Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government--and How We Take It Back

by David Sirota

Do you ever wonder if there’s a connection between the corruption scandals in the news and the steady decline in the quality of life for millions of Americans?

Do you ever wonder what corporations get for the millions of dollars they pour into the American political system?

Do you ever think the government has been hijacked by forces hostile to average Americans?

Do you ever want to fight back?

Millions of Americans lack health care and millions more struggle to afford it. Politicians claim they care, then pass legislation that just sends more cash to the HMOs. Wages have been stagnant for thirty years, even as corporate profits skyrocket. Politicians say they want to fix the problem and then pass bills written by lobbyists that drive wages even lower and punish those crushed by debt. Jobs are being shipped overseas, pensions are being cut, and energy is becoming unaffordable. And our government, more concerned about maintaining its corporate sponsorship than protecting its citizens, does nothing about it.

In Hostile Takeover, David Sirota, a major new voice in American politics, seeks to open the eyes of ordinary Americans to the fact that corporate interests have undermined democracy, aided and abetted by their lackeys in our allegedly representative government. At a time when more and more of America’s major political leaders are being indicted or investigated for corruption, Sirota takes readers on a journey that shows how all of this nefarious behavior happened right under our noses—and how the high-profile scandals are merely one product of a political system and debate wholly owned by Big Money interests. Sirota considers major public issues that feel intractable—like spiraling health care costs, the outsourcing of jobs, the inequities of the tax code, and out-of-control energy prices—and shows how in each case workable solutions are buried under the lies of lobbyists, the influence of campaign cash, and the ubiquitous spin machine financed by Big Business.

With fiery passion, pinpoint wit, and lucid analysis, Hostile Takeover reveals the true enemies of reform and their increasingly sophisticated—and hostile—tactics. It’s an essential guidebook for those of us tired of the government selling us out—and determined to take our country back.


Also available as an eBook


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Economics

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

David 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.

Reviews

[Blayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sirota has put together a handbook of facts to help dispell myths and lies spread by politicians. Each chapter is on a different topic; and within each chapter he combats common talking points with facts concisely presented to quickly arm any citizen with teh knowledge they need to confront soothsayers.

Facts and data can only do so much. At the end of each chapter, he lays out what we can do (or request) to actually fix the problems. Common sense answers to what are percieved to be complex problems.

The author aims big, and does not merely pick on rep's or dem's but all who have been bought off with dirty money. A must read. But be forewarned, once you know what is going on, you can no longer claim ignorance. Sirota's writing calls you to action.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really sure how to rate this. I'm a card-carrying singer in the choir, obviously, and so I didn't learn anything new from this. But if the book is (hopefully) getting a wider audience than the choir, I guess the question is how effective these arguments would be on the benighted masses. My guess (maybe optimistic) is that half will hit home; the other half will come across as as spin or demagoguery or something like that, not because the argument is not sound or true, but because it sounds too much like partisan or ideological spin because of the author's blustery tone. This might not be the best voice for transmitting the message, I'm sad to say, because I can definitely identify with the anger and indignation behind it, and certainly I endorse the message.

[Edgar · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author explains how our government and politicians have been bought out by corporations and the ultra-wealthy. David Sirota claims that he is presenting a clear picture of the corruption in our government, yet his book is endorsed by Al Gore, one of these corrupt politicians, that will soon be making a fortune off his own takeover of our government with carbon credits and global warming. This is in the face of a five year continuing decrease in global temperatures and snow storms in Kenya. The endorsement says "'every politically engaged citizen should read this book.' --Al Gore." Both parties are almost totally corrupt. I don't trust that the author is unbiased.

[Public Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. I traffic in a lot of this sort of literature, so I'm not quite the wide-eyed neophyte that I'm sure Sirota envisioned as his audience when he was writing this, but I found this volume especially well-executed. More than anything I appreciated the organization. This book is organized in a very tidy fashion, where every section ends with "solutions." I loved that. Too many other books save practical ideas for the end and they tend to get short shrift. Sirota is a great writer, I love his columns, and he is very much on his game in this book.

[Unwisely · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite being on an airplane and having nothing else to do, I couldn't get past page 35. It was pretty screedy, didn't tell me anything I didn't already know - yet presented it as startling! new! information!!! and was generally annoying.

Which is too bad, I actually agree with his slant, but, this book wasn't for me. (I actually thought this was a different book, which he mentioned a couple of times, so maybe I'll try that one.)

[Elke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to learn more from this book than I did. I found its onesidedness tiresome. Although I do believe that Republican policies at the time were more overtly focused on making things easier for corporations to get things done than Democrats' were, the mainstream Democratic party was also in the pocket of corporations, took their money, and did them favors. I wanted to a more evenhanded look at things from this guy.

[Jon-Erik · Rating 1 out of 5]

This audience preaches to the choir, but if you're in the choir, you've heard this before. Therefore, pretty useless.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Follow the money.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book pulls no punches. It connects the dots on how money is corrupting our democracy and country.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for the 82% of Americans who think their country is on the wrong track...

Read this book to find out the real reasons why.

Warning: it may make you ill with anger.

[Jeff H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading parts of this book made me feel ill. That, I guess, is more or less the point.