Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: My first hero wasn't an athlete or political figure or movie star. It was Nader. I've admired his integrity, his fortitude, and his values since I was a high school student. At 58, I still found him the most interesting of all the political candidates -- smart, bold, and filled with ideas. To listen to him is always to learn something. BUT. But somewhere along the line, Nader came to admire himself as much as I've admired him. This book is a name-dropping ego trip. He seems to have impressed himself that he ran for President. He reminds me of a kid showing off his diving skills with "Hey, look at me." Ralph, the campaign was a belly flop. Why write a book about it? We get a lot more of Nader selling himself in this book than we do of Nader selling his ideas. And that's a shame.
Rating: 
Summary: Take Back America
Review: One is probably not surprised that large corporations and big money are running our country as Ralph Nader documents in his book "Crashing the Party". The Democrats and the Republicans both receive large financial contributions from the corporations thereby ensuring corporations that they have access to the White House regardless of which party wins the election. To appease these corporations and to ensure a continual flow of campaign money both parties support legislation favorable to the corporations. Nader points out the Democrats have "morphed" into the Republican Party resulting in very little differences between the two parties. When third party candidates run for office the giant media conglomerates do not provide national news coverage if the candidates no not have a respectable showing in the polls. If the candidates are not getting coverage their polls don't have a chance to improve. To increase their standing in the polls, third party candidates need exposure. The best way for them to get exposure is to be included in the debates. The Commission on Presidential Debates now controls the debates. The Commission is comprised of the former National Democratic Committee Chairman and the former National Republican Committee Chairman and their appointees. The Commission rules on all decisions regarding the debates including which candidates to include, what questions to ask and who will monitor the discussion. The Commission requires a candidate to be registered and on the ballot in enough states to theoretically be able to obtain the required number of electoral votes necessary to become President to be included in the debates. Congress (Democrats and Republicans) has passed legislation requiring candidates to have a 15% rating in the polls to be included in the debates. For a candidate to be included on the states ballot the states impose their own requirements ranging from obtaining a certain number of signatures to meeting their fee requirements, for example in North Carolina it requires 51,324 signatures and $4,000. How can we brake the cycle and take back our country? The two existing parties will only pay attention if third party candidates begin to make some encroachment on their votes at all levels of politics. A third party candidate may not win the election, but the average and below average American lost the 2000 election anyway, regardless of the Gore/Bush results. Nader is building a long-term reform movement and as the strength of that party grows the Democrats and the Republicans will be forced to change or they will continue to decay as a political party. Are third party candidates (Nader) qualified? Nader's years of experience as a citizens advocate for consumers results in his being extremely knowledgeable beyond the depth of most candidates in a wide range of topics. Throughout his book "Crashing the Party" he constantly shows an understanding of situations and an in depth comprehension of details. Nader also adequately and knowledgeable addresses the issues of foreign affairs although this book was written before September 11th, which of course has a baring on these matters. Does 9/11 and the war on terrorism meaning that we must be loyal to the President regardless of other issues? Circumstances of this nature and how to approach these issues are items that are decided by many advisors regardless of who is President and war should be decided by congress. Everyone is supportive of Presidents during crisis, but that does not imply a blind obligation to support future actions regardless of who is President. During the 2000 presidential election, many people either did not vote for lack of interest and disgust in the system or voted for the lesser of two evils. I voted for Gore in hopes of keeping the Republicans out of office. Today I realize, thanks in large part to Naders book "Crashing the Party" that neither of the DemRep parties have an interest in the average citizen. I lose with either party. Any qualified third party candidate in future elections will likely receive my vote. Quoting from the book, "wealth inequality is greater than at any time since World War II. The top 1 percent of the wealthiest people have more financial wealth than the bottom 90 percent of Americans combined, the worst inequality among large Western nations". In the last pages Nader states that it is "time for people to ask how badly they want a democracy" and based on his fact filled book I would suggest that one give serious consideration to voting "Green" next election. It is time for the people to take back America. Go Green!
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: This book is, if you ignore the politics and simply look at the style and content, entertainment of the highest order. True, most people DON'T do this, instead they react to his political message and in the process miss all the fun stuff. Ralph Nader is a delightful collection of contradictions, a man who can simultaneously be brilliant and dense, keenly observant and utterly clueless. Nader is the sort of man who could walk through an office building filled with beautiful women all dressed in lingerie, and the only thing he'd notice is whether the fire exits were in compliance with OSHA regulations. Ralph is completely blind to irony, thus he can pen a paragraph railing against the vast wealth of top corporate execs and begin the very next paragraph with the words "Leaving Ted Turner's office, I flew to .." This is a classic Homer Simpson "DOH!!!" moment. In the next chapter he gives us this gem "A campaign should not be a vehicle for an ego." Holy cow, I thought when I read that, could anything in this book be more unintentionally funny??? His whole campaign was, when you get right down to it, a massive hosanna to his ego. Despite the fact that large numbers of friends and fellow activists asked, even pleaded with him to not spoil Gore's campaign, Nader would simply have none of it. His motive seemed to be something like this: "Only I, King Ralph, sitting here atop my Olympus of Moral Purity, know what's best for this country and by golly nothing will distract me from my course because it's all about ME ME ME!" The sheer pomposity, the endless halo polishing, the self-aggrandizement is stunning! On those rare occasions where he takes himself to task, it's for not being more aggressive in self promotion (see page 103, top paragraph, page 183, third paragraph). There is incessant and gratuitous name-dropping as Ralph coyly informs us of all the rich, smart, and powerful people who think he's the bee's knees. On the rear cover, the ever-fatuous Phil Donahue is actually quoted as calling Nader "The most important private American of the 20th century". Hey, Phil, ever hear of Martin Luther King Jr.?? Even his occasional efforts at self-depreciation come off as smug; as if Nader is saying that, in addition to all my other virtues, look at how humble I am! This book is, quite simply, 300+ pages of a man kissing his own rear end. The hilarity simply never ends. Here's Nader ruminating on his teenage years "And in high school, I became absorbed by the history of the muckrakers and crusaders of the early 1900's ..." Oh, come on, Ralph! As I recall, when I was in high school I was absorbed chiefly with trying to get dates with cheerleaders! Can't you cut out the high-minded balloon juice just once and 'fess up to being an actual human being? Nader repeatedly raises the art of Not Getting It to sublime levels. Ralphie the Homeboy devotes several pages to pontificating on life in the 'hood, and in the process sounds like the lady in the movie "Airplane!" who says "Excuse me stewardess, I speak jive!" Then he wonders why the black leadership mostly ignored him. Ditto for the feminists, since (at least based on what's in this book) Ralph apparently has no clue where he stands on abortion. Episodes of circular logic abound. Nader whines constantly about the media coverage, mainly that they weren't covering him enough, but when they did (in a manner that was in any way critical) he blasts them for that! Apparently Ralph thinks his media coverage should only be of a flattering nature. At one point he works himself into a snit about a New York Times editorial, which is, I suppose, his prerogative, however his response is to deign to dictate to the Times how they should run their editorial page. Bye bye 1st amendment, I suppose, in a mythical Nader administration. Also, Nader launches endless tirades demanding ever more public control over the media, yet his only comments about PBS (as in the "PUBLIC" Broadcasting System) are to thrash Jim Lehrer for his performance as the debate moderator. Jeez, with Nader, you just can't win! I guess, in summation, what really makes this book a hoot is that the author presents himself as a man of deadly earnestness and yet, again and again, shows himself to be a complete horse's ass. And what makes it all the funnier is Nader simply has no clue how goofy he can be. This man is by turns a whiny, petulant brat, an insufferable twit, a clueless nincompoop, and a big baby who blames all his setbacks and shortcomings on others and yet all the while he sees himself as this great political visionary, an almost prophet-like figure! Nader's essential problem is this - he uses politics in his life to fill a purpose that has traditionally been served by religion, which is to say, as an all-encompassing moral entity that defines your entire being. As a result, Nader is simply blind to the realities of practical democracy, the necessity for compromise, give and take, coalition building, etc., and instead sees everything in stark black & white terms. Prophets don't temporize, they issue decrees, and they are pathologically unable to grasp a world in which a multitude of viewpoints compete with each other. The bottom line is that Saint Ralph didn't really want to be president, but America's political Ayatollah! Then the big dummy wonders why 98% of the country wanted no part of it.
Rating:
Summary: "Must Read" Indictment of Both Major Parties
Review:
I was among those who thought Ralph Nader was a "spoiler" and deprived Al Gore of the election. After reading this book, I now realize that Nader is correct-the major premise of his book is that both the Democratic and Republican parties have become so corrupt and so removed from citizen interests as to be identically disqualified from putting forward viable candidates for the future. He puts forth a vision for a new democracy in which the citizens take back the power and demand that third party candidates be allowed to join the Presidential debates and be heard by America.
Some will accuse Nader of name-dropping and self-aggrandizing in this book, but that is an unfair charge. He has dedicated 40 years of his life to a quest for fairness in American life. As I went through the book and reflected on his very early efforts on everything from women's rights to product safety to the environment I could not help thinking that the breadth and substance of his accomplishments make the Democratic and Republican candidates look like Johnny-come-latelys who are also bluffing snake oil salesmen. This guy is "the real deal." I recommend that two books be read prior to reading this one: Halstead & Lind's "The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics" and Ray & Anderson's "The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World". Two other books could add useful underpinnings to the points Nader makes that I summarize below: Lewis' "LOSERS: The Road to Everyplace but the White House" which immortalizes citizen-businessman Morry Taylor (the "Grizz"); and Williamson's "IMAGINE: What America Could be in the 21st Century." A few points about Nader's book that I hope will dispel all the negative reviews and demonstrate that this is required reading: 1) This is the only book that addresses the totality of the challenges and threats to America in a sensible balanced way, without platitudes and upon a foundation of fact. 2) This is the only book representing the new political paradigm in which the citizen-voters take back the power by wiping out the ability of corporations to buy politicians. 3) This is the only book that thoughtfully and convincingly demonstrates that the Democrats have morphed into shadow Republicans, and both parties have completely lost their ethical and popular foundation. 4) This is the only book that bluntly confronts the fact that we get the government we deserve--democracy is hard work and demands citizen time and thought. 5) Among the useful details that should outrage and mobilize citizens, and all according to Nader: a) the Commission on Presidential Debates is a fraud perpetrated upon the public--it is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democratic and Republic parties created explicitly to displace the more honest League of Women Voters and to bar third party candidates from being visible to America in the crucial Presidential debates. b) there is an incestuous relationship between the media, the polls (most funded by the media) and the Presidential debate and public policy process. c) global threats are not well-understood by Americans, and a major effort spanning the next generation must be undertaken to restore global or foreign affairs and foreign trade understanding to the public. d) public budgets are neither public nor honest. They are massively distorted with a "proliferating array of taxpayer subsidies, giveaways, and bailouts (known as corporate welfare) to corporations." A recurring theme in Nader's book, based on factual legally-viable documentation, is the manner in which corporations are looting the commonwealth with the active connivance of our elected officials. The people need to wise up. e) the Internet has *not* has the anticipated leveling effect of bringing out citizen-voters to take back the power and stop corporate socialism. f) the non-profit organizations and popular organizations (e.g. the Sierra Club, the AFL-CIO) consistently misrepresent their members by choosing the "lesser of two evils" in the two traditionalist corporate candidates, not realizing that a) a lesser evil is still evil and b) their members are smart enough to consider third party alternatives and could--if enough such organizations banded together, cause a third party to be instantly visible as a mainstream alternative. g) the public commonwealth (the airwaves, land, water, etc.) has been taken away from the people. It is time to get it back and demand, as one small example, that those using the airwaves granted by the public provide for free political time for all viable candidates, ending the advertising rip-off that also deprives the people of clear access to all competing views. h) community building from the neighborhood up is the place to start. We need to focus on empowering and exciting the young people and building a cadre of volunteer civic activists that will sustain progressive public interests for the decades to come. I would make one personal observation that was inspired by reading this book: I do not believe that any one President, from any party, is viable as a "one click" choice for leading America. In my view, the next President should not be elected without two fundamental changes in how we elect Presidents: 1) instant run-off voting must be enacted, allowing second choice votes to play a role if a third party candidate is not elected (while qualifying the third party for funding in future elections based on the first choice vote); and 2) Cabinets must be announced in advance of the election and be the focus of at least one Presidential debate including at least three but ideally four parties. It is time for a third party candidate to pull together a Cabinet that includes the best choice for key posts irrespective of parties, and specifically including the Pat Buchanan's, Sam Nunns, Colin Powells, and key others like Ross Perot, Morry Taylor, even Jello Biafra (as new Minister of Culture!). This is really a superb book, in the tradition the Committees of Correspondence that helped bring about the American revolution, and I recommend it to all.
Rating: 
Summary: It's all true, but slow paced and sometimes hard to read
Review: Nader's fundamental failure; he tells us what we don't want to hear. It is also what makes him one of the most important citizens of our nation today. If you are interested in knowing more about the Nader phenomenom, interested in learning about the campaign after the abysmal failure of the mainstream media to cover it even when the campaign was drawing 10,000 people who paid to hear him speak, this is a good book for you.
It is also a book that will require substantial careful reading, and unfortunately, Nader's dry personality comes across very clearly in the book. Having met the man once, it's something that he can't escape, no matter how compelling and important the material he is discussing. He certainly learned a lot about public speaking over the course of the campaign, but we Greens need to acknowledge that his lack of charisma was certainly a factor in his lack of coverage. (Compare gonzo Reform Party politician Ross Perot),
Nader also has a self-righteous streak in him that can be quite distracting from the content. We all know that Nader isn't perfect, but to hear him speak about himself, he is. He's not a lovable character; like medicine, he's just what we need. In short, you need to be really interested in the topic or a die-hard fan to enjoy this book. I'm both, so I liked it, but I can't reccomend without those caveats. It was much more entertaining to read the book I bought this with, Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men."
Rating: 
Summary: "Freedom is participation in power."
Review: Ralph Nader's Crashing the Party is a tale of two candidates.
The 2000 US Presidential race had pitted Bush/Gore corporatists against the Nader/LaDuke Greens who were fighting for the soul of America. Betrayed by the establishment, yet armed with the truth, Ralph Nader exposes a series of evident, and many not-so-evident, facts wrong with America all the while rekindling hope for a country that has misplaced its soul.
Crashing the Party... reads well on several levels. It is a tome of what ails America. It is a book of political candidacy and procedural maneuvering. It is a travelogue and a diary from the road. It is also a book chock-full of celebrities, intellectuals, comrades and false friends.
Rating:
Summary: This should have been a great book.
Review: First of all, I should say that I like Ralph Nader and the Greens. I voted for him in 2000 and surely will vote Green again. A book about the 2000 Presidential Campaign and all of the amazing things that happened - the Super Rallies, the national emergence of the Green party, the Presedential Debates - should have been a great read. Unfortunately, it wasn't. In the book, Nader deals with three main topics - his political philosophy and current American political overview, numerous ancedotes about activist progressive politics both past and present, and a journal of the 2000 election. Unfortunately, instead of these topics being woven together nicely, they're packed in together without real order and continuity. The result is a choppy, and at times tedious result. There are some highlights of course. His criticsms of the Democratic party and the American political system are right on. There are occaisional places where the excitement of the campaign shine through. And the numerous ancedotes about the reaction of varios political elements to his campaign are fascinating. Nader misses many oppurtunities though to really decisively answer some of the questions about the appropriate role of the Green party in the American two party, winner-take-all system. He chastises others for their lack of understanding of the electoral college, but then fails to explain adequately why he is campaigning in Florida at the end of the election instead of in one of the 40 self declared "landslide" states. Interesting, he most eloquent defense of the Green party and its role is the piece written by Tim Robbins, included as one of (the many) appendixes. My major criticism of the book though is it's lack of resolution. Nader fails to put the campaign and it's results into a proper context. So what was the final result? What would he have done differently? More importantly, what is to be done next? There is a striking lack of critical self-analysis of the Green party and the campaign, something you would expect from someone usually so objective and fact-oriented as Nader.
Rating:
Summary: If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog
Review: Ralph Nader has probably done more to help the American comsumer Than any other person. While I may not agree with everything he does, he is a true believer in his cause and is not influenced by money or power. When he ran for President, many of the people who he thought were his friends not only turned their backs to him but tried to stomp him out. This book does a great job in giving the reader a inside look at what he experienced in his run for the Presidency. It also show that politics can be a tough and dirty business. I guess what old saying is true. If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.
Rating:
Summary: Ralph Nader is America's Atticus Finch
Review: I don't wish to hear anyone complain again about the absence of qualified, electable, candidates for president. But I know I will and I'll have to lash out my stock answer to this, which is: Do you mean someone who has courage and the stamina not to mention the high voltage intelligence it takes to actually serve the needs of our citizens? Well, we have had one for two elections and we wouldn't even let him debate. We are that fearful of changing a system that we all know isn't working. If I were the Empress of the Western Hemisphere, everyone would be forced to read this book, even if we had to tape their eyes open a la "Clockwork Orange." Without Ralph Nader's nagging, a lot us would be dead, diseased or forced to watch our loved ones suffer unspeakable fates. Can we remember what this man has done for four decades please?
Rating:
Summary: Pass the word, every US citizen should read this!
Review: I'm happy to keep this brief and simply reiterate that Nader's latest book is an incredible expose (no french symbols here) of our corrupt and very UNdemocratic political system. If you were one of the many voters who supported Nader but were afraid to vote for him, read this book and discover the many disgusting truths about the Democratic Party and how it continually abuses its loyal left-wing voters.
I was persuaded that Ralph Nader is much more than just the voice of progressive American voters. He is the type of candidate this country's founders would have envisioned as an excellent future president.
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