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Summary: Straight shooting from the hip
Review: Hightower tells it like it is. He doesn't pull his punches and he doesn't play favorites. What you get is a great sense of what is fair in this world and how the US government, bought and paid for by the corporations, has sold the people of this country into slavery. And we all thought the Civil War ended that. One only has to look at the first 100 days of the current administration to see what Hightower says is actually happening. Whether you call yourself an activist, populist, republican or democrat, this book should make you mad and it just might inspire you to get involved in the grassroots groups that are trying to change the status quo in our country.
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Summary: Underwhelming Rantings of an Egotist
Review: Hightower's rantings and atempts at humor are typical of his lackluster career as Texas's Secretary of Agriculture. Hightower demonstrates his inability to direct any institution and supports the charges that he (Hightower) was the most damaging politician to hold that State Office. John Talbot
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Summary: AND THE WINNER IS - - - - NONE OF THE ABOVE
Review: Hightower, no stranger to party politics himself, having once been Texas Commissioner of Agriculture, doesn't think much of what either the Democrats or the Republicans have to offer most of us. He shows, rather convincingly, that both parties cater to the wealthy and upper middle class, and in so doing tend to turn off the bulk of our eligible voters. It's in both parties' interest to keep the "unwashed masses" from voting. Otherwise their hand-picked candidates might not get elected, and they'd lose access to the big bucks. As an example of this he talks of the election of Jesse Ventura, an independent, in Minnesota. Minnesota's 60% turnout in that election was the highest in the nation. Ventura was a candidate who wasn't "packaged" by consultants, and who appealed to the kind of voters who usually don't vote when they can see no difference between the candidates of the two major parties. These candidates don't address the issues important to the average guy.He tells how the media distorts election results by talking about dramatic shifts in one direction or another, when the only true shift is from voter to non-voter. Example: In 1994, the year of the Republicans' "Big Sweep," 22% of eligible voters voted Republican and 19% voted for Democrats. In 1998, they reported a "Democratic Party Comeback" when the Republicans dropped to 18% of eligible voters voting for them, and the Democrats got 17%, also a drop. What this tells us is that, by disdaining both parties, the effective "None-of-the-above" vote increased from 58% in 1994 to 64% in 1998. Now that's a sweep. Need another example? In 1998, George W. Bush was re-elected Governor of Texas by what the Media called a "breathtaking landslide." Unmentioned by the media was the fact that only 26% of the eligible voters in Texas had even bothered to vote, the smallest turnout in the nation. Bush had managed to get only about 16% of the eligible voters to vote for him. WEhen you compare this 26% turnout to the 60% turnout in the Minnesota election, only one conclusion seems reasonable. Candidates from both major parties have nothing to offer to the average voter. Even more frightening is the fact that the two major parties want it that way. Party candidates are beholden to their big donors, and the issues that are important to these big donors are not of interest to the average voter, so a great part of most campaigns is designed to keep us away from the polls. Unfortunately for the country, but fortunately for these moneyed supporters of the politicians, this lack of interest on our part generally results in a choice between Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee. A lot of people probable don't like this book although there are those who love it. I, for one, think that Hightower says a lot that needs to be said, but I'm afraid that it's not really being heard.
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Summary: great book!
Review: Hilarious book. Equally critical of democrats as republicans. Common sense politics
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Summary: How can you tell when a politician is lying?
Review: His lips move. Or so the old joke goes. Hightower is back, and he's as rambunctious as ever. Where his previous book, Yellow Lines, was a collection of rants about the Republicrats and their ineffective politics, Gods is about the Republicrats and their ineffective politi... oops. But there is a difference. This takes the electoral process apart piece by piece, and shows exactly how those thieves fund themselves, and how they can speak from both sides and feel good about themselves when they wake up the next morning. The most poignant point he made in the book is that the election is already over, the politics are the same, now we just choose the personality that we want, His Majesty George W., or VP Al. Good read, funny, and definitely worth the money.
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Summary: All the News that's Missing!
Review: How can there be a "slow news day" with all of the crucial, unreported news in this book? The average American worker earns less today in real wages than when Richard Nixon was president. Replace your television news with this book. Use the facts and figures to call radio talk shows. Let your senator know that you know what's going on. Jim is the first person to explain how publicly financed campaigns SAVE citizens money. He also explains the difference between a large campaign contribution and a bribe (no difference). This book explains NAFTA and the World Trade Organization in detail (it's not pretty). It's time to stop being helpless and start being an activist
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Summary: Makes You Laugh So Much You Get Mad
Review: 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.
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Summary: I'm giving out copies to my family and friends
Review: I had never heard of Jim Hightower before reading this book. I wasn't even sure I was going to like it. To be honest, I didn't even know what a populist was. Well, all of that changed. I learned so much from this book. Hightower writes in an entertaining, straight-shooting manner. He isn't afraid to attack any of the wrong-doing politicians out there---no matter what side of the fence they stand on. I am a senior year business major at a major university and learned more about the reality of big corporations from Jim Hightower's book than I have in the whole 5 years I have been at my college. I like this book so much, I have already decided to give copies out to my family and friends. Read it for an educational good time.
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Summary: Still a Good Read Even After the Election
Review: I have met the future of progressive liberalism, and it is this book. I had started it because I'd just wanted a funny book whose author would commiserate with me about the lack of suitable political candidates, but this book goes much further than that. It's nothing less than a revolutionary call to arms: "People," says Jim, "take back your government (oh, and have fun doing it while you're at it)!" Great material on the evil that is corporate power today, and, while I always had an uneasy feeling even as I provisionally supported free trade and globalism, this book demolishes WTO and NAFTA. It may have disappointed as the funny book I was looking for (not that there aren't plenty of good yucks), but it more than made up for it with the power of its message.
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Summary: Still picking up my jaw...
Review: I've read lots of books on politics before but none like this one. I don't know of anyone who could read this book and not be affected by it - better yet, come away feeling they need to get involved. Hightower's humor is fantastic but I wasn't laughing, it's too hard while gritting your teeth. Remember all those bad things your parents told you about politics? If Hightower's facts are right then things are a lot worse than my Momma told me.
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