If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote
They Would Have Given Us Candidates  
By Jim Hightower
$14.00 Trade Paper
Published 2001 by Perennial
An import of Harper Collins Publishers
 

Seldom will a book review carry a warning or an instruction clause like this one does,
but I believe given the circumstances I would be remiss not to give fair warning.  So
here goes:

Warning: Before reading this book, I would like you to assemble the following
equipment…one pair of big old boots and a baseball bat or golf club depending upon
your personal preference.  If you are prone to fits of anger, safety goggles and protective
head gear are recommended (no point in taking any chances with your safety).

Got it all together?  Good.  Commence reading.  Now, read until you get to the part of
the book where Mr. Hightower begins to talk about soft money and campaigns and when
you get really angry with him for shooting down your hero or your party ( this is an equal
opportunity snit you are about to get into)….I want you to take the book and throw it on
the floor and kick the living daylights out of it with your big boots.  Stomp on it a couple
times.  THEN, I want you to take your bat or your golf club and just swing away till you
bat or club the publication within an inch of its life.  Now, STOP.  Take a deep breath.

Whew!  Didn’t that feel good?

Okay...now, I hope you have the courage to read on.  I realize the book is liable to be in
bad shape, but if you have any kind of luck at all, and I am hoping you do, there will be a
whole lot of pages left.  I especially hope you have pages 157-177 about Granny D and
her walk for election and campaign finance reform.  And it would be a shame if you didn’t
get to read about the Robber Barons known now days as Corporations. And I would hate
for you to miss the part about the excesses of the rich who sometimes whine about taxes
until they end up paying what would amount to pocket change even for those of average
income.  I hope the last few chapters are intact.  They were pretty darn good too.

Take a look and see if you have the part left about how we….those of us who want our
country and our economy back…..are the clear majority in this country.  And there is also
the part about how people….real everyday people…. are winning the struggle in our
communities and just how we are doing it.  I sure hope those parts survived, because you
will never hear about these things on the evening news.  And you may not even hear about
them on your internet discussion board if it isn’t affiliated with the “right” party.  And
besides, who would tell you?  The powers that be put a lot of time and money into
keeping us from knowing we are not alone.  Hope you still have your Flo chart…named
for Flo the waitress/paralegal.

What an excellent book this is.  It is as moving as it is funny.  I cried for Granny D when
she was arrested for reading the Declaration of Independence.  I laughed out loud seemingly
every page or two, sometimes every paragraph.  Jim Hightower mixes his intelligence and
political savvy with that down home Texas humor and it makes for great laughs. His style
is easily read and understood.  Be sure to read Beelzebub’s Buzzword’s starting on page
91. Here’s one:

Consultant, n. (usually preceded by an adjective such as “fundraising,” “media,” “polling,”
“issue,” “speech”).  The lowest life form in politics.  Also, the highest paid.  “Consultants”
is the correct answer to one of today’s oft-asked questions:  Why do campaigns suck?(94)

Frankly, I learned more reading this book than I have to date since the stolen election.
And I had a great time doing it too.   I didn’t necessarily want to know everything I
learned, but I learned it anyway.  You may feel that way too.

Jim Hightower will inspire you to remember one important principle and inspire you to
hold to it…..this land is YOUR land.  This government is YOUR government.  Whatever
you went into the book thinking or believing….you will come away committed to voting
and election reform.  You will come away committed to changing the faces of our
government to the faces of the common person.  And you will come away understanding
that candidates, any candidates holding to the real interests of the people of this country
and not the moneyed elite are the terror of the political system in place.

“If only there was a political party that would notice that America’s majority is going
around and around in circles somewhere out in the hills, within sight of the bright lights
of prosperity, yet not being brought in.  Instead, even the Democrats are zeroed in on the
special needs and peculiar whims of the dominant business executives and investors
who are rapidly and radically consolidating power within practically every economic
sector, affecting the kind of jobs we get, our families’ access to quality health care, the
prices we pay, the purity of our food and water, the news we’re fed, and much more.
This reordering of America’s (and the globe’s) economic structure is being done with
no public discussion about whether it’s anything we want.  Indeed, it’s presented as
the work of immutable market and technological forces, as though it’s been ordained
by the Economic Gods.”(254-255)

You can tell Jim Hightower is trying to call the Democrats back to their real populist
roots.  He knows that is where they ought to be and where they can win too, if they
will only forget their “New Democrat” ways and return to the people’s interests.

Take this book along with you to DC.  You will march prouder and shout louder.
Give this book to your grassroots friends because this in one we can all relate to.
My Republican small town relatives are standing in line to read it. Why?  Because
it is about ALL of us.   Don’t forget the warning though.  Fair is fair.

Hope to see you in DC.