You Have the Power : How to Take Back Our Country and Restore Democracy in America

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Summary: A positive challenge to the negative nabobs ! ! !
Review: If you're fed up with the status quo, and want to join an intelligent refomer who uses scalpel to expose the rotten flesh of the existing system, this book will confirm your every worst fear about politics.

In 1968, I watched presidential candidates descend on our little community and was totally baffled at the insipid, trivial and biased coverage of the so-called national press. It's now much worse, and Dean has the guts to "expose the rotten flesh" of the media. His criticism of the Democrats pulls no punches, and is devastating on the Greedy Old Party.

Dean knows anout miracle cures, which is what voters expect every four years; BUT, like every good doctor, he knows it is far more important to change one's lifestyle than to pop yet another pill or spend another session under the scalpel. He doesn't do "feel good" politics, he prescribes changes in lifestyle.

Think of applying the doctor's motto to politics, "First, do no harm."

If you understand that, you'll understand his approach. If you go to a doctor to have your appendix removed, you'll end up with no appendix and a fading little scar on your tummy. Politicians, as anyone who watched the debates or saw any political ads knows, recommend a shotgun to remove your appendix -- and the entire substance of their debate centers on the use of a 410-gauge or a 12-gauge gun with SSGs or birdshot.

Most politicians want to go back to the past; Barry Goldwater liked 1910, George Wallace liked 1930, Richard Nixon liked 1950 and, both John Kerry and George Bush act as if they'd love to go back to the Clinton prosperity of 2000. Dean is one who realizes that all of us are going to live in the future, and it's up to each of us as to how we live.

Despite the nattering nabobs of negativism, to use the words of the man who helped invent much of today's negative politics, Dean has unbounded optimism in America. He's not here to pronounce a death sentence, which many politicians offer if they are not elected; he's here to show all Americans how to live a better life.

If you're tired of the way lawyers have run the country, there's a lot to be said for doctors. This doctor says a lot in a brief space. He knows, "Politicians can't solve our problems for us." Dean says America's faults are based on the attitude "we're always looking for someone to come along and save us."

The good doctor knows we have to save ourselves. This book is a prescription to get started. It's well worth reading. From there on, if you love this country, it's up to you and people like you. Dean is confident it can be done.

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Summary: Q: What does Howard Dean want for the Democratic Party?
Review: A: I don't know, but it's not in this book. It seems to have something to do with Democrats sticking up for oppressed peoples, only, "no, seriously, for real this time." With this book, Dean purports to present a "plan" by which people can "take back" political power and the Democratic Party from those who have co-opted them. But the "plan" is remarkably short on specifics and remarkably long on the kind of briefly-stated, generalized criticisms of establishment politics that we have all heard ad infinitum and that, I dare say, will not be unfamiliar to anyone reading this book (ie. free trade agreements with no labor or environmental protection, major parties pandering for corporate dollars, etc, etc).

We all know the problems. But Dean does not propose any radical solutions. Dean is a centrist by his own account, and his political heroes are Jimmy Carter and, to a lesser degree, Bill Clinton (who, to Dean, was a well-intentioned, highly intelligent president, but simply fell short in certain important respects).

This, I think, is the essential paradox of Howard Dean: he talks about deeply-rooted, systemic problems using anti-establishment, or radical, language, but in his proposed solutions and his policymaking, he is a centrist, mainstream, big-D Democrat. And for me, that just doesn't cut it. For example, Dean writes in this book about the need to rid the Democratic Party, and the American political system generally, of the corrupting influence of big money. Dean also states that he supports real campaign finance reform, and indeed, some form of public financing of political campaigns. Fine so far, but no one this side of John McCain really disagrees on these points. The problem is: HOW, exactly, can we change the culture of the Democratic Party, or maybe, the culture of the LEADERSHIP of the Democratic Party, to make these changes possible?

Look at it another way: Clinton would tell you that he, too, supports strong protections for labor and the environment. But he still gave us NAFTA. Maybe Dean thinks it was just a political failing, I don't know. But that is just the problem: Dean does not say anything substantive about what makes him a different kind of politician than Bill Clinton. He characterizes himself as someone who wants to take the Democratic Party in a different direction, but he doesn't say how. In fact, it seemed to me that Dean did more to liken himself to Clinton than he did to distinguish himself from him.

I don't think Dean is a horrible person, or even a dishonest person. He's right about the problems he identifies. But I don't think that the Democratic Party has just "lost its way" or that anything will get better if we just point out nicely where they went wrong and ask politely if they wouldn't mind changing. I am past the point where I am interested in another co-ghost-written superficial political manifesto. At the end of this book, I come back to the same question: Why do so many people seem to think that Howard Dean is the great revolutionary hope for progressive politics and the Democratic Party?
(A: I don't know, but it's not in this book.)

Rating:
Summary: Selling a widget
Review: Come on Dean! I ordered this book from amazon.com and when it came in the mail and I opened the box, my first thought was "where's the beef?" I was shocked by how small and thin this book is, considering the price. I'm not sure why it was published in hardback, since his previous one was paperback only. As much as I love Dean and wish that he was the Democratic nominee instead of Kerry, this book is still a widget that only hardcore Dean supporters like myself would buy. Its a breeze to read in a day or two, covering much of what I've heard in several speeches and read in his previous book. I agree with all points he makes (because I'm a Deanocrat), but I still don't understand why he bothered with this book. I was hoping for a narrative about his experiences on the campaign trail. I suspect he was in a rush to get this book out before the election in hopes of his supporters buying it, reading it, and holding their noses when they vote for Kerry in November. That's still no reason to con me out of $20 on a widget! I would have happily waited for a more in depth book, with more substance, and regular sized, if it took a year or two for him to write one worth reading. That's why I have to give him three stars. Its not as good as his first campaign literature ("Winning Back America"), and I eagerly bought it sight unseen (had I seen it in a bookstore, I probably would've passed on buying it until the paperback version) just because I'm such a loyal Deanocrat who's hoping that Dean will run again in 2008 or 2012. Because I still like Dean and believe in his message, I wouldn't ask for my money back...just a promise from him not to pass another widget on his supporters. Wait for substance before you write another book, and call me if you want help writing one. I'd love to help out on that project!

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Summary: Our Democracy Needs Us
Review: Howard Dean minces no words in telling us that the Democrats need to learn to become Democrats once again. Part of that means that we all need to get involved in public policy, whether it is by running for public office or helping friends and neighbors run for public office or maybe just getting involved in the local political party you support. Corporations have a very strong grip on our country, and the only way we'll remove that grip is to elect more politicians who put the needs of the people he or she represents above their personal desires to be re-elected.

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Summary: The Truth Of Our Times
Review: Howard Dean really speaks his mind in this book. Despite the media's portrayal of him as a red-faced, raving, leftist fanatic, he is actually quite a moderate Democrat. This book is a how-to guide to succeed in the political world, and is a wake-up call for both sides on what they should be doing to bring our country back together again. Also, unlike Bill Clinton's My Life, the book is small enough that you can read it on a long airline flight. I urge everyone, Democrat or Republican, to at least give this book a try.

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Summary: Better as a memoir than a manual
Review: Inevitably a book like this has two interwoven parts - a memoir and a litany of "we musts and we needs." As is often the case, the memoir of this rather unfortunately named book (sounds like a self help manual) is the far more interesting part. Dean is at his most interesting when discussing his take on his own campaign and various political figures. The famous scream? Dean makes a compelling case that it never happened (really!) Bill Clinton? A uniquely skilled politician who tried to undermine Dean and left many would-be successors with the wrong impression that he won because he was centrist. George Bush? The worst president since Harding (and even more dangerous). In acknowledging that his operation was not prepared to win a front-runners campaign, Dean sort of explains why he, as one of the guys who lost, should be writing about what Democrats need to do to win. I would have liked more analysis of what went wrong, and what went right. On the whole, though this slim volume is worthwhile and engaging enough to read in one or two sittings.

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Summary: A handbook for Democrats
Review: Written by the Gov. Howard Dean, MD who surgically implanted a new spine into the Democratic Party this book lays out what has gone wrong with our party (and our country) and plots a course for the future. For those who didn't pay attention to the Democratic primary race - who may only know Howard Dean as that `scream guy' - read this book. There are at least 700,000 people out there who are better citizens, better Americans because of this man. All Democrats, Liberals, Progressives should read this book. Republicans who think all Democrats are wild-eyed America-hating socialists may learn a thing or to also. I purchased my signed copy at a Dean speech in Ohio.