If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote, They'd Have Given Us Candidates [Paperback]

Jim Hightower (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 20, 2001

Jim Hightower, America's favorite subversive, is still mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore. But he will give you a sizeable piece of his mind on Election 2000. This plain-talking, name-naming, podium-pounding populist zeros in on everything that ails us, from the global economy and media to big business and election winners everywhere. In his hard hitting commentary and hilarious anecdotes, Hightower spares no one, including the scared cows -- and especially the politicians -- who helped steer us into this mess in the first place. An equal opportunity muckrucker and a conscientious agitator for "We the People", Hightower inspires us to take charge again, build a new politics for a better tommorow -- and have a lot of laughs along the way

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Liberal populist Jim Hightower has a knack for naming books; before If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote... came There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos. Even the chapter titles of the current volume reveal Hightower's way with words as well as they underscore his themes: "Some Say We Need a Third Party, I Wish We Had a Second One" and "Plutocracy Is Not Government by a Far-Off Planet." Hightower speaks for angry, disaffected Americans who view both Democrats and Republicans as sleazy money-grubbers who do the bidding of wealthy multinational corporations. He is one of the sharpest voices on the Left, and also a very funny one. Even right-wingers will find themselves laughing at some of his jokes, and the Pat Buchanan set may see a few points of agreement. Ultimately, though, If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote... isn't a book for conservatives, but for liberals who feel that not even the Democratic Party can represent them in the era of Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Hightower's enthusiasm is contagious: "Hey, let's gut it up, decamp from Washington, put our resources in the countryside, slug the corporate bastards right in the snout, and get it on with a grassroots politics that gives regular folks a reason to be excited and get involved." Readers already inclined toward these views will be eager to join Hightower's crusade by the time they finish his energetic book. --John J. Miller --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

With a disarmingly folksy charm, writer and former Texas agriculture commissioner Hightower skewers George W. Bush, Al Gore, America's moneyed interests, the presidential selection process, corporate greed, the corruption of the political process by big money, the wage gap, globalization, and a whole lot more. Part critique of the corruption of American life and politics, part Populist manifesto, this sometimes witty, often irreverent, on-target book offers readers a welcome respite from the more mundane, mainstream accounts of contemporary politics. Outspokenness of this sort can seem harsh, angry, and abrasive--and Hightower is indeed angry. But his is an anger fused with wit and insight that draws readers in instead of pushing them away. This valuable contribution will offend, entertain, and enlighten. For public and academic libraries.
---Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; Revised edition (February 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060932090
• ISBN-13: 978-0060932091
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,827,658 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How can you tell when a politician is lying?, February 4, 2000

By 

Travis A. Clark - See all my reviews

This review is from: If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates (Hardcover)

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.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes You Laugh So Much You Get Mad, February 14, 2000

By 

Ronald P. Ruggiero (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates (Hardcover)

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.

46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars High-octane punditry from a fresh and different perspective., April 7, 2000

By 

Paul Hickey (Fairfax, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates (Hardcover)

For anyone who's already tired of the year 2000 general election campaign of Shrub Dubya and Al Snore (and who isn't?), Jim Hightower's new book will come as a breath of fresh air.

"If the Gods Had Meant for Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates" is an ambitious sequel to "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos." In clear, concise prose (despite what you may think from the long-winded title), Hightower seeks to analyze just why our political system has failed to provide the kind of real choice that voters crave in the race for president. More importantly, Hightower suggests things that average citizens can do to win back their voice in government at the local (and even national) level.

Not surprisingly for a self-proclaimed populist, Hightower identifies the concentration of corporate power and the influence of money as ranking among the primary reasons why Democratic and Republican politicians so rarely seem to represent the interests of the middle class and the working poor. In Hightower's view, both parties are equally corrupt, and this even-handed contempt for the status quo spurs him onward in the search for "authentic" alternatives. First, however, he sets the stage by challenging the conventional wisdom of the mainstream media, in particular the commonly held assumption that the country is enjoying an age of unprecedented prosperity. "If the Gods..." is chock-full of statistics that make a good case for disproving that claim. Indeed, Hightower notes that "25 percent of the jobs in today's celebrated economy pay a poverty wage! That's 32 million people." By and large, most of his facts and figures are attributed to respectable sources.

This background can get very depressing at times. The chapters about the effects of GATT, NAFTA, and the World Trade Organization are truly disturbing in their surreal descriptions of the unintended consequences of blindly embracing the type of "free trade" our leaders say is so good for us in the age of globalization. To his credit, Hightower does not play an isolationist, "America First" card. He merely points out that some of these much-touted trade agreements are resulting in the loss of our own national sovereignty, and the exploitation of cheap foreign labor, to profit a rich elite at the expense of workers at home and abroad, and with a disastrous toll on the environment, as well.

Fortunately, if the reader can get past the doom and gloom of all the information about the extent of the problem, Hightower proves that--in the end--he is an optimist. Unlike in "Armadillos," he cites many examples of people fighting for a measure of economic and social justice, and winning. From the United Students Against Sweatshops group that successfully lobbied to change university policies on using Third World subcontractors to produce clothing, to the Missoula New Party that got its progressive candidates elected to seats on the city council, so-called ordinary men and women are making a difference. The secret, Hightower says, is to start small and gradually reach for more and more substantial gains.

The main weakness of "If the Gods..." is in Hightower's tendency to propose simple solutions to very complex issues, and to elevate modest accomplishments to the significance of great achievements. Obviously, some of his populist cheerleading must be taken with more than a grain of salt. But he does know how to put forth a persuasive argument about what's wrong with our nation, and he does offer a convincing ray of hope that all is not lost, even as we prepare for yet another meaningless presidential election. If you are weary of hearing about politics as usual from the conservative, commercial-friendly likes of Spam Donaldson and Cookie Roberts, Hightower may be just the ticket to help you care again.

Finally, the very fact that you won't be seeing this book discussed in the major newspapers or on prime-time network television is more than enough reason for checking it out for yourself.