Rating: 
Summary: Hightower tells it like it is
Review: Jim Hightower pulls no punches in this revealing expose of how dirty our two-party system is. He provides example after example of how corporations have seized complete control of the government, taking power away from the citizenry. Sure, the rich have always enjoyed certain privelges that the rest of us don't. But in the last twenty years, there has been a growing, unbridled greed that is destroying the lives of millions for the benefit of a handful of modern-day robber barons. The vast majority of Democrats and Republicans have been bought and paid for by these insulated tycoons -- ever wonder about rich guys and corporations who give the maximum contribution to the Democrat and the Republican in the same race? You can bet that it ain't civic pride. If you are tired of working two jobs, and never getting ahead, this book will explain the truth about what is happening.
Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS
Review: That is what Jim Hightower has shown the efforts of our government for the common American to be. Absolutely Worthless.
This book will blow you away as to what REALLY goes on in Washington, how all laws are passed to benefit the few and stomp on the many. This book is a must-buy if you want to get out from the behind the media-laden smokescreen and become knowledgeable on politics. This book will get you enraged...to do something about our bureaucratic government and to give the government back to the people where it belongs. Great book, Jim.
Rating:
Summary: Hysterically funny but should be taken seriously
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Kick the bums out!
Review: This is a great book on how corporate interests have taken over politics and how the two major parties have turned their backs on Americans. This book also showed how the middle and lower classes have not been a part of our "unprecented prosperity." The only problem I had with the book is that Hightower seems to think that all Republicans are evil and that every corporation in the world abuses workers. Nevertheless, the book succeeded in infuriating me to the point of making sure I vote in every single election from now on.
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading
Review: This should be required reading for all Americans who wonder how they lost control of their own government and how they can get it back. Disheartening and encouraging at the same time, Jim Hightower answers all those questions that needle most of us from time to time, from "What could (Choose one or all)Congress/the President/the Democrats/the Republicans possibly be thinking!?" to "Why do they keep building all these exorbitantly priced subdivisions and who can possibly afford them?" Makes you want to jump into the fray -- if you could only afford the cost of a campaign.
Rating:
Summary: Will a fetal position help?
Review: While I'm chuckling at this book I'm reminding myself that it's true! And then I'm mad as hell, followed rapidly by despondent, frustrated, and afraid that this country is beyond being retrieved from the big-money boys before it's irreversibly screwed up. Groucho Marx reputedly observed that he would have nothing to do with anyone who'd have anything to do with a guy like him. This book makes me feel that I would want nothing to do with anyone whose character would allow him to seek elected office. With no faith in the power of the vote, I may just assume a prenatal position and hope for the best.
Rating:
Summary: Corporations Undermine Democracy
Review: Why is a 90-year old woman walking across America? Find out in the chapter on "Granny D", America's heroic campaign-finance reform activist. By rights, she should receive the public homage of John McCain when she arrives in Washington, D.C. in the coming weeks. And why is Tom DeLay - the "bug man", as Hightower calls him - one of the most despicable politicians in the country? Find out in the chapter on Saipan, an island in the Mariannas where, in what is nominally US territory, thousands of Asian workers are being held as quasi-slaves in garment factories run by crooked foreign businessmen for the benefit of US apparel companies, with the unwavering support of the Majority Whip of the House of Representatives. In this explosive book by the well-known Texan agitator, both heroes and villains are grist for his contention that what is at stake in America today is nothing less than democracy, under constant attack from corporate interests and their clients in the political world. But far from merely bemoaning this wretched state of affairs, Hightower shows the citizens of America how they should resist the creeping abrogation of their political, social, and economic rights. The French (whose help, after all, was critical in winning the war of independence) have their own way of putting this in their national anthem, which dates back to the French Revolution: "Aux armes, citoyens!" - "Citizens, take up arms!" As the Republic enters its third century looking increasingly like the thirteen States before they rebelled against their unelected masters overseas, Jim Hightower writes like its colorful, twangy, latter-day Tom Paine. This is a call to arms for American democracy - we may ignore it, but only at our own peril.
Rating:
Summary: Corporations Undermine Democracy
Review: Why is a 90-year old woman walking across America? Find out in the chapter on "Granny D", America's heroic campaign-finance reform activist. By rights, she should receive the public homage of John McCain when she arrives in Washington, D.C. in the coming weeks. And why is Tom DeLay - the "bug man", as Hightower calls him - one of the most despicable politicians in the country? Find out in the chapter on Saipan, an island in the Mariannas where, in what is nominally US territory, thousands of Asian workers are being held as quasi-slaves in garment factories run by crooked foreign businessmen for the benefit of US apparel companies, with the unwavering support of the Majority Whip of the House of Representatives. In this explosive book by the well-known Texan agitator, both heroes and villains are grist for his contention that what is at stake in America today is nothing less than democracy, under constant attack from corporate interests and their clients in the political world. But far from merely bemoaning this wretched state of affairs, Hightower shows the citizens of America how they should resist the creeping abrogation of their political, social, and economic rights. The French (whose help, after all, was critical in winning the war of independence) have their own way of putting this in their national anthem, which dates back to the French Revolution: "Aux armes, citoyens!" - "Citizens, take up arms!" As the Republic enters its third century looking increasingly like the thirteen States before they rebelled against their unelected masters overseas, Jim Hightower writes like its colorful, twangy, latter-day Tom Paine. This is a call to arms for American democracy - we may ignore it, but only at our own peril.
Rating:
Summary: Should We Cry or Laugh?
Review: With an engagingly literate style, Mr. Hightower provides fact after damning fact about the sad state of our American oligarchy, plutocracy, corporate monarchy, or whatever you choose to call our ersatz democracy, which has been clear cut by the happy chainsaws of corporate cash. But Hightower calls on us for citizen action: there truly is strength in numbers, in organizing, in promoting, in--gasp--populist politics! This book is MUST reading for any citizen planning either to vote or not vote in election year 2000.
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