Customer Reviews

What You Should Know About Politics...But Don't: A Nonpartisan Guide to the Issues

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a Washington DC economist, I've lost patience with factless partisan political screeds (Coulter, Moore), and have hoped for more books that provide solid, factual backgrounds on economic issues. For that reason, I really wanted to love this book.

I was very disappointed. Readers who see "Nonpartisan Guide to The Issues" and therefore let their guard down will be fed "facts" that are mostly Democratic viewpoints, and "myths" that are mostly Republican viewpoints. Often these are based on factual inaccuracies, or misrepresentations.

It is worth noting that Jessamyn Conrad is the daughter of Democratic US Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND). So it is not surprising that even if she is trying to be fair, she seems more comfortable explaining/defending liberalism than conservatism. Consequently, the book always steers the reader right back to her Father's midwestern liberalism.

Take her defense of farm subsidies. Mountains of studies have shown that the system overwhelmingly subsidizes a small group of corporate agri-businesses and actually harms the farm economy. Yet rather than challenge (or better yet, endorse) these economic critics, Conrad fails to even acknowledge their existence. Instead, she merely asserts (with no data) that farm subsidies are vital for stabilizing the farm economy. She also says that "only $55 billion" is spent on farm subsidies anyway, and that amount is too small to worry about (!). The section may as well have been written by Washington farm lobbyists. No balance whatsoever from the daughter of the Senate's leading farm subsidy defender.

On taxes, Conrad simplistically blames the ENTIRE 1980s budget deficits on the Reagan tax cuts (the 30% expansion of government is not mentioned), and defines supply-side economics as the belief that all tax cuts pay for themselves (it actually assumes they *partially* pay for themselves through economic growth). Finally and most implausibly, she denies that wealthy families pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than poor families (the Congressional Budget Office shows that the top quintile pays 25.5% of their income in combined federal taxes, versus 4.3% for the bottom quintile - see data table 1A at http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=8885). Conrad's economic section needs a fact checker.

I could go on and on.

Let me repeat that I am not questioning Conrad's integrity. She seems to have tried to be fair to both sides. Yet she ultimately fails to provide an even-handed account of the issues. Of course, being even-handed does not mean that the facts must show conservatives & liberals each being correct 50% of the time. The facts should lead where they lead. But Conrad too often misrepresents/ignores conservative viewpoints, or commits factual errors when trying to debunk them. Adding a co-author who better understands conservatism could have solved this problem.

True, the book is endorsed by former Republican Senators Bob Dole and Trent Lott. Yet they do not speak for conservatives. Both Senators' conservative reputations were based more on their midwestern/southern roots and conservative demeanor than their voting records. Both generally favored expanded government (especially farm subsidies) & pork-barrel spending, and often expressed skepticism towards tax relief. Their endorsement of this book is therefore not surprising or particularly meaningful.

Overall, a great idea for a book. But poor execution -- too many factual errors and misrepresentations.

(now, most will rate this honest and detailed critique "unhelpful" simply because it doesn't mindlessly cheerlead for the book - apparently more nuanced reviews are not welcome here.)

If you are interested in politics, this is the book for you. In fact, it got me `hooked off' the internet, scimming through pundits' views back and forth, and instead presented me with a real basis on which to form my political opinion.

Jessamyn Conrad gives a concise and balanced overview to a vast array of topics in nowadays politics: elections, economy, foreign policy, military, health care, energy, environment, civil liberties, culture wars, socioeconomics, homeland security, education and trade. These are basically all fields of great importance and consequence for society, and certainly areas where decisions now will have a tremendous impact on the future.

I have to disagree with the previous commenter; everyone is entitled to his own opinion, and in my view, this is fine even for authors of nonpartisan books. Overall, this book provides an easy-going introduction into important questions of society and subjects of political discussion and leaves the reader with a well-balanced base of knowledge.

It is written in a witty and humourous style and leaves you enjoying it from front to back. Very informative, yet easy to read.

Anyone who is interested in politics and wants to inform himself well before the election - or about the political debates in general - will enjoy this book. Strongly recommended!

I picked up this book by chance while browsing through a bookstore. After reading the preface, and being struck by the clarity, wit, and thoughtfulness with which the author expressed her ideas, I decided to buy it. I read the book out of order, starting with the issues that interested me most, and was surprised to discover that I'd read all of it in one sitting. The author is true to her word, and gives an unbiased, non-partisan overview of the issues. It is what it promises to be --a guide-- easy to follow, and one that can finally empower voters to make decisions without blindly following the preaching of any political party. This book would make an excellent addition to an American politics/government class syllabus, and I commend Jessamyn Conrad for a job incredibly well done!

This book is a first-rate primer for the majority of Americans who know little about politics and policy making, or tend to get their information from less than reputable sources. Far too many people take dangerous, rash, and uneducated stands on important issues, or they make rash judgments (based on hearsay or blogs) about political candidates. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've encountered a person who says s/he won't vote for Obama "because he's a Muslim", for instance, or that Sarah Pallin is a neo-Nazi who believes Alaska should be an independent nation.

I often ask these people where they get their "misinformation" -- and to explain exactly what they've been reading and studying to arrive at their conclusions on important political issues or procedures. They blush, stammer, and cannot answer the question. This book is for them -- and anyone else who slept through American Government 101. Yes, it IS a primer. But I have yet to meet many average Americans who are even ready for the advanced course in politics.

This book will allow a political novice to go toe-to-toe at a dinner party with long-time subscribers to The New York Times and The Economist. It'll also enable readers to parse the most challenging reporting about the 2008 elections and the 111th Congress.

At the same time, I can say from experience that the book will be worthwhile reading for amateur policy wonks. The author mixes exhaustive academic research with the sorts of insights that you can only get from political insiders. Plus, the writing is first-rate. I found that the book was a great way to fill gaps in my knowledge base; I wound up re-reading chapters on topics where I knew relatively little and skipping some chapters where I was already well-informed.

I must say that I'm a little entertained that the only negative review of this book on Amazon complains that the author tends to endorse liberal positions--since I felt frustrated that the author often framed key debates but didn't analyze who had the stronger argument. For example, the author doesn't adopt a view with respect to whether the 2001 Bush tax cuts increased or decreased tax revenues. I suspect the fact that the author is being criticized for making both too many, and too few, judgments means that she's striking a good balance. In any event, the book makes it a lot easier to see through misleading statements by politicians of all stripes.

I've always wanted someone to write a book like this. There are all the experts and know-it-alls on TV who try to tell us how to think instead of just telling us the facts and letting us decide for ourselves. The newspapers used to do this but not anymore. But it's our patriotic duty to vote and so we have to know what's going on in the world. That's what this book does. It covers all the issues, it tells both sides, it's fair, and it doesn't take long to read. I'm a teacher and a coach, and I'm recommending this book to all my classes and teams and their parents, and everyone at my church. This is the most important book I've seen in a long time.

I picked this book up on impulse, from a table of political books at B. Dalton, and read it from cover to cover, couldn't put it down. After all the shrill, partisan sound-bites that fill the air and make you sick of politics, at last there is a book that tells you what you need to know to make an informed decision.

This handy book is laid out so that it's easy to follow. Topics are divided by chapters: Elections, The Economy, Foreign Policy, The Military, Health Care, Energy, The Environment, Civil Liberties, Culture Wars, Socioeconomic Policy, Homeland Security, Education, and Trade. Each chapter begins with a bulleted list of major points, next comes the background to current debates, and then current debates follow with a more in-depth discussion. Both sides of each issue are laid out. Time and again the reader sees "opponents" and "advocates" as each side is presented in a no-nonsense style of writing. Results of polls and majority of opinions are incorporated where applicable and overall trends are examined.

This is a useful guide to be referred to often. I recommend it.

This day and age, everyone should know at least a little bit about the political parties and basic political platforms. "What You Should Know About Politics... But Don't," is a good source of information that many people will find useful. If you're really into politics and already know a lot, this book won't be the best for you.

If you need to brush up on the basics, or want to start building a foundation for understanding politics in the United States, this book will help you understand the two major parties and where they tend to position themselves on different issues.