Customer Reviews

How to Overthrow the Government

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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only problem with this book is that it was written in the middle of the 2000 presidential campaign and was immediately outdated in certain sections.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.

Okay, I like most readers of this book (I'm certain) first picked it up because the title is catchy. The actual substance of the book is much more modest, and largely centers on hammering the need for campaign finance reform. Along the way, Huffington also trashes pollsters, and emphasizes the need for citizen participation in government and in charitable activities. There really is nothing particularly new or ground breaking here, but Huffington does a nice job of gathering together in one place a lot of anecdotal information about her topics. She bashes politicians of both major parties evenly, and is apparently disappointed that the nominees for the fall elections are Bush and Gore rather than McCain and Bradley. Bottom line: A good read, but don't expect to learn anything that rocks your world. One of her fundamental points -- that the American people have come to expect their political leaders to be a pack of thieves -- is all too true.

And we all thought Y2K meant botched computers. This Y2K book is a call to action for citizens to get involved in something much bigger than themselves--self-government through civic participation. Why should we wait for our "enlightened leaders" to call out directions? The answers lie within us: big money has corrupted our two-party system and the solutions aren't in Washington or name-that-state capital; this manifesto provides precise steps to reclaim politics as that sacred public space that makes society better for us all. No one is truly rich when someone, somewhere is poor. Get on this political bandwagon because a political movement and moment is upon us. Oh, and by the way, Arianna Huffington will help you keep your sense of humor as the revolution embarks.

...with her eye-opening, slightly dirt-dishing, and ultra-easy read. Covering the entire political spectrum, she tells the REAL story of what is going on in Washington and what we, as concerned citizens, can do about it! As opposed to other books that just complain about current politics, Arianna goes the brave step further and actually directs us where to go to get involved. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to know what has is really happening in politics and what can be done to stop this out of control train and get it on the right track!

Ms. Huffington has written, from the inside, what REALLY goes on. I have taught my students the very things she discusses for over two years. It is so painfully obvious to the most elementary observer of politics and policy today that it derives not from the needs of society but from the exhange of money between Congressional members and special interests. Ms. Huffington gives relevant, first-hand examples of this and offers advice to those who choose to accept it, the methods by which to take back our process from the elite. While she provides excellent examples to readers how to get involved, there are issues she covers with which I take exception, i.e. term limits. In spite of these short falls, I think this should be mandatory reading for every student of civics! Thank you Ms. Huffington for exposing the dark underbelly and providing yet another reason for us to question the motivation of our representatives!

If you have to read one book this year that cuts through the rhetoric of both the Republicans and the Democrats this year, read "How to Overthrow the Government."

This book cuts to the chase about how our democracy is being sold out by both the Republican and Democratic parties to the highest corporate and special interest bidders. This book tells it as it is and how predator corporate economics is destroying our democracy including our children. Some may think that happy days are here again but tell that to the one in five children who live below the poverty line in this country or the over 30 million Americans without adequate health insurance.

It's nice to see a Republican agreeing on many issues with a liberal Democrat such as Jim Hightower. Maybe there is hope that both Democrats and Republicans are coming together with a common goal - restore a principle-centered leadership in this country with public interest as a number one priority rather than special interests.

After seeing Ms Huffington on C-SPAN Booknotes over the week end (2-12-2000)I got the book and one thing that stands out is this. She comes from Greece the birthplace of western thought and then combined with her education in England and later arrival and citizenship as an American seems to grasp better than most what real Democracy and a Constitutional Repubublic are all about.

Maybe the fact we home schooled our son until University has also added to my appreciation of Ms Huffingtons work, since home schoolers along with those educated in the better private schools seem to study serious government more than public schooled souls.

Ms Huffington love this country this is clear. She also appreciates the story of the "Emperor has no clothes" enough to step up to bat and speak what people need to hear, yet may not want to hear. She gives proof to the adage that while most people may claim they want the truth, in the end they don't. But the saving grace is that Ms Huffington also reminds us that it will only take a few, beginning at the grassroots level,to take back OUR country, and return it to one person one vote and get back to the Constitutional Republic the Founding Fathers laid a Foundation for.

I will also add this. If you ever have the chance to listen to this lady speak, you will be blessed with a woman of grace, class, strength and compassion. I only wish the media would show her off more as she is the "complete woman" and a wonderful role model for women of all ages.

Excellent book! Arianna Huffington tells it like it is and doesn't pull any punches. This book is a call to arms of the ordinary citizen. It will help flesh out the details of what you already sense is wrong with our system. Neither party is safe as she discusses the path politics has taken and explores the mire that it now languishes in - "both" parties slaves to big business and special interests. Her plan for much needed reform through true leadership and community activism could have benefitted from more details, but she was right on with her basic description of the necessities for change. If every disenfranchised citizen (based on voter turnout, that would be most of us) read this book, we'd see some pretty fired up folks at the polls this November demanding some changes in 'politics as usual'.

This book is mistitled. It should be renamed "The Case For Overthrowing the Government".

Ms. Huffington spends 11 out of 12 chapters building her case for why the system is broke and only deals with the "How To" aspect in her 12th chapter, devoting little more than scant attention to it. The blueprint that emerges from that last chapter is rather unfocused and seems to be a call more for volunteerism than a call for a political revolution. The groups and entities listed in the book's appendices are far more tilted to volunteerism than political change.

If you are a disaffected rebel, forget this book. You already know the system is broken and corrupted. If you are an activist, you are probably already involved in a few of the volunteer groups that Arianna names. If you are a conservative, this book will be a disappointment if you thought Ms. Huffington was a conservative.

My hope was that this book would provide the framework for kicking off a political revolution for campaign finance and influence peddling reform. One would think reading 11/12ths of the book, she was moving in that direction. Then when you get to the end, it all seems to fizzle away.

Maybe her ulitimate message in this book is "Figure it out yourself and do it on your own".

I started reading Huffington's columns on Salon. I had a "media-inspired" belief she was a Republican. Then I read a really atrocious and mean-spirited column where she wrote about Gore's days after the election where he considered suicide. It was the most tasteless piece of "satire" I'd ever read and her Republican status was confirmed. However, after reading other columns by Ms. Huffington, and now the book, I realize she's skewering both parties equally (and sometimes cruelly).

One problem I had with this book is now that I know her position -- actually a non-position -- is that she can skewer with the best of them but she can't really offer up much in the way of constructive advice to make anything better.

So our legislators are beholden to an evil system? The way she makes it sound, our legislators are evil simply by being a part of the system. She talks about how we have to encourage our best and brightest to become involved in politics to save our democracy, but does she really think we don't have some of the most intelligent and passionate individuals already in politics?

She never once concedes that the system can actually corrupt an individual. In her limited take on politics, the politicians are corrupting the system and therefore we must throw the bums out and correct the travesty we now call our government by not taking calls from pollsters? It's a simplified wrap-up of the book, but essentially a true one.

In Huffington's book, she finds just as much fault with the politicians as she does with special interests. Without realizing that without money there can be no campaign. And while she lauds many worthy attempts by people and constituents who are valiantly fighting to overturn the corrupt special interests who actually can buy a politician, she never talks about the crisis of conscience a politician must actually face when living up to the reality of their position.

Also, a huge glaring error in her book is to point out how wrong polls can be and how desperate politicians are to follow their every whim... And then she relies, mostly for emotional impact, on a mind-numbing amount of data from studies and government reports to prove her positions.

It's true that a study can be proved more scientific than a phone poll, but she never sets out to distinguish the difference between scientific studies and polls. To the layman, what's the difference between 53% study that shows this or that, or a poll which is basically a sampling of 1,000 people who've been inconvenienced from their dinner?

And in many cases she quotes from Government stats. Isn't this the same Government we're trying to overthrow?

I have to say I did gain some insight into the political process only because I am new to the field and there was something refreshing about targeting both parties equally for critique.

But what's up with this whole thing about devoting your lunch hour to volunteer work? It's in the back of the book. It's in the bullet points of steps "we" can take to overthrow out government.

Um, I have an hour for my lunch hour. You forgot to tell me realistically what exactly I could do in thirty minutes (15 minutes to get there, 15 to get back). I'd love to spend thirty minutes of my day to REFORM my government.

But the book gives me no clue.