Michael Haas

Donald Trump has astonished the people of the United States and the world by actions and words that appear out of the mainstream of political thinking. On the contrary, in this book his approach is identified as Social Darwinism, a view with deep roots in American culture, favoring the strong over the weak. Accordingly, he consistently views his role as establishing a double standard incompatible with democracy. The book reviews the ten components of Social Darwinism, preconditions to democracy, why democracies flounder due to mass society problems, and then identifies what he promised, why he won, and what he did as president, including dirty tricks used to get his way. The book evaluates his fitness for office and impeachment liability, and then ends with suggestions on how to restore humane democracy after Trump leaves office. Trump's Social Darwinism, which lacks a scientific basis, is embedded within American political culture and is traced to the 19th century thinking of Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner, who were primarily libertarians opposed to having government intervene in the economy and society. Instead, Trump is a triumphalist who wants government to assist those who are successful regardless of the consequences to those deemed inferior. Among the ten components of his Social Darwinism are policies of racism, sexism, chauvinism, homophobia, anti-environmentalism, ableism, ageism, lazyism, snobbism, and heroism. The only political leader who explicitly followed the triumphalist path is Adolf Hitler, whose writings were next to Donald Trump's bed during his first marriage. The book not only classifies his campaign promises into the ten policy dimensions but documents how he has carried out policies to implement his vision of an America that would create ten types of Jim Crow standards. Nevertheless, the book points out how Congress has rejected his budgetary proposals that would do so. The success of Donald Trump is attributed to his intuitive understanding of sociology's major theory--the Mass Society Paradigm. American society, according to Trump, involves a government and civil society that do not pay attention to the needs of the people, treating them as masses. His remedy, known as populism, is to speak directly to the people in order to implement reforms that will no longer disregard their economic and social desires and needs. Reasons for his support go beyond institutional barriers to voting and demographics, consisting of a strain of authoritarianism present in American society. To carry out his triumphalism, he repeatedly berates bureaucrats of the "administrative state," the "fake news" media, over-politicized judges, and political party leaders. In so doing, he denigrates the basic institutions of American democracy. The book details exactly how he has tried to discredit democratic institutions, often by signing executive orders that take drastic action. Yet the courts have blocked implementation of many new directions followed by members of his administration. The book reflects on whether he is fit to be president. His abilities are assessed along several dimensions--administrative, intellectual, moral, physical, psychological, rational, and temperamental fitness. In addition, the book considers grounds for Trump's possible impeachment, ranging from abuse of power, attacking rule of law, bribery, corruption, emoluments received, endangering national security, failure to executed presidential duties, refusal to implement Congressional laws, immorality, obstruction of justice, perjury, jury and witness tampering, and even treason. Alternatives to impeachment are also reviewed. The final chapter outlines what can be done to eradicate Social Darwinism's popularity, restore democracy, and reverse conditions of American mass society. Readers are encouraged to rethink American government as a body that will coordinate "1000 points of light" to achieve social democracy.

Published fifty years after America's first clash with communism, this highly readable book presents the most authoritative and comprehensive recounting to date of the secret UN war fought deep behind communist lines. Making extensive use of documents declassified from Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency archives exclusively for this book, as well as interviews with veterans of the savage air-land-sea campaign in North Korea and Manchuria, Michael Haas takes the reader into a world still unknown to most historians. It is a disturbing account by any standard, replete with tragedy, heroism, and scandal. Equally disturbing are the author's revelations of the bitter bureaucratic feuding that occurred between senior U. S. Army officers and CIA station chiefs in Japan, feuding that squandered the sacrifices made by Korean partisans and their American advisers as well as British commandos, U. S. Navy frogmen, and CIA field operatives. Crisply written, prodigiously researched, and unrivaled in scope, this work will fascinate readers with its detailed descriptions of classified operations never before made known to the public. As a veteran special operations officer and respected author, Haas is uniquely qualified to analyze the subject and its importance to the development of the modern-day U. S. Special Operations Command. His book is certain to be regarded as the best-documented and most realistic account yet published of UN efforts behind enemy lines.

Dr. Michael Haas’ book, United States Diplomacy with North Korea and Vietnam: Explaining Failure and Success, aims to explain a significant, beguiling discrepancy in U. S. foreign relations: How has American diplomacy with Vietnam proved so successful when compared with its efforts to negotiate with North Korea? Haas undertakes a comparative analysis of foreign policy decisions to determine how relationships between the U. S. and each country have diverged drastically, in spite of a legacy of U. S. occupation in both regions. By tracing diplomatic interactions historically, comparatively quantifying diplomatic missteps on the part of the U. S., and cross-testing four paradigms of international relations, Haas presents a case for why the U. S. has succeeded in developing good relations with Vietnam while failing to achieve them with North Korea. Nuclear war haunts the world today because the U. S. has refused to negotiate a peace agreement with North Korea for more than six decades, yet the U. S. is on friendly terms today with Vietnam, a former enemy. This book answers why, finding that Washington’s diplomacy with both countries explains the dramatic difference. Among four theories posed, power politics and presidential politics are refuted as explanations. Mass society theory, which focuses on civil society, finds that negotiations regarding American soldiers missing in action paved the way for success with Vietnam but not with North Korea. But diplomacy theory—tracing moves and countermoves during diplomatic interactions—reveals the real source of the problem: The United States provided reciprocated unilateral positive gestures to Vietnam while repeatedly double crossing North Korea. Although Pyongyang repeatedly offered to give up nuclear developments, Washington offered no alternative to Pyongyang but to develop a nuclear deterrent to safeguard the country against a devious and hostile U. S. The book, in short, serves as a serious corrective to false narratives and options being disseminated about the situation that fail to appreciate North Korea perspectives. Now that North Korea has a nuclear deterrent, diplomacy is the only route toward a de-escalation of tensions so that the United States can live peacefully with North Korea in a manner similar to its relations with nuclear China and nuclear Russia. More broadly, United States Diplomacy with North Korea and Vietnam demonstrates what happens when Washington plays the role of global bully, whereas more resources are needed for developing diplomatic talent in a world that will otherwise become more dangerous.

Democracy is in crisis because voices of the people are ignored due to a politics of mass society. After demonstrating how the French Fourth Republic failed, wherein Singapore’s totalitarianism is a dangerous model, Washington is enmeshed in gridlock, and there is a global democracy deficit, solutions are offered to revitalize democracy as the best form of government. The book demonstrates how mass society politics operates, with intermediate institutions of civil society (media, pressure groups, political parties) no longer transmitting the will of the people to government but instead are concerned with corporate interests and have developed oligarchical mindsets. Rather than micro-remedy bandaids, the author focuses on the need to transform governing philosophies from pragmatic to humanistic solutions.

Political science has been described as a jigsaw puzzle with many specializations and subfields that do not talk to one another. This book offers a solution that will advance the field from mid-level theory to engage in cross-fertilization through metatheoretical paradigms. The book begins with a history of political science from the nineteenth century to the present, followed by a paradigmatic history of political science including 6 metatheories in the pre-behavioral era, 12 in the behavioral era, and the 4 major and several minor paradigms being developed today. The book advances the goal of David Easton by proposing a neobehavioral political science including multimethodological innovations, cross-testing of paradigms, and tenets of a new political science that can rise to become a truly theoretical science. Each paradigm is diagramed to demonstrate the key concepts and their causal interconnections. Political Science Revitalized: Filling the Jigsaw Puzzle with Paradigms poses an exciting and provocative argument for the future of the vast field of political science.

While many texts on international relations deal only with ideologies, this book goes beyond discussion of ideology to provide an understanding of how global economics, politics, and society operate. The book begins with a history of the International Studies Association, which was founded to develop empirically-based knowledge and was opposed to ideological “isms” as biased guides to policy. The book focuses on four major paradigms—Marxian, Mass Society, Community Building, and Rational Choice—with diagrams indicating their empirical predictions over time. The Marxian paradigm focuses on scientific claims of Marx and Engels. The Mass Society paradigm explains why democracies become dysfunctional. The Community Building paradigm explains how communities can be and are built at the local, national, regional, and international levels. The Rational Choice paradigm assembles proposed explanations of reason-based economic, political, and social life to demonstrate what they have in common. Other candidates for paradigms are reviewed, with a focus on why they need further development to become major paradigms at the decision-making, dyadic, societal, national, and international system levels of analysis.

This book describes racist rule in Hawai’i during the first half of the twentieth century and how statehood made possible a fundamental transformation. Based on a multicultural ethos, top political power shifted from Whites to Japanese and later to other racial groups. Racism was eliminated in the economy, environmental policies were modified, government operations became more multicultural, and the desires of Native Hawaiians to recover what had been lost from the days of the Kingdom of Hawai'i were placed on legal and political agendas. Even before statehood, Hawai'i’s example of school integration gave birth to the movement resulting in Brown v Board of Education. Afterward, the Aloha State was the first to adopt many reforms: unrestricted abortion, universal health care insurance, an Equal Rights Amendment, a State Ombudsman, neighborhood boards, classifying Whites as a “minority” in affirmative action, banning strip searches of females, and dozens of other innovative reforms that have been adopted elsewhere. Hawai'i remains the only state that is officially bilingual, has required mediation before foreclosures, celebrates an Islam Day, prohibits discrimination based on credit history and breastfeeding, bans smoking until the age of 21, disallows plastic bags, has declared an end to the use of fossil fuels by 2045, and has adopted many other measures that lead the world. This book explains how developments in the Aloha State, which have provided leadership to the United States, may be copied elsewhere, primarily based on the technique of reverse cultural engineering, which is the unrecognized basis for legal systems around the world.

Racial and social relations can become harmonious and serene in every country of the world. Racism can be eliminated. The Kingdom of Hawai?i during the nineteenth century reveals a history of responsive politicians, economic progress, environmental preservation, and serene race relations because of a cultural lifestyle that can be emulated. But not everything was rosy. Severe challenges emerged after the discovery of the Islands in 1778. The leaders and the people responded to various intrusions in an exemplary manner, while the same problems have provoked endless conflict and social disintegration that plague the world today. Using analytical methods, this book recounts how the people of the Islands overcame civil wars, decimating diseases, ecosystem despoliation, religious conflicts, the uprooting of feudalism, worker exploitation, imperialist threats, coups, and a massive influx of new residents who quickly became acculturated. But the Kingdom of Hawai?i ended because of a flagrant violation of international law that calls out to be reversed. The world needs to know how a society of Caucasians, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Native Hawaiians, and others worked together to solve problems that seem intractable elsewhere. Until the secret is revealed, the world seems doomed to constant turbulence. Presenting a plan for social transformation, this book will be of key interest in the fields of political science, public affairs, sociology, and Hawaiian studies.

Autobiography of Dr. Michael Haas, a remarkable man, recalling the joys and horrors, triumphs and disappointments, and the seemingly endless challenges that threatened and confronted him from the very beginning. War brutally rips away his bucolic village childhood and home. Descendant from hearty immigrants, Michael turns the tables on the life-threatening tragedies that surround him, using his own wits, determination, friends, and an occasional assist from good fortune. Throughout his experiences he confronts death, poverty, hunger, cold, and homelessness. He would become refugee, student, laborer, immigrant, soldier, engineer, handyman, and doctor. Ultimately, his perseverance - and the assistance and opportunities both Austria and America would offer - lead to family, career, and success. Dedicated to his loving family, relations, and friends, My Story is one man's inspiring and very human account of survival, will, and life.

A groundbreaking study of the Jewish composers and musicians banned by the Third Reich—and the consequences for music worldwide With National Socialism's arrival in Germany in 1933, Jews dominated music more than virtually any other sector, making it the most important cultural front in the Nazi fight for German identity. This groundbreaking book looks at the Jewish composers and musicians banned by the Third Reich and the consequences for music throughout the rest of the twentieth century. Because Jewish musicians and composers were, by 1933, the principal conveyors of Germany’s historic traditions and the ideals of German culture, the isolation, exile and persecution of Jewish musicians by the Nazis became an act of musical self-mutilation. Michael Haas looks at the actual contribution of Jewish composers in Germany and Austria before 1933, at their increasingly precarious position in Nazi Europe, their forced emigration before and during the war, their ambivalent relationships with their countries of refuge, such as Britain and the United States and their contributions within the radically changed post-war music environment.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to international human rights -- international human rights law, why international human rights have increasingly risen to world prominence, what is being done about violations of human rights, and what might be done to further promote the cause of international human rights so that everyone may one day have their rights respected regardless of who they are or where they live. It explains:how the concept of international human rights has developed over timethe variety of types of human rights (civil-political rights, economic-social rights, as well as a delineation of war crimes)empirical findings from statistical research on human rightsinstitutional efforts to promote human rightsan extensive listing of international human rights agreementsidentification of recent prosecutions of war criminals in domestic and international tribunalsongoing efforts to promote human rights through international aid programsthe newest dimensions in the field of human rights (gay rights, animal rights, environmental rights). Richly illustrated throughout with case studies, controversies, court cases, think points, historical examples, biographical statements, and suggestions for further reading, International Human Rights is the ideal introduction for all students of human rights. The book will also be useful for human rights activists to learn how and where to file human rights complaints in order to bring violators to justice. The new edition is fully updated and includes new material on:the Obama presidencythe Arab Spring and its aftermaththe workings of the International Criminal Courtquantitative analyses of human rightswar crimes.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to international human rights -- international human rights law, why international human rights have increasingly risen to world prominence, what is being done about violations of human rights, and what might be done to further promote the cause of international human rights so that everyone may one day have their rights respected regardless of who they are or where they live. It explains:how the concept of international human rights has developed over timethe variety of types of human rights (civil-political rights, economic-social rights, as well as a delineation of war crimes)empirical findings from statistical research on human rightsinstitutional efforts to promote human rightsan extensive listing of international human rights agreementsidentification of recent prosecutions of war criminals in domestic and international tribunalsongoing efforts to promote human rights through international aid programsthe newest dimensions in the field of human rights (gay rights, animal rights, environmental rights). Richly illustrated throughout with case studies, controversies, court cases, think points, historical examples, biographical statements, and suggestions for further reading, International Human Rights is the ideal introduction for all students of human rights. The book will also be useful for human rights activists to learn how and where to file human rights complaints in order to bring violators to justice. The new edition is fully updated and includes new material on:the Obama presidencythe Arab Spring and its aftermaththe workings of the International Criminal Courtquantitative analyses of human rightswar crimes.

1 The Aloha Zen President 2 Obama's Ethics 3 Political Succession in 2008 4 Birtherists 5 Social Darwinist Republicans 6 Progressive Democrats 7 America's Nascent Four-Party System 8 Why Democrats Lost in 2010 But May Win in 2012 9 Obamanomics 10 Obamacare 11 The Obama Doctrine in Foreign Policy 12 The Guant namo Quagmire 13 Protecting Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya 14 Killing Osama Bill Laden 15 Mr. Calm and Effective's Accomplishments

What is authentic Christianity? With so many conflicting doctrines and denominations, each claiming to be truth, how can anyone be sure that they are following God's will? The solution is to move away from doctrines that use the Bible piecemeal, seizing on some verses while ignoring others. Instead, Christians must view the Bible as a single unified narrative. Once the interconnected nature of Scripture is found, God's plan for humanity becomes crystal clear. The individual books of the Bible, while having many inspired authors and being written over hundreds of years, all have a common thread that binds them together. This book identifies that thread and shows how to walk in covenant with God.

With a foreword written by former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, this book portrays President Barack Obama as a true child of Hawai'i and explains why he believes that America can achieve even more greatness by learning from the multicultural customs of the 50th state. Obama's aspiration to transform the United States using Hawai'i as his model has been a conspicuous theme in his books and speeches over the years. In them, he extols Hawai'i's multicultural ethos, describing how a normative, problem-solving mindset predicated on mutual respect and harmonious interchange is inculcated in the culture, politics, and society of the Islands. Indeed, this "Aloha Spirit" is imbued in Barack Obama, is part of what made him irresistibly charismatic as a candidate, and explains why voters in 2010 were baffled at his demeanor after he became the 44th President of the United States. This unique book examines Obama's decisions as an adult and as president and exposes how they are directly linked to the culture of Hawai'i and Obama's multicultural life as a child. The author and contributors also describe the ways in which native Hawaiians were dispossessed of their sovereignty and their land, how they steadfastly sought justice, and how their quest served as a model for Obama's mobilization of support for his candidacy.

With a foreword written by former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, this book portrays President Barack Obama as a true child of Hawai'i and explains why he believes that America can achieve even more greatness by learning from the multicultural customs of the 50th state. Obama's aspiration to transform the United States using Hawai'i as his model has been a conspicuous theme in his books and speeches over the years. In them, he extols Hawai'i's multicultural ethos, describing how a normative, problem-solving mindset predicated on mutual respect and harmonious interchange is inculcated in the culture, politics, and society of the Islands. Indeed, this "Aloha Spirit" is imbued in Barack Obama, is part of what made him irresistibly charismatic as a candidate, and explains why voters in 2010 were baffled at his demeanor after he became the 44th President of the United States. This unique book examines Obama's decisions as an adult and as president and exposes how they are directly linked to the culture of Hawai'i and Obama's multicultural life as a child. The author and contributors also describe the ways in which native Hawaiians were dispossessed of their sovereignty and their land, how they steadfastly sought justice, and how their quest served as a model for Obama's mobilization of support for his candidacy.