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Title: If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote, They'd Have Given Us Candidates by Jim Hightower ISBN: 0-06-093209-0 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 19 February, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.29 (35 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: High-octane punditry from a fresh and different perspective.
Comment: For anyone who's already tired of the year 2000 general election campaign of Shrub Dubya and Al Snore (and who isn't?), Jim Hightower's new book will come as a breath of fresh air.
"If the Gods Had Meant for Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates" is an ambitious sequel to "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos." In clear, concise prose (despite what you may think from the long-winded title), Hightower seeks to analyze just why our political system has failed to provide the kind of real choice that voters crave in the race for president. More importantly, Hightower suggests things that average citizens can do to win back their voice in government at the local (and even national) level.
Not surprisingly for a self-proclaimed populist, Hightower identifies the concentration of corporate power and the influence of money as ranking among the primary reasons why Democratic and Republican politicians so rarely seem to represent the interests of the middle class and the working poor. In Hightower's view, both parties are equally corrupt, and this even-handed contempt for the status quo spurs him onward in the search for "authentic" alternatives. First, however, he sets the stage by challenging the conventional wisdom of the mainstream media, in particular the commonly held assumption that the country is enjoying an age of unprecedented prosperity. "If the Gods..." is chock-full of statistics that make a good case for disproving that claim. Indeed, Hightower notes that "25 percent of the jobs in today's celebrated economy pay a poverty wage! That's 32 million people." By and large, most of his facts and figures are attributed to respectable sources.
This background can get very depressing at times. The chapters about the effects of GATT, NAFTA, and the World Trade Organization are truly disturbing in their surreal descriptions of the unintended consequences of blindly embracing the type of "free trade" our leaders say is so good for us in the age of globalization. To his credit, Hightower does not play an isolationist, "America First" card. He merely points out that some of these much-touted trade agreements are resulting in the loss of our own national sovereignty, and the exploitation of cheap foreign labor, to profit a rich elite at the expense of workers at home and abroad, and with a disastrous toll on the environment, as well.
Fortunately, if the reader can get past the doom and gloom of all the information about the extent of the problem, Hightower proves that--in the end--he is an optimist. Unlike in "Armadillos," he cites many examples of people fighting for a measure of economic and social justice, and winning. From the United Students Against Sweatshops group that successfully lobbied to change university policies on using Third World subcontractors to produce clothing, to the Missoula New Party that got its progressive candidates elected to seats on the city council, so-called ordinary men and women are making a difference. The secret, Hightower says, is to start small and gradually reach for more and more substantial gains.
The main weakness of "If the Gods..." is in Hightower's tendency to propose simple solutions to very complex issues, and to elevate modest accomplishments to the significance of great achievements. Obviously, some of his populist cheerleading must be taken with more than a grain of salt. But he does know how to put forth a persuasive argument about what's wrong with our nation, and he does offer a convincing ray of hope that all is not lost, even as we prepare for yet another meaningless presidential election. If you are weary of hearing about politics as usual from the conservative, commercial-friendly likes of Spam Donaldson and Cookie Roberts, Hightower may be just the ticket to help you care again.
Finally, the very fact that you won't be seeing this book discussed in the major newspapers or on prime-time network television is more than enough reason for checking it out for yourself.
Rating: 5
Summary: Makes You Laugh So Much You Get Mad
Comment: I couldn't put this book down. Hightower is a master at making us laugh and get po'ed at the same time. He shines a big Texan flashlight on the follies of the spoiled rich, the corporate lap-dog politicians, and the insanity of the "Market". This is a must-read for the 2000 electoral cycle. His call to arms echoed my own sentiments--it is time for us to remember Paine, Jefferson, Mother Jones, Debs, King, Chavez, and the rest of our nation's agitators and reclaim our dignity and our democracy. It is time for a top-down (not a left-right) political debate on what's happening in our country and throughout the world. Thanks Jim for an engaging and just plain good book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Hysterically funny but should be taken seriously
Comment: This is a book everyone should read. With an incredibly sharp wit, Hightower shows just how undemocratic our "democracy" has become and how much of our lives are dictated by corporate America. The chapter on globalization is a must read. Even though it was written before Bush was elected in 2000, everything he writes is still relevant, even more so.
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Title: Thieves in High Places: They've Stolen Our Country--And It's Time to Take It Back by Jim Hightower ISBN: 0670031410 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 14 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos : A Work of Political Subversion by Jim Hightower ISBN: 0060929499 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Bushwhacked : Life in George W. Bush's America by LOU DUBOSE, MOLLY IVINS ISBN: 0375507523 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Truth About Corporate Cons, Globalization and High-Finance Fraudsters by Greg Palast ISBN: 0452283914 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: 25 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? by Molly Ivins ISBN: 0679741836 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 15 September, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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