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The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington
An All-Access Pass to the Populist
Insurrection Brewing Across the Country
Job outsourcing. Perpetual busy signals at government agencies. Slashed paychecks. Stolen elections. A war without end, fatally mismanaged. Ordinary Americans on both the Right and Left are tired of being disenfranchised by corrupt politicians of both parties and are organizing to change the status quo. In his invigorating new book, David Sirota investigates whether this uprising can be transformed into a unified, lasting political movement.
Throughout the course of American history, uprisings like the one we are seeing now have given birth to powerful movements to end wars, protect workers, and expand civil rights, so the prospect of today’s uprising turning into a full-fledged populist movement terrifies Wall Street and Washington. In The Uprising, Sirota takes us far from the national media spotlight into the trenches where real change is happening—from the headquarters of the most powerful third party in America to the bowels of the U.S. Senate; from the auditorium of an ExxonMobil shareholder meeting to the quasi-military staging area of a vigilante force on the Mexican border. This is vital, on-the-ground reporting that immerses us in the tumultuous give-and-take of politics at its most personal.
Sirota also offers a biting critique of our politics. He shows how the uprising is, at its core, a reaction to faux “bipartisanship” in the nation’s capital—the “bipartisanship” whereby Republican and Democratic lawmakers join together in putting the agenda of corporate interests above all those of ordinary citizens.
Ultimately, Sirota reminds us that the Declaration of Independence, “America’s original uprising manifesto,” says that governments “derive their powers from the consent of the governed.” Irreverent and insightful, The Uprising shows how the governed have stopped consenting and have started taking action.
From the Hardcover edition.
Insurrection Brewing Across the Country
Job outsourcing. Perpetual busy signals at government agencies. Slashed paychecks. Stolen elections. A war without end, fatally mismanaged. Ordinary Americans on both the Right and Left are tired of being disenfranchised by corrupt politicians of both parties and are organizing to change the status quo. In his invigorating new book, David Sirota investigates whether this uprising can be transformed into a unified, lasting political movement.
Throughout the course of American history, uprisings like the one we are seeing now have given birth to powerful movements to end wars, protect workers, and expand civil rights, so the prospect of today’s uprising turning into a full-fledged populist movement terrifies Wall Street and Washington. In The Uprising, Sirota takes us far from the national media spotlight into the trenches where real change is happening—from the headquarters of the most powerful third party in America to the bowels of the U.S. Senate; from the auditorium of an ExxonMobil shareholder meeting to the quasi-military staging area of a vigilante force on the Mexican border. This is vital, on-the-ground reporting that immerses us in the tumultuous give-and-take of politics at its most personal.
Sirota also offers a biting critique of our politics. He shows how the uprising is, at its core, a reaction to faux “bipartisanship” in the nation’s capital—the “bipartisanship” whereby Republican and Democratic lawmakers join together in putting the agenda of corporate interests above all those of ordinary citizens.
Ultimately, Sirota reminds us that the Declaration of Independence, “America’s original uprising manifesto,” says that governments “derive their powers from the consent of the governed.” Irreverent and insightful, The Uprising shows how the governed have stopped consenting and have started taking action.
From the Hardcover edition.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
15 people are currently reading
300 people want to read
About the author
David Sirota
3 books146 followersDavid Sirota is an author, nationally syndicated columnist and radio host living in Denver, Colorado. His work focuses on the intersection of pop culture and politics. He is the author of three books: Back to Our Future (2011), The Uprising (2008) and Hostile Takeover (2006). His syndicated column appears weekly in newspapers with a combined circulation of 1.6 million readers. He hosts the morning drive-time radio show on Clear Channel's KKZN-AM760 in Colorado.
If you'd like to have Sirota talk about any of his books at your book club, civic group or local bookstore, go here to find out how to do that for free.
If you'd like to have Sirota talk about any of his books at your book club, civic group or local bookstore, go here to find out how to do that for free.
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October 2, 2021
The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington by David Sirota pubished in 2008 may be a little dated but it is political history at its finest during those tumultuous years from 2005 to 2008. There were wars raging in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush administration as well as issues with the border between Mexico and the United States. There was unease, too, because of what many perceived as a stolen election in 2000 with the U.S. Supreme Court siding with George W. Bush and against Al Gore in their run for the presidency. That was then compounded by the national trauma of 9/11 and its aftermath changing all of our lives.
The reading of this book is part of my vow to take more books from my library shelves resulting in a lot of surprises. This book is autographed and I remember it well as August 2008 was the site of the Democratic National Convention and Denver was inundated with Washington, D.C. celebrities, the news media, political pundits, and on an on. It was an exciting time as I sailed on the credentials of a friend who knew a lot of people in high places. Many days we were at a venue early in the morning as we listened to speakers the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Michael Beschloss, and Rahm Emmanuel. And sometime during this delightful experience, I went to a book signing with David Sirota.
David Sirota is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist who has worked in state and national politics throughout the United States, and at one point a speechwriter for the Bernie Sanders campaign. This book examines the forces causing people to rise up in a populist uprising made up of people from the liberal left as well as the conservative far right and how that may be contributing to a larger political movement. Quoting Warren Buffett's interview with the New York Times opining that, "It's my class, the rich class, that's making war and we're winning." However, as Sirota points out and supports his conclusion throughout his book, that may not be true much longer.
The book is well-written and covers many different aspects of what could be termed a political movement as Sirota conducted several years of on-the-ground reporting on different factions from all sides on political spectrum. Sirota also offers a biting critique of politics opining that the agenda of corporate interests are placed above those of ordinary citizens. This was an interesting piece of political history chronicled by a talented observer and reporter. It goes without saying that it was this unrest that Donald Trump tapped into marshalling a lot of that energy for his personal gain.
The reading of this book is part of my vow to take more books from my library shelves resulting in a lot of surprises. This book is autographed and I remember it well as August 2008 was the site of the Democratic National Convention and Denver was inundated with Washington, D.C. celebrities, the news media, political pundits, and on an on. It was an exciting time as I sailed on the credentials of a friend who knew a lot of people in high places. Many days we were at a venue early in the morning as we listened to speakers the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Michael Beschloss, and Rahm Emmanuel. And sometime during this delightful experience, I went to a book signing with David Sirota.
David Sirota is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist who has worked in state and national politics throughout the United States, and at one point a speechwriter for the Bernie Sanders campaign. This book examines the forces causing people to rise up in a populist uprising made up of people from the liberal left as well as the conservative far right and how that may be contributing to a larger political movement. Quoting Warren Buffett's interview with the New York Times opining that, "It's my class, the rich class, that's making war and we're winning." However, as Sirota points out and supports his conclusion throughout his book, that may not be true much longer.
"The economic persecution of the Gilded Age produced the Progressive Era and the trust-busting crusades of Teddy Roosevelt. The Great Depression inspired an age of unionism and FDR's New Deal. Southern racism spurred a civil rights movement. And today's oppressive class war that Buffett describes is generating an uprising all of its own."
The book is well-written and covers many different aspects of what could be termed a political movement as Sirota conducted several years of on-the-ground reporting on different factions from all sides on political spectrum. Sirota also offers a biting critique of politics opining that the agenda of corporate interests are placed above those of ordinary citizens. This was an interesting piece of political history chronicled by a talented observer and reporter. It goes without saying that it was this unrest that Donald Trump tapped into marshalling a lot of that energy for his personal gain.
December 29, 2008
After Nov. 4, The Uprising is somewhat out of date, but it still contains enough interesting anecdotes to make it worth reading for anyone following the nation's shifting political winds.
Sirota covers various populist movements on both the left and the right – from anti-tax efforts in Montana to anti-war groups in Washington to anti-immigration militias in California – all of them aimed at taking down The Establishment. But you won't find any objectivity here. Sirota's blatant bias undermines his solid reporting, though he does allow enough of his subjects to speak for themselves that his spin is not nearly as unforgivable as that of Fox News'.
Because Uprising was published in early 2008, Sirota no doubt wants to rewrite many portions of this book – mostly regarding all the developments in what was arguably one of this country's most interesting campaign cycles. Still, the movements he describes will no doubt continue to be forces in years to come, and learning about them and the real changes they are making is inspiring for any political junkie.
The most revealing chapter for me was about a white-collar, high-tech union in Washington state that is out to dispel the "Fantastic Four" myths about America's 21st century workforce: the Marlboro Man Fable, the Legend of Job Security, the Great Labor Shortage Lie and the Great Education Myth. For anyone who thinks the answer to creating jobs in America is simply preventing outsourcing and educating our kids, this chapter is a must read. There is also a great chapter on shareholder activism and its efforts to change ExxonMobile's environmental policy.
Sirota's voice is folksy, often-irreverent and easy-to-read, and his research is illuminating, if not exhaustive. Uprising is not the best political book of the year, but it might prove to be its most relevant.
Sirota covers various populist movements on both the left and the right – from anti-tax efforts in Montana to anti-war groups in Washington to anti-immigration militias in California – all of them aimed at taking down The Establishment. But you won't find any objectivity here. Sirota's blatant bias undermines his solid reporting, though he does allow enough of his subjects to speak for themselves that his spin is not nearly as unforgivable as that of Fox News'.
Because Uprising was published in early 2008, Sirota no doubt wants to rewrite many portions of this book – mostly regarding all the developments in what was arguably one of this country's most interesting campaign cycles. Still, the movements he describes will no doubt continue to be forces in years to come, and learning about them and the real changes they are making is inspiring for any political junkie.
The most revealing chapter for me was about a white-collar, high-tech union in Washington state that is out to dispel the "Fantastic Four" myths about America's 21st century workforce: the Marlboro Man Fable, the Legend of Job Security, the Great Labor Shortage Lie and the Great Education Myth. For anyone who thinks the answer to creating jobs in America is simply preventing outsourcing and educating our kids, this chapter is a must read. There is also a great chapter on shareholder activism and its efforts to change ExxonMobile's environmental policy.
Sirota's voice is folksy, often-irreverent and easy-to-read, and his research is illuminating, if not exhaustive. Uprising is not the best political book of the year, but it might prove to be its most relevant.
November 16, 2019
The best political book I've read this year. By focussing on the successes that various progressive forces have had, the book conveys hope. That wouldn't matter if it was badly written, though. It isn't. Its brilliant. Sirota uses the techniques of the most compelling fiction to tell his true stories. Characters are three dimensional. Settings are vivid. Anecdotes are funny, sad, suspenseful. It's a great read. And Sirota's voice itself, sardonic, sometimes sarcastic, honest, but with a heart in the right place, weaves all the narratives together smartly.
July 15, 2024
A ONE-YEAR SURVEY OF VARIOUS POPULIST "UPRISING" MOVEMENTS
David Sirota is a journalist who has also written 'Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government--And How We Take It Back' and 'Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now--Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything.'
He wrote in the Introduction to this 2008 book, "Whether it is shareholders running resolutions against corporate boards, third parties shattering the two-party duopoly, legislators kicking down lobbyists in state capitals, bloggers orchestrating primary challenges to entrenched lawmakers, or armed, enraged suburbanites forming vigilante bands at our southern border, this uprising is not even close to unified... We're going to (try to) find out if a real movement will emerge from the uprising, like the amoeba that once crawled out of the primordial soup... we'll see how the disparate pieces of this uprising are all part of one enraged backlash---a backlash against the corporate takeover of our government by Big Money interests, the status quo of wealth inequality, the daily reminders of rampant profiteering, and the widespread sense of political disenfranchisement."
He observes that MoveOn.org wasn't just about telling Congress to "move on" from the drive to impeach President Clinton; "the organization was originally birthed to defend the Establishment---not to change it... to defend Democrats and the government itself from radical Republican revolutionaries trying to pull a coup d'etat." (Pg. 80) After summarizing some of the events of the Clinton years (such as the China trade pact, which was "stripped of environmental, labor, and human rights protections"), he says pessimistically, "Though Clinton famously claimed his presidency meant the 'era of big government' was over, really it was the 'era of big ideas' that had come to a close." (Pg. 132)
He summarizes the "gravitational dynamic that the conservative movement has mastered, but the populist uprising has yet to fully grasp. Right-wing think tanks and activist groups exist to place uncompromising pressure on Congress. They take positions far to the right of where Congress has the votes to go. That outside pressure emboldens conservative movement allies on the inside to stand firm... It's not an accident that neoconservatives basically pushed for a wholesale American takeover of the entire Middle East and ended up with one of their big goals: an invasion of Iraq." (Pg. 175)
Concerning the border patrols of the Minutemen, he states that "they market themselves as truly strengthening national security. But... their primary objective is to humiliate ... the U.S. Congress... into action." (Pg. 212)
It's unfortunate that Sirota's book was written too early to include the Tea Party movement, the Occupy movement, the Wisconsin workers' protests, etc. But it's still a fascinating survey of a group of populist protest groups and movements.
David Sirota is a journalist who has also written 'Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government--And How We Take It Back' and 'Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now--Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything.'
He wrote in the Introduction to this 2008 book, "Whether it is shareholders running resolutions against corporate boards, third parties shattering the two-party duopoly, legislators kicking down lobbyists in state capitals, bloggers orchestrating primary challenges to entrenched lawmakers, or armed, enraged suburbanites forming vigilante bands at our southern border, this uprising is not even close to unified... We're going to (try to) find out if a real movement will emerge from the uprising, like the amoeba that once crawled out of the primordial soup... we'll see how the disparate pieces of this uprising are all part of one enraged backlash---a backlash against the corporate takeover of our government by Big Money interests, the status quo of wealth inequality, the daily reminders of rampant profiteering, and the widespread sense of political disenfranchisement."
He observes that MoveOn.org wasn't just about telling Congress to "move on" from the drive to impeach President Clinton; "the organization was originally birthed to defend the Establishment---not to change it... to defend Democrats and the government itself from radical Republican revolutionaries trying to pull a coup d'etat." (Pg. 80) After summarizing some of the events of the Clinton years (such as the China trade pact, which was "stripped of environmental, labor, and human rights protections"), he says pessimistically, "Though Clinton famously claimed his presidency meant the 'era of big government' was over, really it was the 'era of big ideas' that had come to a close." (Pg. 132)
He summarizes the "gravitational dynamic that the conservative movement has mastered, but the populist uprising has yet to fully grasp. Right-wing think tanks and activist groups exist to place uncompromising pressure on Congress. They take positions far to the right of where Congress has the votes to go. That outside pressure emboldens conservative movement allies on the inside to stand firm... It's not an accident that neoconservatives basically pushed for a wholesale American takeover of the entire Middle East and ended up with one of their big goals: an invasion of Iraq." (Pg. 175)
Concerning the border patrols of the Minutemen, he states that "they market themselves as truly strengthening national security. But... their primary objective is to humiliate ... the U.S. Congress... into action." (Pg. 212)
It's unfortunate that Sirota's book was written too early to include the Tea Party movement, the Occupy movement, the Wisconsin workers' protests, etc. But it's still a fascinating survey of a group of populist protest groups and movements.
May 8, 2024
Dull extremely biased account of characters from a bit of one man's political career.
I gave up about 10% in.
I gave up about 10% in.
July 14, 2014
Technically well written; the facts notwithstanding. I guess I don't know what I was expecting really. An author comes to the border with a history of writing left leaning material and goes away with a hatchet job on a patriotic American effort. I should have known but then again the Minutemen have had more than 100 authors, TV crews, newspapers, filmmakers and documentarians visit Camp Vigilance in the last three years and not once did they come away with a negative impression. Even the most hard core liberal media resisted painting a negative picture after having met the participants and seen the destruction of our open borders first hand. Bastions of conservative thought like CNN, MSNBC and AL Jazeera. Wait a minute, there was that guy from the History Channel. He too had an agenda. So now there are two.
I'm just surprised David didn't say he got the idea to come visit us in particular in Chapter 1 entitled "A Portrait of the Writer Lying On The Bathroom Floor" where. as described so eloquently in the title, he was lying on the floor in a third tier Las Vegas hotel, puking his brains out after partying with his DailyKos buddies.
That this was a hatchet job is not even a question. Pretty obvious. His description of our members or the minimalistic language he used when describing our efforts. Simple things like calling our $20,000 communications system a CB (really David. A CB?) or pure fiction as he described sitting around the camp fire "drinking beers" with us. Wishful thinking perhaps but pure fiction nonetheless. Camp Vigilance doesn't allow alcohol. Never has.
He talks about the the tragedy of the poor Mexican worker uprooted by NAFTA but mentions nothing about the thousands of American ranchers terrorized each night by hordes of illegal aliens crossing their property, destroying everything in their path. He downplays the terrorist threat and scold us for having the audacity to want to protect our country from an invasion of epic proportions.
He tosses off our observing people speaking Arabic, waltzing across our unprotected border in the middle of the night as "folklore", unsubstantiated by Internet reports. The drug runs and "rape trees", yup, thats folklore as well. Mean spirited stories designed to recruit new members to our "failed" effort. The only thing failing here was David's objectivity though I'm sure the guys and gals at Berkeley will run out to buy a copy of The Uprising. He's their new hero, elevated from his role as "the midget in a twiki costume at a Buck Rogers Event (I have to admit that thread was very clever) to "Mr. Scott in the engine room of the Enterprise". Go forth an garner the praise of the lefties David. You have earned it.
I don't know what the other victims of David's pen have to say about his "unbiased" interpretation of their efforts. His psychoanalytical review of what makes a patriot tick is comical were it not so tainted with the language of a leftist elitist. Makes no difference to us. We'll pass around his book at our next meeting of "white, graying, fifty something men" [and women], this to ensure that our only investment in this drivel is the $17.95 I plopped down for it.
If David gets his way, the borders will be open, drugs will be legalized, we'll have a day labor center on every corner and we'll be singing the national anthem in Spanish. About the only thing he did get right were the last few words in his Chapter on the Minutemen. A quote from me [one of the few accurate quotes from me in the book] NOT ON MY WATCH!
I'm just surprised David didn't say he got the idea to come visit us in particular in Chapter 1 entitled "A Portrait of the Writer Lying On The Bathroom Floor" where. as described so eloquently in the title, he was lying on the floor in a third tier Las Vegas hotel, puking his brains out after partying with his DailyKos buddies.
That this was a hatchet job is not even a question. Pretty obvious. His description of our members or the minimalistic language he used when describing our efforts. Simple things like calling our $20,000 communications system a CB (really David. A CB?) or pure fiction as he described sitting around the camp fire "drinking beers" with us. Wishful thinking perhaps but pure fiction nonetheless. Camp Vigilance doesn't allow alcohol. Never has.
He talks about the the tragedy of the poor Mexican worker uprooted by NAFTA but mentions nothing about the thousands of American ranchers terrorized each night by hordes of illegal aliens crossing their property, destroying everything in their path. He downplays the terrorist threat and scold us for having the audacity to want to protect our country from an invasion of epic proportions.
He tosses off our observing people speaking Arabic, waltzing across our unprotected border in the middle of the night as "folklore", unsubstantiated by Internet reports. The drug runs and "rape trees", yup, thats folklore as well. Mean spirited stories designed to recruit new members to our "failed" effort. The only thing failing here was David's objectivity though I'm sure the guys and gals at Berkeley will run out to buy a copy of The Uprising. He's their new hero, elevated from his role as "the midget in a twiki costume at a Buck Rogers Event (I have to admit that thread was very clever) to "Mr. Scott in the engine room of the Enterprise". Go forth an garner the praise of the lefties David. You have earned it.
I don't know what the other victims of David's pen have to say about his "unbiased" interpretation of their efforts. His psychoanalytical review of what makes a patriot tick is comical were it not so tainted with the language of a leftist elitist. Makes no difference to us. We'll pass around his book at our next meeting of "white, graying, fifty something men" [and women], this to ensure that our only investment in this drivel is the $17.95 I plopped down for it.
If David gets his way, the borders will be open, drugs will be legalized, we'll have a day labor center on every corner and we'll be singing the national anthem in Spanish. About the only thing he did get right were the last few words in his Chapter on the Minutemen. A quote from me [one of the few accurate quotes from me in the book] NOT ON MY WATCH!
March 26, 2009
Lately, I've been hearing and seeing David Sirota everywhere, on NPR radio shows, on Salon.com and elsewhere, criticizing President Obama for failing to deliver the kind of radical economic policies he had hoped for. For more on his views, I turned to this book.
Sirota contends that millions of Americans are full of rage at an economic system that is blatantly unjust, delivering the vast bulk of its rewards to a few at the top. So far, I'm with him -- and I give him credit because he appears to have seen this anger building much earlier than most other analysts. But he then takes his argument a step further. This anger, though unfocused, disconnected and atomized, has laid the groundwork for a new radical political reform movement that will produce fundamental change -- an uprising.
Sirota travels around the country, visiting different outposts of the "uprising" -- but fails to make his arguments stick.
More likely, the rage will cool as soon as the economy begins to recover and things will continue much as before. There is no uprising and there will not be one.
Sirota establishes his "gonzo" credentials right from the first sentence: "I'm pretty sure I'm still at the Riviera Hotel here in Vegas. I know this not because I can see through the blurry haze of my hangover or think past this pounding headache or feel anything other than the sharp pain of dehydration in my stomach, but because I can still smell the cigarette smoke embedded in the wallpaper."
What's remarkable about this is not only the fact that the words "I" or "my" appear seven times in one short paragraph but that the whole description is both unevocative and irrelevant to the book. Sirota is no Hunter S. Thompson, although he perhaps wishes he was. (I guess the decision to begin the book drunk in Vegas should be taken as a clear 'hommage'.) But Sirota cannot match Thompson's self-destructive contempt for authority. He's is more of a policy wonk: we see him in committee meetings and TV studios and at conventions. Most of all, Thompson would never have written a sentence like this discussing politics in Montana (page 18): "It is a carefully calibrated meme recognizing Montana as one of America's boiling cauldons of subjugation psychology..."
There is some merit and interest to this book. But it's marred by too much of the author's ego and reporting that does not go sufficiently deep. If Sirota sees something or hears something, it goes into the book. If not, not. That's fine for a travelogue but not for a work of series political analysis.
Sirota contends that millions of Americans are full of rage at an economic system that is blatantly unjust, delivering the vast bulk of its rewards to a few at the top. So far, I'm with him -- and I give him credit because he appears to have seen this anger building much earlier than most other analysts. But he then takes his argument a step further. This anger, though unfocused, disconnected and atomized, has laid the groundwork for a new radical political reform movement that will produce fundamental change -- an uprising.
Sirota travels around the country, visiting different outposts of the "uprising" -- but fails to make his arguments stick.
More likely, the rage will cool as soon as the economy begins to recover and things will continue much as before. There is no uprising and there will not be one.
Sirota establishes his "gonzo" credentials right from the first sentence: "I'm pretty sure I'm still at the Riviera Hotel here in Vegas. I know this not because I can see through the blurry haze of my hangover or think past this pounding headache or feel anything other than the sharp pain of dehydration in my stomach, but because I can still smell the cigarette smoke embedded in the wallpaper."
What's remarkable about this is not only the fact that the words "I" or "my" appear seven times in one short paragraph but that the whole description is both unevocative and irrelevant to the book. Sirota is no Hunter S. Thompson, although he perhaps wishes he was. (I guess the decision to begin the book drunk in Vegas should be taken as a clear 'hommage'.) But Sirota cannot match Thompson's self-destructive contempt for authority. He's is more of a policy wonk: we see him in committee meetings and TV studios and at conventions. Most of all, Thompson would never have written a sentence like this discussing politics in Montana (page 18): "It is a carefully calibrated meme recognizing Montana as one of America's boiling cauldons of subjugation psychology..."
There is some merit and interest to this book. But it's marred by too much of the author's ego and reporting that does not go sufficiently deep. If Sirota sees something or hears something, it goes into the book. If not, not. That's fine for a travelogue but not for a work of series political analysis.
March 15, 2010
I think that David Sirota's "The Uprising" is misnamed. It should really be called "Political Power 101", as Sirota does an excellent job of providing an introduction to how political power really works. Ostensibly, Sirota is interested in looking at political power from a particular angle--what he calls the "uprising", but Sirota himself as much as admits that this uprising is fairly ill-defined. This confusion is my only real complaint with the book.
On the other hand, the vagueness of Sirota's protagonist group is also a strength, as it allows him to explore a fascinating array of people who are all demonstrating different aspects of political discourse. I learned a lot about the reality of practical political action, not to mention a healthy dose of nearly up to the minute American history.
One thing that really caught my attention is Sirota's account of third party politics and fusion, a technique for third parties to officially maintain a brand by endorsing another party's candidate right on ballots. I hadn't heard of fusion before, and now I am very excited by the concept. Sirota has a lot of good research (on fusion and many other topics), but he doesn't provide references inline; they're all in the back indexed by quotes from the book. This is fine, if non-obvious at first glance. I was motivated to track down an article by Peter H. Argersinger titled "A Place on the Ballot: Fusion Politics and Antifusion Laws", from the journal American Historical Review. As far as I can tell, Sirota doesn't include the issue number anywhere; for the record, this article is from volume 85, number 2 (April, 1980) of the journal.
For me, politics has seemed both confusing and deeply frustrating. I think David Sirota has provided a practical guide to understanding how power works that can help us to energize our own uprising.
On the other hand, the vagueness of Sirota's protagonist group is also a strength, as it allows him to explore a fascinating array of people who are all demonstrating different aspects of political discourse. I learned a lot about the reality of practical political action, not to mention a healthy dose of nearly up to the minute American history.
One thing that really caught my attention is Sirota's account of third party politics and fusion, a technique for third parties to officially maintain a brand by endorsing another party's candidate right on ballots. I hadn't heard of fusion before, and now I am very excited by the concept. Sirota has a lot of good research (on fusion and many other topics), but he doesn't provide references inline; they're all in the back indexed by quotes from the book. This is fine, if non-obvious at first glance. I was motivated to track down an article by Peter H. Argersinger titled "A Place on the Ballot: Fusion Politics and Antifusion Laws", from the journal American Historical Review. As far as I can tell, Sirota doesn't include the issue number anywhere; for the record, this article is from volume 85, number 2 (April, 1980) of the journal.
For me, politics has seemed both confusing and deeply frustrating. I think David Sirota has provided a practical guide to understanding how power works that can help us to energize our own uprising.
July 8, 2011
Saw and talked to Sirota at Elliot Bay Books tonight and was surprisingly impressed. He's not just another glib blowhard who worked on Capitol Hill for a while and is now cashing in (having worked on the Hill, I've seen that and am skeptical that it's what people are doing). Agree with him that economic populism wins and Dems are wrong to run from economic liberalism. Also think he makes sense that people have been voting against their own economic interests because they perceive no difference between the parties on economic issues. He makes a strong case that the electoral arena is unsuited to change and that we need to engage in direct action and state/local politics as much as federal. And that the two parties are really the corporatists, which is virtually all Republicans and roughly half the Democrats, and the populists, who have the other half of Dems and a few social conservatives in Congress. Like me, he is a big fan of Sherrod Brown, Bernie Sanders, and Paul Wellstone. I was pleased that he refers to Saul Alinsky a lot.
Don't know when I'll get to it, but I need to read this. (And the guy is just a year older than me!)
Don't know when I'll get to it, but I need to read this. (And the guy is just a year older than me!)
April 4, 2013
Title doesn't quite match the book itself. I mean, this book was written and published before the financial crisis, and Wall Street and Washington wasn't quite scared of "the people" as implied in the title. Wall Street and DC got scared with the math -- that 2 + 2 did not equal $160 billion at the end of the day. Who was paying attention to the people he described in the book before the fall of 2008? More appropriate title should be "my musing on the crap I saw working in politics."
Don't get me wrong -- I agree with most of Sirota's POV and wish that there HAD been an "uprising" that he implied in the book. Or at least someone reading the bills in Congress and/or the financial books in Wall Street prior to the economy almost completely collapsing. I also wish that Occupy would continue to include more mainstream people with good analysis than the "off the grid" anti-society types it seems to attract. Sirota is one of the mainstream and analysis types, and I'm glad he's out there voicing his insight. But this book ... the title implies something it's not. Maybe he needs a Take 2?
Don't get me wrong -- I agree with most of Sirota's POV and wish that there HAD been an "uprising" that he implied in the book. Or at least someone reading the bills in Congress and/or the financial books in Wall Street prior to the economy almost completely collapsing. I also wish that Occupy would continue to include more mainstream people with good analysis than the "off the grid" anti-society types it seems to attract. Sirota is one of the mainstream and analysis types, and I'm glad he's out there voicing his insight. But this book ... the title implies something it's not. Maybe he needs a Take 2?
January 10, 2012
THe amazing thing about this book is that it was written in 2007 BEFORE the wall Street bailout, housing collapse, Tea party formation, and Occupy Wall Street movement. Its like looking in a crystal ball. The author, a former congressional aide who calls himself left of center, chronicles modern day populist movements on the left and right. He also calls for various reforms to strip the overwhelming power of corporations and solutions for getting democracy back in the hands of the citizens. He takes on both political parties, seeing neither as avenues for change. I was stunned by his description of a Republican attempt to implement a radical right agenda in the Montana State legislature (defeated) that has since publication of this book has been repeated step by exact step in other state legislatures and the U.S. Capitol..amazing.
June 4, 2009
Political organizer and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist David Sirota's first book, Hostile Takeover, was a New York Times bestseller. Sirota blogs at credoaction.com/sirota, and his column runs weekly in the Denver Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Seattle Times, as well as in other newspapers. He is a senior fellow at the Campaign for America's Future and the founder of the Progressive States Network-both nonpartisan research institutions. Sirota discusses his new book The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington.
We met David Sirota when he visited the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver. You can listen to him talk about The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington here:
http://www.authorsontourlive.com/?p=152
We met David Sirota when he visited the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver. You can listen to him talk about The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington here:
http://www.authorsontourlive.com/?p=152
August 22, 2008
This is a good exploration of a variety of grassroots movements all over the USA showing how individuals are actually standing up and doing something about the corporate-government machine which serves the elite and not the people they represent. While I don't agree with some of the movements (ie, citizens patrolling the US-Mexico border with guns and perpetuating racism, while failing to see that corporate and government policies in that country and others lead to poverty and destruction which then makes people want to seek a better life in America), the writing style is quite informal, and there is an abundance of swearing, it is certainly a fascinating read and gives people who are fed up with the way things are and are going real and tangible solutions to be part of.
July 23, 2008
Sirota is the real-deal as far as progressive journalists go. His ideas are fresh and far-reaching, even appealing to the economic populism of Lou Dobbs. But make no mistake, Sirota is uncompromisingly left-wing, and does it better than most of us. He is definitely a step above the rest, and The Uprising is a refreshing reminder of the movement that we are building, and the movement that we should continue to build.
I had the chance to interview him on some populist themes and things that he didn't talk about in the book. Check it out here: http://bluegrassroots.org/showDiary.d...
I had the chance to interview him on some populist themes and things that he didn't talk about in the book. Check it out here: http://bluegrassroots.org/showDiary.d...
August 3, 2008
If David Sirota can write a best seller, so can I. It's interesting how he pulls together some of the similarities of the different populist movements but I'm distracted by his critique for how the movements are organized (he goes into more detail about the structure of the progressive movement because he's more invested in that movement). Basically he finds the progressive organizational structure too top down and not democratic. I agree, but he doesn't offer a solution. How would he restructure the movement in this new world of rapid, mobile, and egalitarian communication? Basically its a book of observations and bitching.
April 5, 2009
Sirota's a bit too fond of Alinsky for my prejudices. That said, he does give a good tour of the disparate elements (both on the right and the left) rising up against the way business and politics is done in the US.
His treatment of Danny Cantor's efforts in NY state as the executive director of the Working People's Party (did I get the name right?) left me quite hopeful. Cantor is a skilled, intelligent organizer.
The first chapter on Montana's Senator, Jon Tester, should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the complicated political impulses in the western states--why Obama did so well in those states in 2008.
His treatment of Danny Cantor's efforts in NY state as the executive director of the Working People's Party (did I get the name right?) left me quite hopeful. Cantor is a skilled, intelligent organizer.
The first chapter on Montana's Senator, Jon Tester, should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the complicated political impulses in the western states--why Obama did so well in those states in 2008.
December 30, 2015
I stumbled across this book and found that it has many answers to the questions journalists are asking today about the popularity of the outsider candidacies of Trump, Carson, etc. America's dissatisfaction with the status quo has deep roots and the search for solutions has largely failed to meet expectations. Although Sirota expects the discontent he finds in many places will lead to change, the results have been disappointing because populism seems to remain issue oriented. If what was happening in the first decade of the 21st century will be finalized in the second decades election remains to be seen.
Want to read
July 23, 2008Jacket: Insurrection Brewing Across the Country. Job outsourcing. Perpetual busy signals at government agencies. Slashed paychecks. Stolen elections. A war without end, fatally mismanaged. Ordinary Americans on both the Right and Left are tired of being disenfranchised by corrupt politicians of both parties and are organizing to change the status quo. In his invigorating new book, David Sirota investigates whether this uprising can be transformed into a unified, lasting political movement.
Read
January 2, 2009This is a good reality check to remind you how off-course Washington and electoral politics have become vis a vis the concerns of actual people in this country. It's not terribly scientific, but I do think he's tapped into a real phenomenon (a sort of trans-ideological discontent) with this book. I just wish he would stop capitalizing things in attempts to create his own buzzwords--it gets tired by the later chapters.
October 4, 2016
Whether you agree with David Sirota's point of view on political issues, you have to respect the work he puts in to doing real investigative journalism, something that happens far too rarely these days. Fortunately for me I happen to agree with much of what Sirota says, and so this book was real pleasure for me to read and gave a great inside look at things that don't often get much attention.
October 4, 2008
After listening to David Sirota debate Grover Norquist, and soundly trouncing GN. I had to go and hear him at Elliot Bay. After listening to his point of view on the current state of America, I had to buy the book.
So far, it is very interesting.
So far, it is very interesting.
January 9, 2010
This is a great book about grassroots activities. It covers left and right. Great explanations about why things do or don't work. The most important thing is he shows the commonality between this disparate groups.
June 20, 2010
Refreshingly wide ranging examples of populist activism. Sirota doesn't hide his own leanings, but does a fine job showing the common threads for successful movements. The common stumbling blocks, too.
Want to read
August 18, 2008Saw this author interviewed about this book on The Colbert Report. Sounded like it was right up my alley. He's also the author of the NY Times Bestseller, Hostile Takeover. So we'll see ! ;-)
August 10, 2008
I enjoyed Sirota's optimism and his interpretation of events!
August 24, 2008
Excellent, clearly written analysis of this moment in America. Looks at multiple ways that discontent with a corrupt political process is expressing itself.
July 27, 2010
Prelude to the development of the WFP and labor's role in gov't. Socialist banter but he called it correctly given recent events.
June 28, 2012
I think you should read it, then pass it on to a friend, and have them pass it on to another friend, etc...
January 2, 2009
Reading this on recommendation from local Obama campaign manager...
July 1, 2013
I do hope that the masses will get tired of the unlevel playing field and demand equal rights.
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