Final Detailed Review: Our Bunker Hill, June 8, 2009
Theresa Amato
Edit of 29 Jun 09 to correct 25% of the black population, thanks Mikey.
Edit of 18 Jun 09 to add two books by others and downgrade own books to unlinked mention.
Do not be surprised if your vote “disappears”. Amazon has the idea that anyone who votes for more than one of my reviews is a “fan” and should not count. We are all at the mercy of their control of the system.
I am giving this book five stars instead of four because it is the de facto “Bunker Hill” of our 21st Century Nation, doing for politics what Silent Spring did for the environment.
The book needs to be re-issued immediately in paperback with four additions that should themselves be offered free online: an annotated bibliography that properly embraces those who have gone before; an annotated legal list of cases; a list of the worst of the 527's; and a Presidential Decision Memorandum that itemizes the Electoral Reform Act of 2009.
The book does not acknowledge work by many including William Greider, e.g. Who Will Tell The People? : The Betrayal Of American Democracy or Greg Palast, e.g. The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. The latter bears on the author's being unwitting about Al Gore being bought off in Florida (today he is worth $100 million), with Warren Christopher carrying the offer from Wall Street.
That having been said, this is a SENSATIONAL BOOK not least because for the first time it has gotten Ron Paul to endorse a book and to talk to Ralph Nader in constructive terms–I pray this means that Ralph Nader is now ready to play well with others, including Cynthia McKinney and Jackie Salit.
I have goosebumps as I write this and a huge smile. This book is the first shot at our Bunker Hill and the government Of, By, and For the Banks (see the image I have loaded) is on the run, Goldman Sachs is finishing up its looting of the US Treasury, and I for one am appalled at the lack of integrity across the Senate–John McCain included–in failing to stop this under Bush and now under Obama–what better evidence do we need that this book by this author is “on target”? See Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders; The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy); Obama: The Postmodern Coup – Making of a Manchurian Candidate; and Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency among many others.
Here are my fly-leaf notes, followed by an itemization of the book's concluding thoughts and other recommended reading.
For me the gem of gems in this book is on page 253, and I quote the author directly: “Whether you can vote–and whether your vote counts–depends primarily on where you live.”
In many states such as Florida, 25% of the male black population has been convicted of a felony, served its time, and is still not allowed to vote. I agree this needs to change. [See Intro note 3 for citation].
Across the entire book, using the two Nader campaigns as a source of actual experience–this is non-fiction at its very best–non-fiction of great consequence I might add–the author documents the degree to which state documentation requirements and voting procedures vary “wildly” and can also be intimidating.
Citing Steven Hill and his book Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner Take All Politics PB, the author quotes Hill: “Winner take all is horse & buggy technology.”
The Libertarian Party is mentioned six times, but not recognized by the author as a “main” third party, something I hope Ron Paul's endorsement of this book will change. I URGE THE PUBLISHER TO PAY ATTENTION: this book needs to be issued in paperback immediately, with the four additions detailed above.
I learn an enormous amount in this book, which is certain to be an academic, business, and political classic for years to come.
Terry McAuliffe is an unethical pig. Democratic Party under McAuliffe destroyed Nader's prospects, to include libeling him and creating massive published misrepresentation. I learn from the author that “You can get away with libel if you put it in a lawsuit.”
“Campaigns are simultaneously over-regulated, under-regulated, and ineffectively regulated.” The entire book documents this assertion.
$250,000 a day is what needs to be raised to be a Presidential candidate.
527s are not only out of control and use the federal complaints progress as well as state by state law suits to put third party campaigns into grid-lock.
3rd parties are not offered Secret Service protection (and in my view need it the most)
Press is a trivializing factor to point that 45% of the public now ignores the press (but I would add, still has no solid “truth teller” to rely upon).
Good chapter on the Presidential Debate Commission which is an unethical and unofficial fraud created to exclude Third Parties, and which uses the police to block third party candidates from even being in attendance.
Over 6 million “lost votes” across the Nation. Diebold is trash (I already knew that, but the book does a fine job of documenting Diebold's criminal insecurity.
Observers are blocked from vote counting by being called “threats to security.” I have a note, “Insanity prevails.”
I learn there is a National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) which is important, since it was this position that stole the election for Bush in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.
The concluding review covers:
Electoral College
Vote Counting
Voter ID
Absentee & early Voting
Military & Overseas Votes
Write-In Votes
Provisional Votes
Recounts
The recommendations for reform are comprehensive:
Eliminate Electoral College
Add Affirmative Right to Vote
Federalize Federal elections
Federal Administration (24 specifics)
State-Level Reforms (25 specifics)
Judiciary Integrity
For a shorter eight-point version, search for <Electoral Reform Act oss.net>. The book ends with thoughts on the consequences of doing nothing. I urge one and all to demand of Obama an Electoral Reform Act of 2009, which itself should be defined by a nation-wide virtual summit among all interested voters.
Three other books of note:
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE: The Transpartisan Imperative in American Life
The People's Business: Controlling Corporations and Restoring Democracy
I have offered up free online all of the books from Earth Intelligence Network, at oss.net/BOOKS (add the www), and especially recommend the annotated bibliography at oss.net/PIG, as it is a virtual “Citizen's Reader” and my summaries of 500+ books across a range of topics relevant to restoring the goodness of America at home and abroad can be helpful in arming those who mean to government themselves with the power of knowledge. The three best books here at Amazon (out of links) are:
ELECTION 2008: Lipstick on the Pig
NEW CRAFT OF INTELLIGENCE: Personal, Public, & Political
COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace
Resist the Borg. Do not be assimilated. Demand Electoral Reform NOW.
