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Summary: The Reviews Tell The Story
Review: First of all, let me commend my fellow Georgian Zell Miller on an excellent book. The basic point is this: that the Democratic party has abandoned its traditonal values of representing working class, blue collar Americans, and has instead embraced a leftist, elitist agenda that is crippling it nationally. He is correct. The simple truth is, working class Americans don't have a party anymore. Clinton wasn't one of us, and his support of NAFTA, as well as his lack of support for protecting our key industries, demonstrates this. Working Americans are, by and large, moderate in most of their views. We support minimum wage legistlation, universal access to health care, affordable higher education, and sensible environmental legistlation. At the same time, we hold to traditonal moral concepts. We don't like the idea of the courts forcing states to accept gay marriage. That doesn't mean we hate gays, it simply means that many of us do not agree with their lifestyle and don't want acceptance of it forced on us. True tolerance is just that:tolerance - allowing someone else to believe or act in a way we may persoanlly find offensive, without persecuting them. It most certainly does not mean that we must accept whatever anyone does or says as okay. In addition, we don't like crimianls having access to guns, but we are suspicious of those who want to restrict access to them for law abiding citizens. We want our kids to go to college, but are concerned that no one querstions why tuition and other fees are climbing at rates much higher than inflation. We certainly don't believe that handing control of our health care system to the government is in any way a solution to the lack of affordable coverage. On one hand we have the Republicans, who are in love with the corporations and care othing about protecting American jobs. On the other we have the Democrats, who see big government as the answer to everything, and who view southerners and social conservatives through xenophobic lenses. I maust say that, as a southerner, I was deeply offended by the vicious remarks made by many of the reviewers about the south and its people. I doubt that Amazon would tolerate such remarks about gays, blacks or other groups. The Democrats can continue to ignore the warnings signs all around them. They can take comfort in the accolades they receive from the likes of Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow. But if they don't wake up and abandon the far left agenda they've embraced since the late 1960's, their power will simply continue to erode away. Somewhere, Newt Gingrich is sitting back laughing his butt off.
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Summary: Read this Book !!
Review: Zell Miller has written a great book. I really enjoyed the book. There were chapters that I agreed with and those that I disagreed with. I am much more impressed with Sen. Miller now than I ever was in the past. For the fan of politics this is an influential book. Regardless of your political affiliation if you follow politics this is a must read. Sen Miller is describing a very interesting segment of the political spectrum. His book is so talked about because it is important. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: good for conservatives
Review: Miller's views rate high with me and this book portrays his views in black and white. I don't agree with everything he says, but most things are dead on. I don't agree with his educational ideas and I do agree that the liberal democrats are way too far to the left. I really like his penatent attitude about himself, which shows his humility and that people can change their views no matter what political pressure there is. This guy and this book is part of what America needs - good solid ideas and a national push for patriotism, not governmental greed and irresponsibility. Read it for yourself and make your own judgements. He's smart and his Southern quotes and quips will make you laugh. Very enjoyable and educational.
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Summary: So why doesn't he just join the Republicans?
Review: The man's obviously no Democrat, so why doesn't he just join the Republicans instead of trying to convert the Dems into a carbon copy of certain segments of the Republican party? I think it's clear that single party systems don't work, so why do so many people seem to want that in substance, if not in name? In my view, the answer to that question is simple arrogance -- if you think you always know what's best, then a "loyal opposition" serves no useful purpose. The fact is that this country is far from homogenous politically. There seem to be very few viewpoints that can garner even a simple majority. As a consequence, both the Dems and the Republicans are little more than uneasy coalitions of special interest groups. Both sides accuse the other of pandering to special interests when its clear that both do it. If the Dems are so out of touch and irrelevant as a party, then why did Al Gore win a majority of the popular vote in 2000? Why do the Republicans have such slim majorities in Congress? Finally, if Howard Dean is a shallow Vermont pond, then what is George Bush? An empty bottle of Shiner Bock (a popular beer in Texas)? Thank you, I'll go with the shallow Vermont pond, at least there's something in it and it's fairly clear what it is.
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Summary: An autobiography rather than a policy book
Review: I was expecting this book to be primarily concerned with the Democratic Party - as its title would suggest. Instead, it was an autobiography of Zell Miller which occasionally made points about the Democratic Party losing support in the South. When he discusses his childhood, he goes into great detail about how his mother built a home out of stone and how his uncle would cook up some squirrels and dumplings for breakfast. How is this relevant?!? And when he gets to finally discussing the Democrats, it was quite disappointing, to say the least. He steadfastly refuses to discuss Bill Clinton's second term of office - a pretty significant period of time that Miller casually omits when you consider that Clinton was impeached. How can Miller write about the Democratic Party not being a national party any longer when perhaps the single biggest reason for this - Mr. Clinton himself - is hardly criticized at all. I doubt this book would have gotten the fanfare it has received if this book were entitled "The Autobiography of Zell Miller." People like me who follow politics and read books that are thoughtful writings on policy came to be utterly misled by the book's title. Also, I wish Miller took off the boxing gloves a little more when he actually got to discussing policy, however little he had to discuss in great depth.
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Summary: The venom of the critics is telling
Review: As a "moderate", I'd love to vote for a democrat, but I have to agree with many of Miller's observations as to why at the moment I cannot vote democrat. We're supposed to be ONE country despite our differences...the venom spewed by the critics in reviews makes you think it's their way or no way. This book isint just Miller's observations, but a warning to those who drift off to extremes instead of common sense and "constructive criticism" toward a national good. A must read.
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Summary: Balding analysis of my party
Review: Zell Miller explains in A National Party No More, in an unintentionally humorous way, why I am a Democrat. The Republicans have lost touch with middle-class Americans. They pander to every special interest group that waves money at them. They never saw a tax-cut they didn't like. Professional "Corporicans" have set the agenda for America. Rebublicans seem to only care that American wants to own guns. The list goes on and on. His take on Howard Dean would be applicable to himself: "Clever and glib; but deep this South Carolina pond is not." I would have given the book 2 stars, but Miller just totally irritates with his unsupported rants.
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Summary: Scalding analysis of my x-Party
Review: Zell Miller explains in A National Party No More, in a humorous way, why I am an x-Democrat. The Democrats have lost touch with middle-class Americans. They pander to every special interest group that waves money at them. They never saw a tax they didn't like. Professional "educrats" have set the agenda for schools. Democrats don't seem to care that American want to own guns. His list goes on and on. His take on Howard Dean: "Clever and glib; but deep this Vermont pond is not." I would have given the book 5 stars, but Miller spends too much time telling us of his accomplishments.
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Summary: Ugh
Review: Actually, lemme re-phrase my one line review: UGH! ARGH!
Mr. Miller, I really hate to give you such a harsh review, but it is my opinion that a harsh review is warranted in this situation. I bought this book because it had the phrase "conservative Democrat" in the title and I never thought those two words could coincide in any context. Because I bought the book for this reason, I was expecting to learn what Miller means by "conservative Democrat" within the first 5 chapters. Well, I didn't. Not really. I have never given a book a 1 in my reviews but I had to with this one. Perhaps he's saying that he's a Democrat 'cause Mommy and Daddy and Auntie and Unckie were Democrats. Perhaps he's saying he's a Democrat because he agrees with many of the Democratic Party's platform points. Whatever the reason, my point here is that I got up to Chapter 5 without having a clue why this man is not a card carrying George W. Bush loving Republican. Yes, the book is eloquent and articulate, and yes the stories in it about his life are all warm and snuggly and cutesy, but the whole point of the book, apparently, is specifically to avoid explaining in plain English what a "conservative Democrat" is. Yes, I am a 22 year old college senior who loves politics and history. But I also happen to be capable of understanding big words like "conservative Democrat". The problem comes when the big words aren't clearly defined. If this book had given a short explanation in EITHER complicated OR simple English in the first chapter (or better yet, the first paragraph) of what Miller means by "conservative Democrat", I wouldn't be annoyed that I spent 20 bucks on this waste of paper. In fact, I wouldn't have even just called it a waste of paper. Basically, if you want a warm and fuzzy story of Southern life and hospitality, buy this book. But if you're looking to read about political ideology and political parties, please be sure to put out a restraining order on this book.
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Summary: Get a clue already liberals!!!
Review: The liberals don't have a clue and it shows. They wouldn't know a national party if it hit them in the face. Their extreme liberal agendas simply do not resonate in the South. Here in Crimson Tide country we'd rather see Tommy Tuberville elected President before Howard Dean. Period.
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