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A review by jiujensu
Breaking Through Power: It's Easier Than We Think by Ralph Nader
5.0
This is a really really short book for everyone fed up with the current two parties with concrete steps to take, some short term, some long term by a consummate activist for public safety and people power through the decades. Essential reading for an activist and informative for everyone else. He talks about the corporate takeover of Presidential Debates and the Republican and Democratic Parties, how corporations get away with paying no taxes and doing things average people get jailed for regularly. I didn't realize airline compensation for overbooking was won in a lawsuit, not given out of an understanding of good business practices or that safety regulations, lost baggage compensation, ban on post purchase price hikes were all a result of advocacy, not a sense of moral obligation by corporations either. Another surprise was the 30 year Peace Park Anti Nuclear vigil by Concepcion Picciotto- I had no idea that went on until recently.
Towards the end is really great- he lists several people, including our own Rev. Barber, who motivated people to reclaim power. And then he moves to explaining a bunch of steps that people on both sides of the political divide have historically been widely in favor of- taking back the airwaves, giving the power to declare war back to Congress, reining in Wall Street, assist community business, jail corporate criminals.
The big finish is encouraging the binding none of the above option (NOTA) so that we can express our vote of no confidence. Then we'd get new candidates and more involved populace. In many elections, I think this would have sent an important message and empowered more people. So many people check out of politics because both choices are the same essentially or they dislike both options. We need a way to send that message to the top instead of being forced to say yes to something we can't necessarily get behind in order to have a voice. I don't know if this is definitively the way, but Nader's got a lot of interesting ideas to consider.
Towards the end is really great- he lists several people, including our own Rev. Barber, who motivated people to reclaim power. And then he moves to explaining a bunch of steps that people on both sides of the political divide have historically been widely in favor of- taking back the airwaves, giving the power to declare war back to Congress, reining in Wall Street, assist community business, jail corporate criminals.
The big finish is encouraging the binding none of the above option (NOTA) so that we can express our vote of no confidence. Then we'd get new candidates and more involved populace. In many elections, I think this would have sent an important message and empowered more people. So many people check out of politics because both choices are the same essentially or they dislike both options. We need a way to send that message to the top instead of being forced to say yes to something we can't necessarily get behind in order to have a voice. I don't know if this is definitively the way, but Nader's got a lot of interesting ideas to consider.