Underdogma – Book Review

Underdogma - Michael PrellBenBella Books recently sent a review copy of Underdogma : How America’s Enemies Use Our Love for the Underdog to Trash American Power by Michael Prell to me. I was honestly expecting yet another, the Tea Party will save us from the left book, and to some extent, that message is included, but the book goes deeper into just why no one seems to like America anymore – even a large segment of the American population and its leadership.

In his  book, Prell takes a deft swipe at the progressive movement and democratic socialism as a whole. Michael takes the reader through a process of understanding the mechanism he calls underdogma and then laying out how it can be thwarted by defining the term, describing its implementations and then giving Conservatives the recipe to destroy it.

Underdogma is a principle that people will typically root for the underdog and despise the “overdog” in a head-to-head match. The author defines it as, “the belief that those who have less power are virtuous and noble – because they have less power, and that those who have more power are to be scorned – because they have more power”. Prell applies the David and Goliath-like ideology to Israel, America and capitalism.

One of the most vibrant examples of underdogmatism given in the book is the attacks of 9-11-2001. When those planes hit the towers and more than 3,000 innocent Americans perished, he pointed out, the world – even France – cried out, “We are all Americans Now”. We were the attacked, the underdog, but not for long. The liberal media set out almost immediately to change the message. All too soon America was the real terrorist and had brought the attacks on herself. The images of planes flying into the towers soon disappeared and discussions of America’s brutal and unconstitutional treatment of the prisoners at Guantanimo Bay re-took the lead message – America was once again the overdog and was to be despised.

Through about the first third of the book, I wondered if Prell was going to suggest that maybe America would have to become less of a country to regain international respect – the view of President Obama. The apology tour, bowing to every other head-of-state he could and decrying that America is not exceptional. If this is where Michael was going, I wasn’t along for the ride – it wasn’t.

Prell illustrated beautifully how the U.N., unions, and other socialistic, New World Order forces need America to be brought down to their level and how heaping scorn upon the most powerful nation in the world is a necessary step to achieving their end goals.

Understanding that the open society/NWO elements are using the zero-sum lie to destroy our equal-opportunity culture is key. Why do we have to tear down the rich in order for others to succeed? How does one persons success limit another’s? It does not. The book concisely explains how we all benefit from the Marathon oils, Wal-Marts, and Boeings of America and that if we continue bashing them, they won’t exist and neither will anyone else’s chance to create the next great American enterprise.

In the end, Michael Prell does a fantastic job of re-instilling hope that as Ronald Reagan once said, “America is the shining city on the hill”. We are the beacon of hope for oppressed societies. In America,  anyone can become the next Bill Gates, J.D. Rockefeller, Vanderbilt or Dell. What we have to do is re-instill the notion that America is exceptional and that Americans are an exceptional people. We have to be, think and act exceptional. We have to stop trying to destroy those who have achieved great success and spend more energy becoming successful on our own.

This is a book I feel proud to recommend to every free-market Conservative. It is a reminder that the United States is the greatest nation ever conceived. The publication is available from Barnes and Noble here.

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Rich Mitchell

Rich Mitchell is the editor-in-chief of Conservative Daily News and the president of Bald Eagle Media, LLC. His posts may contain opinions that are his own and are not necessarily shared by Bald Eagle Media, CDN, staff or .. much of anyone else. Find him on twitter, facebook and

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One Comment

  1. American Exceptionalism my ass. The US has lost it’s popularity simply because you choose to spend billions upon billions killing poor people in the third world while you leave poor people within your own country to perish from disease and rampant crime.

    If this is the “worlds only superpower” I fail to see what it is that’s so “super” about it. The American people get to work harder for less while the rich get richer by the minute.

    If you stop fighting unwinnable wars all over the world and take care of your own people instead surely both national pride and diplomatic relations will improve, not to mention your finances.

    1. Mills,

      “If this is the “worlds only superpower” I fail to see what it is that’s so “super” about it. The American people get to work harder for less while the rich get richer by the minute.”

      Spoken like a American-wannabe, whose feet are hobbled by your own government from creating your own wealth. People like you are pathetic leeches.

      As for what you fail to see, let me spell it out for you, leech. You are reading this on an “American Invention,” conceived in an American garage, whose inventor is filthy rich. When you go home today, I want you to throw out every product that was invented by an American, who was free to invent, design, and build that product without binding government regulations comparable to Soviet Union-era policies. You can start by removing your house telephones, cellphones, and personal computers. Unplug your internet. Then toss out your television. Now go to your medicine cabinet and flush those anti-biotics. And then, I want you to count how many global inventions have come from your hallmark countries, such as North Korea, Cuba, and even your own. The truth is, less government interference produces the best people who are free to pursue personal wealth and fortunes.

      BTW, the U.S. also leads the world (along with Japan… another non-socialists country) in number of Patents.

      The primary reason for U.S. debt is both parties who can’t control spending. Thats a government problem, not a people problem, where in the U.S. “people” to jail for bouncing checks, for basically doing what the government does. As for our wars, you will be the first one bitching about “where was America?” when the first islamic bomb takes out a million people. Or, like them, you blame the U.S. for it.

      Go stick your head back in the sand. At least you’ll find it more blissful.

      1. Hello Max,

        That wasn’t very kind. You also failed to address much of what Mills was saying. No doubt, there have been many product innovations in our capitalistic nation, but that has nothing to do with the fact that we don’t take care of our own while investing our resources in oversees violence. An example of not taking care of our own is the fact that over 20% of American children are impoverished and our glorious market does not provide employment for over 14 million red-blooded Americans (https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm). I don’t think you had to be so mean to Mr. Mills and you really could have addressed what he had brought to the forum. I hope you don’t call people leeches in person, I don’t imagine that would go very well.

        I wish you the best in your inquiries of the world,
        Carson

    1. Ron Paul? Are you on drugs this morning? Paul wants to end federal taxes and abolish the IRS. That means lazy people, and whiners, would need to work. My kind of man. Unfortunately, America has too many leeches and he will never be elected.

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