How to Overthrow the Government

Rating:
Summary: An indictment of American politics
Review: A more appropriate title would be "Why the Government needs to be overthrown; and how to do it." Regarding the need for overthrowing, Arianna Huffington identifies a few causes: first, money in politics (her parts on pharmaceuticals and campaign finance are excellent); second, the establishment's resistance to political pluralism; third, the desire to listen to polls instead of standing firm on issues and leading (although Mrs. Huffington criticizes polls, she uses them quite often too).

As for the overthrowing of the government, Mrs. Huffington suggests political activism (including not participating in opinion polls). But she spends little time on this; while Mrs. Huffington has put together an impressive list of political wrongs, her collection of "success stories" is rather modest (not sure if that is the product of poor research or poor activism).

This book is witty and well written, and Arianna Huffington spared none in her criticism. Her ideas should be taken seriously by anyone interested in the health and future of the American political system.

Rating:
Summary: Bravo Ms Huffington
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Moderates always make for Mediocre Politics
Review: Arianna is barely a neoconservative, ...She is on the centrist fringe, tolerant of a lukewarm welfare state. She rails against the Beltway establishment, but really doesn't offer any concrete platform for change. This book is little more than a feel good puff-piece for the alienated voter without any clear-cut political leanings, but a penchant for interventionism. Being partisan isn't as bad as she'd have you believe...

Rating:
Summary: A hollow populism
Review: First of all, the book (actually, an oversized pamphlet) is very curious, sharp and certainly worth the time spent for its reading. Overall, the author makes a good point of the bureaucratic government, prone to every kind of lobbying.
However, I found disturbing that the author inadvertently slips into populism. Let me mention a few examples.
The book clearly supports royalty-free production of HIV drugs in Africa. In the case of Microsoft, it's called counterfeiting. This opinion cannot be readily correlated with the professed liberalism of the author, since a permission to counterfeit constitutes robbery. If the government or people want to help drug-afflicted nations, let them collect funds, buy the drugs and send there, not impose charity obligations on the commercial pharmaceutical companies. Besides, such sequestration of property would discourage future research, precluding competition from developing and prices from falling.
The book also argues against pollsters. It's an understandable attitude of an American being disgruntled by phone calls during his Sunday family breakfast. However, this system of asking for public opinion would rise admiration in most other countries, where the government doesn't care what the people think or want. As to the fact that poll results are biased towards opinion of those few people agreeing to answer seemingly stupid questions, it is just the same problems as of the participation in the elections. If you do not take part, you implicitly agree to abide by the others' opinion.
Corruption cases described are appalling, but, again, the ethical standard applied is far too rigid. Everyone would agree that actual government couldn't be free from lobbying, so the point is not to eliminate it, seemingly an impossible task, but at least make it irrelevant for 999 people out of 1000. What the author describes perfectly fits this scheme. It won't be even considered a corruption in many countries, where the bribery is an element of everyday life.
So, the government, which is quite good by international and America's own historical standards, is presented as evil renegade based on the idealist' expectations. This is wrong, diverting attention from the necessity of public control to the utopian idea of the complete rehearsal.
To those interested in the subject, I would rather suggest The Parliament of Whores by P.J.O'Rourke. It's both sharper and more balanced.

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS NOT A "HOW TO" BOOK - THE TITLE IS A LIE
Review: I began to read this book, wondering how this writer proposed we
common folk change the government. About halfway through, after the author trashed money-grubbing polititians, false pollsters, and
the distorted media, I still had yet to read a word about overthrowing anything; I started to skip pages...I know how bad things are in Washington - I really never found any ideas, or information, unless you consider dropping the MoveOn.com website as her idea of an overthrow proposal? Yes, it's a decently written litany of the sins of current political affairs, BUT, when the contents of a book does not connect with the title, well, that's a "D" in my grade book.

Rating:
Summary: Often thought provoking but also perplexing
Review: I learned a lot from this book. I think Arianna Huffington is a very good writer, she's very knowledgeable and brings a lot of wit and humor to her work. For material such as her weekly columns, I think this is the perfect blend...but many times during this book I found that frustrating.

Passages throughout the book are interjected with jokes as if they were also part of the story. I think in a newspaper medium a columnist can do well to bring a little humor to make it more entertaining. But when I'm reading a book you can assume that you have already my interest and proceed with the work. Moreover, it seems some chapters were needlessly dragged out. Although many of her examples of dubious deeds by our politicians are valid, I felt that this eventually became an attempt to flesh this book out and fill up to something significant (talking pages here). I think all of her points were significant, but the first few examples are pertinent enough. Lastly, I agree to some degree that the title of this book is a bit more radical then it's contents. Yet, she is serious about change and spends some time discussing how we can go about it (albeit much later in the book, and in a very practical manner).

It must be said that I appreciate the sincerity that Arianna Huffington brings to her work. I'm pleased to see that she doesn't cover up for anyone and I can appreciate how hard that could be in her position as a syndicated columnist. As someone that has been reading a lot of Chomsky, I wasn't expecting some of the honesty that's been mentioned here. This is a book that deserves to be read. 3 stars for me is a must read (think, library people). 4 is a buy. 5 is something I send out to friends. I hope that gives some context.

Rating:
Summary: Right on target!
Review: This book is an excellent read and pulls no punches. It is a "call to arms" for any responsible citizen. I disagree with "A Reader's" review. Huffington offers many solutions to the problems discussed in this book. If you think for even a moment that government can be made better, this is a book for you. Oh, and did you notice? "A Reader" chose to stay anonymous and is from HOLLYWOOD!

Rating:
Summary: How to Overthrow the Plutocracy
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Dont Get All Huffy
Review: When I pick up a book by a political columnist I expected to read a longer version of their columns. I like these authors' columns, therefore, I was hoping for basically a 300-page column of new material. For the first third of the book this is exactly what I got. She was smart, sassy, and indignant, all the things that make her column worth reading. The book moved as fast as a book can. Unfortunately, she turned into a social working crusader in the middle of the book talking about children and anti-depressants, volunteer groups and consumer debt levels. I felt this section dragged, not so much because of a drop off in the writing, it was just not want I wanted, I prefer preaching to take place on Sundays. The last section of the book returned to the spit and vinegar the author is known for.

With that one complaint aside she does offer up the wit and one liners that made her semi famous. She goes after them all, Republicans, Democrats and anybody else the falls into her crosshairs. Another interesting bit was that she might have been the first one on the Trent Lott racial problems detailing out some of his issues before the latest flair up. Overall the book is an interesting and humorous book designed to offer up some entertainment and get you to think a bit. As long as you approach it with this understanding you should be entertained.