sherri_larue's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
3.75
themushroomalien's review against another edition
5.0
As you can probably imagine this book was difficult to read. Living in late stage capitalism is one of the greatest hells I’ve ever experienced. Capitalism as an idea isn’t inherently evil. It’s the humans that run the system that are corrupt. Greed, is a great motivator. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
So, what can be done? That’s a question we hear all the time. “The system is broken!” we scream. The truth is the system was set up this way. It isn’t broken, therefore it cannot be fixed…but it can be changed. This book outlines many solutions to the problem of uber-capitalism. There are things that can be done. There are bills that are ready to go, that, if passed, would change our entire country in as little as five years.
Free healthcare, free tuition, basic universal income, saving our planet, and more are all very real possibilities. We are being told that it simply cannot be done, that there just isn’t enough money to go around. This is a blatant lie. We are the richest country in the world. There is no excuse. So let’s, We The People, take on the bourgeoisie together and fight uber-capitalism so that us and our children may have a bright future.
So, what can be done? That’s a question we hear all the time. “The system is broken!” we scream. The truth is the system was set up this way. It isn’t broken, therefore it cannot be fixed…but it can be changed. This book outlines many solutions to the problem of uber-capitalism. There are things that can be done. There are bills that are ready to go, that, if passed, would change our entire country in as little as five years.
Free healthcare, free tuition, basic universal income, saving our planet, and more are all very real possibilities. We are being told that it simply cannot be done, that there just isn’t enough money to go around. This is a blatant lie. We are the richest country in the world. There is no excuse. So let’s, We The People, take on the bourgeoisie together and fight uber-capitalism so that us and our children may have a bright future.
caitlyn888's review against another edition
4.0
Maybe 4.5 stars
Yep - this is gonna be a political rant, but as the title suggests, I'm angry.
If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be validating. Capitalism tends to do this cute little thing where it blames you for your inability to achieve the American dream because you're just not working hard enough, and you're not saving your money enough, and if you would just do those things better then you too could afford the nice house and the nice car and the fat pension like all the one percenters. But Bernie Sanders explains how the corporate elite have rigged a system to make the uber-rich richer and the middle and working class poorer. This book acts as a good introduction to explain how millionaires and billionaires use their financial power to sway politicians to push their own interests forward, so if you are already well aware of how super-PACS and CEO campaign funds are controlling what kind of legislation gets passed, this may be redundant to you.
Bernie discusses many of the legislation points he has fought for through the years to relieve some of the burden on the American people, such as his Medicare for All plan, guaranteed paid parental leave, and a progressive income tax. But when nearly all of his plans have been voted down, this book had me regularly thinking, "This all sounds great, but how do we get any of it to actually happen?" It can be tough to keep the faith that any prominent change will happen in our current political climate.
I did appreciate his no-holds-barred approach to criticizing the Democratic Party and outlining exactly what they need to do to earn back the trust of the working class. He stresses the important need for the Democratic Party to make it clear that immigrants, women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community are not to blame for current quality of life degradation - and that they need to explicitly state that it is the rich and powerful people whom politicians take their money from who are the problem. (And then maybe they could start utilizing grassroots campaign funding and reject Big Money support too.) Bernie said it best on the very last page: "The danger for the Democratic Party is not being too bold. It's being too cautious."
Yep - this is gonna be a political rant, but as the title suggests, I'm angry.
If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be validating. Capitalism tends to do this cute little thing where it blames you for your inability to achieve the American dream because you're just not working hard enough, and you're not saving your money enough, and if you would just do those things better then you too could afford the nice house and the nice car and the fat pension like all the one percenters. But Bernie Sanders explains how the corporate elite have rigged a system to make the uber-rich richer and the middle and working class poorer. This book acts as a good introduction to explain how millionaires and billionaires use their financial power to sway politicians to push their own interests forward, so if you are already well aware of how super-PACS and CEO campaign funds are controlling what kind of legislation gets passed, this may be redundant to you.
Bernie discusses many of the legislation points he has fought for through the years to relieve some of the burden on the American people, such as his Medicare for All plan, guaranteed paid parental leave, and a progressive income tax. But when nearly all of his plans have been voted down, this book had me regularly thinking, "This all sounds great, but how do we get any of it to actually happen?" It can be tough to keep the faith that any prominent change will happen in our current political climate.
I did appreciate his no-holds-barred approach to criticizing the Democratic Party and outlining exactly what they need to do to earn back the trust of the working class. He stresses the important need for the Democratic Party to make it clear that immigrants, women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community are not to blame for current quality of life degradation - and that they need to explicitly state that it is the rich and powerful people whom politicians take their money from who are the problem. (And then maybe they could start utilizing grassroots campaign funding and reject Big Money support too.) Bernie said it best on the very last page: "The danger for the Democratic Party is not being too bold. It's being too cautious."