This is a book that many people will rate based on their agreement or disagreement with Huffington's politics. Beware of low ratings that people give simply because they don't like the author's record, while some high ratings may have the same problem. These are hardly useful to someone considering a purchase. Certainly this book is political, but it is not necessary to agree with Huffington 100% politically to appreciate her main points. So if you're prone to reducing any piece of public discourse into an archaic (and currently nonsensical) liberal vs. conservative dichotomy, don't bother with this book because you won't get it. What Huffington's talking about here is far beyond left vs. right squabbling. The only problem with this book is that it was written in the middle of the 2000 presidential campaign and was immediately outdated in certain sections. Huffington's opinions on that election's disastrous finish would have given this book some extra kick.
Huffington has a great insider's view of the horrendous state of our current political system. She's a Republican but she's got just as much (maybe even more) vitriol for the GOP in its failure to live up to its ideals, as she does for the Democrats. Plus her Centrist ideas reveal her to be one of the most levelheaded and realistic pundits around. For example, her proposal that all corporations and rich people should give 10% of their income to charity sure isn't a Republican-like idea. In her great tongue-in-cheek and slightly sarcastic style, Huffington shows the ineffectiveness of the system, as career politicians on both sides are enslaved to corporate contributions, opinion polls that only ask inane lowest-common-denominator questions, and a lapdog media that convinces people that "character' (actually reputation and personal rumors) is more important than leadership skills. And unlike other books of this type, Huffington's ideas for solutions aren't cheesy platitudes like "take the power back," but real options like politically oriented volunteering, "None of the Above" options on ballots, and local clean finance campaign initiatives. Corporate contributors really spread the money around to all politicians, as a way to latch onto whoever has power regardless of ideology, while politicians utilize this vicious cycle to hold onto power instead of making real decisions or exercising true leadership, and the system looks down its nose at a disillusioned and disenfranchised electorate. This book is about overthrowing this plutocracy, and people of all political persuasions should be concerned, unless you're a slave to the big money.