Summary

The Kleptocrats have taken over. A confederacy of corporate fat cats, Republican think tankers, Wobblycrats, empire builders, right-wing media barons, and just plain greedheads have heisted America's political process and our democratic ideals -- and are just about to dump our whole country into their giant bag of swag. Imagine that they would be doing if they'd actually won the election! Is this what the founders had in mind? Is this what you had in mind? Is this the best our country can be? Jim Hightower knows we can do better, knows that we don't have to settle for the plutocratic, autocratic, kleptocratic agenda of BushCo. Hightower is the most outspoken populist in America, and he's back in the nick of time, mad as hell, with a new book that is at once illuminating, hilarious, infuriating...and filled with hope. Fortunately for readers (unfortunately for our country), he has no shortage of material and targets these days. The economy is in the ditch, George W keeps fattening the rich at the expense of the rest of us, Rumsfeld is on the warpath for global domination, Ashcroft is insane, polluters rule, the Democrats are worse than pathetic, the media is a tasteless joke ... and we've got another corporate-sponsored made-for-TV presidential election coming up.

Author Biography

Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, columnist, and the bestselling author of If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates and There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos.

Introduction: Kleptocrat Nation	p. xiii
Lost America (The Bad News)
BushCo	p. 1
Never Have So Few Done So Much for So Few	p. 20
Bad Apples	p. 44
The Super-Duper Empire of King George the W	p. 73
The Wobblycrats	p. 98
America The Possible (The Good News)
Even the Smallest Dog Can Lift Its Leg on the Tallest Building	p. 111
Legacy	p. 133
America The Beautiful (The Best News of All)
A Progressive Optimist in the Age of Bushwa	p. 147
Public Spirit	p. 150
Wal-Mart: How to Play Beat the Devil	p. 166
Taking Charge of Dinner	p. 194
No Sweat	p. 210
The Road to Privacy	p. 224
Don't Be an Idiot	p. 237
Epilogue
Bob Runs for President (A Drama in One Act)	p. 251
Connections	p. 263
Index	p. 271
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Excerpts

INTRODUCTION Kleptocrat Nation klep?to?crat na?tion (klepYte krat naY shen), n. 1. a body of people ruled by thieves 2. a government characterized by the practice of transferring money and power from the many to the few 3. a ruling class of moneyed elites that usurps liberty, justice, sovereignty, and other democratic rights from the people 4. the USA in 2003 The Kleptocrats have taken over. Look at Americais leadership todayonot just political, but corporate, too. Tell me you wouldnit trade the whole mess of them for one good kindergarten teacher.Forget George W for a moment (weill get to him soon enough) and sneak a peek at practically any big-deal CEO, congressional heavy, media baron, talk-show yakker, pompadoured TV preacher, and the other pushers of Americais new ethic of grab-it-and-go greed. Sheesh! In a crunch, would you want to be tied at the waist to any of these people? When I look at any one of them, I canit help mumbling to myself: 100,000 sperm and you were the fastest? Yet, theyire in charge! Here we are, living in the wealthiest country in history, a country of boundless possibilities, a country made up of a people deeply committed to democratic ideals, a country with the potential for spectacular human achievementobut we find ourselves ruled (politically, economically, culturally, and ethically) by a confederacy of Kleptocrats. When did you first realize or at least begin to suspect that America was lost? Not physically, of courseoweire right here. Lost its way, is what I mean, having wandered from the brave and true path first pointed out by Tom Paine, T.J., Jimmy Madison, and several other good thinkers back around 1776oa path toward a society focused not on empire, but on enlightenment and egalitarianism. Weive never reached that glorious place, of course, but the important thing is that in our two- century sojourn weive been steadily striving to get there...and making progress. If any one thing really characterizes this big boiling pot of diversity dubbed iAmericai it is that weire a nation of strivers. Unfortunately, the cultural elites want to minimalize this powerful virtue by reducing it to nothing more than individuals striving for material gainoWho Wants to Be a Millionaire, How to Get Rich in the Next Half Hour!, You Might Already Be a Winner. Then they wonder why thereis such a gaping hole in America, an emptiness that canit be filled by nonstop shopping, prepaid elections, more bunting, and reality TV. When the Powers That Be started defining a personis value by the value of his stock portfolio, they lost America, for thatis not who we are. These Powers are as clueless as the doomed husband in this divorce case: attorney: What was the first thing your husband said to you when you woke up that morning? witness: He said, iWhere am I, Cathy?i attorney: And why did that upset you? witness: My name is Susan. Donit go calling us names like iConsumeri or iStakeholderi when who we are is full-fledged, dyed-in-the-wool, unbridled, rambunctious citizensoindeed, weire the ultimate sovereigns of this great land. We donit strive merely for material gain, but also for the spiritual satisfaction of building community and reaping the deeper richness of the common good. The idea of belonging to something larger than our own egos and bank accounts, the idea of caring, sharing, and participating as a public, is the BIG IDEA of America itself. As a boy growing up in Denison, Texas, I was taught this unifying, moral concept by hardworking, Depression-era parents who ran a small business in our small town. They knew from experience and from their hearts what America is all about: iEverybody does better when everybody does betteri is how my old Daddy used to put it. The unforgivable transgression of todayis leaders is that theyive abandoned this common wisdom of th