The Liberal Politics & Current Events Book Club discussion

Recommend any books of interest.

For years I've been trying to figure out why some of the poorest Americans continually vote for Republicans
who aren't exactly known for their kindness to the indigent. "Deer Hunting With Jesus" by Joe Bageant helps explain this phenomenon. Obama hit the nail on the head during the campaign with his much vilified "clinging to guns and religion" remark. This very funny book helps us "elitists" better understand the "great beery, NASCAR-loving, church- going, gun-owning American that has never set foot in a Starbucks." Should be required reading by all liberals.

Melki wrote: "For years I've been trying to figure out why some of the poorest Americans continually vote for Republicans
who aren't exactly known for their kindness to the indigent. "Deer Hunting With Jesus" ..."

Sounds really interesting! I worry that it's just feeding into our "Culture wars," a bit, though. In some ways we should try to forget our lifestyle differences and just focus on building a unified identity of "working people" or "the other 98%" to help us get together and vote for our economic interests... don't you think?

I guess I didn't do a very good job explaining the main theme of this book. The author focuses not on the differences between the two "lifestyles," but on what we have in common. (Chapter 7 about healthcare worries certainly struck home with me.) It's all in an effort to swing "Red State" lower-income voters away from the "Dark Side" and over to the side that will better represent their interests. Democrats need to better understand how to court these voters, as the Republicans have discovered years ago.

I just put it in my kindle wish list. Sounds interesting. I could sure use some help understanding it all because I certainly don't understand. =)

Awesome! Maybe this could be our first common book with online discussion? Melki, would you like to lead the discussion? We should make a separate thread for it, maybe, and set a date by which we will all finish reading it. As for how many people are on board - I think we can start with the 4 of us and anyone else who replies, and others will join in as they see the activity happening. I will also try to recruit some liberals I know here in Seattle :)

We certainly don't HAVE to choose this book - it was just a suggestion. Maybe we can come up with some other titles, then vote. But, if we do go with "Deer Hunting...," I would be happy to lead a discussion.

Oh, how 'bout we just start with this one? And see how it goes. I put Deer Hunting with Jesus on hold at our local library.

It seems like we need a bit of time to get copies of the book and to fire up some participants. Add to that some time to read the book. Do you think six weeks from today (7/13/11) is a reasonable time to get people on board for a discussion?

(If you do decide on a different title, no problem. Something easily available is usually the best idea.)

Sounds good to me! People can start making recommendations for what will come after this one. I'd suggest that people add books to our group bookshelf for consideration, and maybe Donegal can set up a poll once we have a fair # of books. But for now, let's get started reading this one - I'm excited! I've added it to our bookshelf, but someone should edit the listing to show our deadline and also start a forum for the discussion.

Just ordered my copy!

Man, I'm gonna feel like a real heel if everybody hates this book!

Came in the mail today -- Amazon is FAST. This book is already heartbreaking, and I'm only at the introduction.

It is sad, but it also made me angry. I will need to reread, but will have no problem doing that before July 13th.
This is not a book rec. and many of you probably already know about it, but you really need to check out Tom Tomorrow's "This Modern World" site:

http://thismodernworld.com/

Thoughtful and thought-provoking cartoons. It usually updates every Tuesday.
See if you like it.

Hi all! What do you say we move discussion of "Deer Hunting" to a new folder called "Book Club"? I've started a discussion thread for it. You can find it with this link:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

Let's reserve this thread here for more recommendations, ok? What else are y'all reading?

Yay Julia! I'm so glad we have you to lead us.
I think many of us are new to Goodreads and honestly have no idea what we're doing.
I can't think of any other books relating to liberal politics that would be of interest, other than "Game Change," which I understand is being made into a movie.
Perhaps the excitement surrounding next year's election will create a whole raft of interesting political reads.

Ooo wait! I just thought of one! A few years back, I read a book called "The Librarian" by Larry Beinhart. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...
It's a fun read about a right-wing plot to guarantee that a liberal is never again elected. I'm not suggesting this as a group read, but if you're looking for something scary AND fun, this book should be right up your alley.

Wow - we have 45 members in this group already. We're growing fast! It looks like some of you are currently reading books that might be of interest to others in this group. If you finish a book that's relevant to politics or any progressive issues, please post about it in this thread or add it to the group's bookshelf. Thanks & welcome!

NOT A BOOK - but I didn't know where else to post this great cartoon:

http://boingboing.net/2011/08/17/tom-...

If I could recommend a book to any progressive it would be:

http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Points...

Explains essentially why progressives fail at talking points and how to talk to the public.

I left out, the purpose is to teach progressives how to be better at this and succeed!

I would recomment "What's the Matter with Kansas"

I urge everyone to read the book Merchants of Doubt, which I recommended and read in the science group:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/94...

More and more I have been thinking about why people believe what they do. I'm questioning free will and choices. It's the type of thing that Sam Harris talks about as well. He's publishing a new book in September called Lying, I believe.

Poor people who vote rich are obviously convinced they are doing the right thing. We need to ask tougher questions about that is happening, how they are being made to do just that and why we are different. Or are we?

Jimmy, very interesting! I don't think people are rational. I have met very few rational people if any, including the man in the mirror.

Look up Ed Bernays. Watch some youtube videos about him. This is the man who invented public relations. If people were rational, we wouldn't buy all the crap we do, have all the problems we do, and so forth. We are emotional, and often, very stupid people. Give a person a slogan, get them afraid, and get them to hate, that's how you get things done if you really want to sway the people. Sadly, it works.

Here's my theory. People vote for rich people because 1) ideology - they've been convinced that the 'pull yourself up' story is real. They are so emotionally invested in it. As Marx said, a conservative is often a lower middle class person who has got something, but not much, and he cannot afford to lose it. Thus, he wills for nothing to change - e.g., this can relate across a whole host of issues such as race, gender equality, etc. And, tied into this directly, and perhaps part of #1, but the most important to my mind is, if someone can't have it then it kills the dream for me. Let me explain.

Think of all the teeny boppers who want to be "American Idols" and the like. How many will ever be? 1 tenth of 1% perhaps. But there is the POSSIBILITY of it happening. This is true across any number of things from wanting to be celebrity to being rich. Now, if there can be NO very rich people or very famous people or good looking, etc., then MY dream of ever having these things is ruined. Now, I may know that I will likely never be these things. But so long as I can dream and I have someone to emulate I am fine. This goes back to irrationality. We all fantasize and dream about things in various ways (escapism into tv shows, books, music, movies, etc). But if I can never look at that car magazine and dream and vicariously own an expensive sports car, then you are killing part of me. In other words, if you take from the wealthy you take from the potential of me being wealthy, and thus you take from my dream, and so you are in essence taking from me.

anyways, just my theories!

Jimmy wrote: "I urge everyone to read the book Merchants of Doubt, which I recommended and read in the science group:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/94...

More and more I have been thi..."

Some good points, James. One of the problems I find is that people are skeptical about the idea that maybe we may only have limited free will, not to even mention none at all. They believe they are making conscious, intelligent choices. It's very difficult to get others to give more thought to the topic and do the reading.

very true!

Jimmy wrote: "Some good points, James. One of the problems I find is that people are skeptical about the idea that maybe we may only have limited free will, not to even mention none at all. They believe they are..."

This group is growing day by day - it's super exciting. Do you think we can get a second book underway at the same time as the Monsanto one? What's the Matter with Kansas has been nominated many times, so maybe we should start that with a due date of Oct 31st? I'm afraid we'll never get to all these cool books if we only do one per two months. People can pick and choose which ones to participate in...

I know - I'm excited too. Should be loads of fun as next year's election kicks into high gear. Maybe we should have a "2012 Election" folder to post all the bone-headed statements that candidates make. Or is it too early for that?
Maybe we should allow just one month per book. We could get more read that way. I'm not sure we have enough people to support multiple group reads.

re: bone-headed comments - it is never too early for that :)

Julia wrote: "This group is growing day by day - it's super exciting. Do you think we can get a second book underway at the same time as the Monsanto one? What's the Matter with Kansas has been nominated many ti..."

Sounds good to me. I was planning to have 2 going at the same time, I just wasn't sure at what group membership level I should instigate that.

Hi everyone,

Just thought you guys might be interested in the upcoming book, TAKING A STAND by Juan E Mendez. This is a groundbreaking story of human rights and abuse. Check out a description below!

Méndez has experienced human rights abuse first hand. As a result of his work with political prisoners in the late 1970s, the Argentinean military dictatorship arrested, tortured, and held him for more than a year. During that time, Amnesty International adopted him as a “Prisoner of Conscience.” After his release, he moved to the United States and continued his lifelong fight for the rights of others.

In TAKING A STAND, Mendez sets forth an authoritative and incisive examination of torture, detention, exile, armed conflict, and genocide, whose urgency is even greater in the wake of America's recent disastrous policies. Méndez offers a new strategy for holding governments accountable for their actions, providing an essential blueprint for different human rights groups to be able to work together to effect change.

This looks like an interesting title, though I'll be waiting for paperback:

The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin by Corey Robin

Here's the article from Salon:

http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/02/...