broadway Books, 2008. 255 pp. $24.95.

He’s a tough talking ex-Marine who led a rifle company in Vietnam, who grew up in an Air Force family. In retirement he would go to law school, serve as Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration, write some novels and a screenplay, and serve as a foreign correspondent. In 2006 the combat-boots-wearing ex-soldier pulled off an unthinkable upset; running as a Democrat, the former Republican took the Senate seat of that darling of the Republican Party, George Allen. Now, he’s being talked up as a possible vice-presidential candidate – paired with another recent addition to the Washington scene – Barack Obama. That person is none other than Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), the author of the recently published book A Time to Fight.

Reading the book, you can see why many people would find him refreshing. The title of the book fits the book well. In it Webb pulls few punches – says it like he sees it, no matter what may come his way. He went to Washington to serve as a senator because Washington, indeed the nation, seemed broken, and needed new and fresh voices from the outside. They may be talking up as a vice-presidential candidate, but he’s not auditioning for the job. While John McCain is often described as being a maverick, Webb truly is one. You get the sense in reading his book that he’s not all that interested in the trappings of power.

So, who is he politically? Well, he’s a former Republican who became so disgusted with the Republican Party, especially over its handling of the post-9/11 era, that he joined the other party. He won’t allow himself to be pigeonholed either. He virulently opposes the current war, but is very pro-military. He has nothing but good things to say about Cap Weinberger, the former Secretary of Defense under whom he worked, and decries the treatment of Vietnam vets by the Democrats. Yet, he’s also a card-carrying union member, who believes that the downfall of the Democratic Party has been its embrace of special interests at the expense of America’s working people – many of whom fall below the poverty line. When speaking of his own political credentials, he writes:

In fact, my political credentials were viewed with unease by both sides. On the one hand, I had spent four years as a Republican committee counsel in the House o f Representatives and four years in the Reagan Administration, which did not warm the hearts of many Democrats. On the other, I am a longtime union member and a determined supporter of organized labor in a state that is forty-eighth in union participation, and I had helped the United Mine Workers during their landmark 1989 strike against the Pittston Coal Company. I had also been an early and vocal critic of the Bush Administration’s Iraq War policy. Neither of these efforts endeared me to the hearts of the Republicans. And although I had written frequently about political issues over the years, I had never attended a political meeting hosted by either the Republicans or the Democrats, other than to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at the opening of the 1980 Republican National Convention. And that was hardly going to help me, since I would be running as a Democrat. (p. 20).

The book itself is divided into three parts, beginning with a section where he introduces himself and his nation. He wants to establish his credentials and then describe the nation as he sees it. In these chapters we learn about his upbringing as the son of an Air Force officer and his decision to attend the Naval Academy, with the intention of becoming a Marine officer. We learn of his time in Vietnam and the impression that war made on him. He also spends time telling the story of the nation, ending the section entitled "Who Are We?" with a chapter on the U.S. Constitution, the document that he believes not only defines the nation’s government, it places limits on the "very nature of the government’s power, in terms of how far the government is allowed to intrude into our own behavior, both individually and collectively" (p. 72).

Having set up his case for what is good about the nation, he makes his case about what has gone wrong with our country. This long section is the heart of the book – it’s the reason why he writes. We can change things, but not unless we face the dangerous realities of our age. The title of the first chapter in this section (chapter 6) sets the table – "From a Square Deal to a Raw Deal." He begins with Teddy Roosevelt’s decision to use his "bully pulpit" to take on the "Robber Barons" of his day and tackle the social issues that were crippling the working people of his day.

In Webb’s telling, the problems facing the nation today, seem very similar to that day – with class divisions and an uncaring corporate culture threatening to crush working people. Roosevelt took on the corporate structures of his day and gave hope to the people, but today government has stepped away from providing protections to working Americans. Roosevelt’s program of providing for social fairness was dubbed "The Square Deal." His cousin would later offer America a "New Deal." What is wrong with America today? Just look at the disparity between what corporate CEOs make and what the average worker makes each year. He points out that in 1968, when he graduated from college, the average CEO made 20 times the salary of the typical worker, but today that gap has risen to 400 times. Although the Republican Party comes under criticism here, he turns his sights on the Democratic Party’s shift of focus in the last fur decades from "protecting America’s workers" to other important but less defining issues. By doing so, "unintentionally, and alarmingly, it also allowed the economic balance of government power to tilt in favor of corporate America" (p. 104).

It is his commentary on the shift in priorities that might cause some in the Democratic Party problems. Although he commends the party’s embrace of Civil Rights, he believes the party’s embrace of feminism, gay rights, and other "culture war" issues as distracting the party from its central purpose. In his mind only the Democratic Party is in a place to protect the workers of America, but in the course of expanding its priorities it lost sight of its purpose.

If America’s workers have gotten the shaft from corporate America, America’s security has been damaged by an ideologically-driven government that is clueless about military and diplomatic strategy. In this, he takes aim at the Bush Iraq policy. Without a grand national strategy that defines the nations "economic, cultural, political and security interests around the world," the nation will simply careen from one crisis to the next. To secure our security, America’s leaders must know when and when not to fight wars. As to the latter, he points to the Cold War – instead of engaging in direct military action, through various diplomatic and economic efforts (along with some "splinter wars") America was able to confront the Soviets without ending up in a devastating war. But we’ve not been so fortunate these past eight years, as ideology has taken hold and the nation’s security has been endangered.

In a chapter entitled "How Not to Fight a War," Webb takes direct aim at the incompetence of Rumsfeld’s Pentagon and the Bush administration’s disdain for diplomacy. He bemoans the way in which America’s military leaders were overruled by ideologically driven civilian authorities – including the military’s warnings about what it would take to not only win a war but occupy a nation – one that had not directly threatened America.

And what of the future? Webb warns us about the continuation of a Neo-conservative driven ideology that looks to a reincarnation of General Douglas MacArthur’s post World War II regency over Asia. Although he may go into greater detail on MacArthur’s triumphs and tragedies, the point is well taken. John McCain’s statements about Iraq and Iran fit the pattern of a perspective that mistakenly looks to MacArthur. The times and situations are very different – and thus the analogy doesn’t hold. To embrace it would be to put America on a path to destruction.

Webb may oppose the War, but he supports the military, a military that has been weakened in his mind by a change in focus and purpose. He notes that whereas after Vietnam the Democratic Party’s seeming disdain and pity for Vietnam vets had led military people into the arms of the Republicans, things have changed. Now a party full of what he calls "chicken hawks," military hawks who talk tough but never served in the military, has sought to politicize the military for its own gain and has so over extended it that soldiers are unable to do their jobs.

As the book winds down, Webb takes a rather sudden turn to a different focus – justice and crime. He speaks clearly and toughly to one of the most ignored problems in America – the growing numbers of Americans incarcerated. He reminds us that the numbers of incarcerated in our prisons and jails is not only skyrocketing but exceeds the rest of the developed world. Much of this is due to the incarceration of people that would have been dealt with differently in earlier days – and most importantly due to the incarceration of huge numbers of Americans for drug offenses. He calls a spade a spade and reminds us that the war on drugs is a failure. But not only that, because of laws that keep felons from voting, our laws are disenfranchising large sectors of our nation.

With the nation facing such important economic, security, and justice challenges, it is time for change. We must, he says, do something. Webb doesn’t believe America’s problems lie in our systems, but in the people who provide leadership. And thus, the answer lies in changing not the system, but the way we select our leaders – and to say enough to those who would distract us from the real issues facing our nation.

My sense from reading this book is that Jim Webb is probably not going to be running for Vice President. It’s not a job that’s well suited to his temperament. His is an independent voice, and as such it’s a voice we need to hear. Our nation will benefit from heeding his warnings about our economy, our military, our foreign policy, and our treatment of those charged with crimes, especially drug offenses. At the same time his views on Civil Rights, the environment women’s issues, and gays and lesbians might put him at odds with some in the party. It’s not that he doesn’t think they’re important, just not as important as other issues that have defined the Party’s identity in the past. That the party is big enough to include his important perspective is a testament to its breadth, but it would seem that a vice-presidential candidate would have to touch bases with other constituencies.

Where Jim Webb belongs, is where he currently serves. He is the kind of politician that fits perfectly in a place like the Senate, representing one of those swing states in transition. Because of the Senate’s structures and its prominence, he has a perfect platform to address the issues he considers most important. If one is a progressive Democrat, Webb may come off as somewhat conservative, and in many ways, he is a conservative. Still, his views on labor and the current war place him front and center among the party’s progressives.

As I said at the beginning of the review, he is truly a maverick. And in these times, we need true mavericks in prominent places. Should you choose to read the book – and I encourage you to do so – you will be rewarded. It’s no just with a good read, but more importantly it’s a deft challenge to the American psyche. And if there is anything worth fighting for, it is an America that is both fair and just!