Originally posted on Goodreads
This is a tricky review. Is the book a good read? Not particularly. It’s format – the transcription of a filibuster – means it is repetitive, meandering, and suffers from Bernie not being able to explore ideas as fully as they would benefit from
Is it a good rallying cry? Yes?
Is it a good demonstration of the credentials and for the politics of Bernie Sanders? Yes
Is it a damning indictment of Republican politics, with its inherent desire to strip taxes, prioritise the wealthy over the rest of us, and entrench all gains made through such politics at the further expense of the non ultra-rich?
You bet your ass, yes.
Bernie outlines ways in which policies are rebranded to vilify them in the eyes of people who would benefit most. Rebranding the estate tax as a “death tax,” for example.
He outlines ways in which people are conditioned to oppose policies that would benefit them directly, through myths that convince them they would suffer when really only the ultra-rich – the number he gives is a tenth of a tenth of a percent of Americans – would actually be obliged to pay anything.
It’s a war drum for one side of the political aisle to enter the battle the other has been waging for decades. For wrestling back control of the narrative, and the mechanisms that enact it.
And it’s TEN YEARS OLD, but more relevant now than ever.