Swim against the Current

Jim Hightower

Description

America’s most irascible and hilarious curmudgeon turns a kind and benevolent eye toward brave, hardy, and hardworking souls around the country who have found ways to break free from corporate tentacles; redefine success in business, politics, and life in general; and blaze new pathways toward a richer and happier way of life, from the farmers’ cooperative that said “NO!” to Wal-Mart and thrived to the economists who got into the coffee business by accident and turned the entire industry on its ear.
Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

PART ONE Business 5

CHAPTER 1 Business without Greed 7

CHAPTER 2 Fair Trade 14

CHAPTER 3 Cooperation Works 19

CHAPTER 4 Socially Responsible 29

CHAPTER 5 Putting Workers in Charge 42

CHAPTER 6 The Good (Business) Life 51

CHAPTER 7 Banking on Change 58

Connections for Part One 66

PART TWO Politics 73

CHAPTER 8 Shape Up, America! 75

CHAPTER 9 Run for It! 83

CHAPTER 10 Clean Elections 92

CHAPTER 11 Democracy School 105

CHAPTER 12 Build It! 111

CHAPTER 13 Granny Power 122

CHAPTER 14 The Politics of Fun 127

Connections for Part Two 134

PART THREE Life 139

CHAPTER 15 Take Charge! 141

CHAPTER 16 How We Live 151

CHAPTER 17 A Mass Movement Arises 158

CHAPTER 18 Flowers in the Field 164

CHAPTER 19 The Conscience of an Evangelical 176

Connections for Part Three 188

Final Thoughts 193

DeMarco's Reading List 197

Index 201

Sujets

• Histoire
• Jim Hightower
• Politics of the United States
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 09 septembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781118185391
• Langue: English

Extrait

Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: Business
Chapter 1: Business without Greed
Chapter 2: Fair Trade
Chapter 3: Cooperation Works
The Un-Corporation
The Turtle
A Partnership Society
Chapter 4: Socially Responsible
Banking on the Poor
Affordable and Profitable
Healthy Health Care
Educating Tomorrow s Executives
Chapter 5: Putting Workers in Charge
Call Me a Cab
Chapter 6: The Good Business Life
To Your Health
Stripping Down the Workplace
Chapter 7: Banking on Change
Bankers with a Pulse
Connections for Part One
Part Two: Politics
Chapter 8: Shape Up, America!
Chapter 9: Run for It!
Get on the Bus
Chapter 10: Clean Elections
The Clean Solution
Follow Doris
A Trip to Kansas
Chapter 11: Democracy School
Chapter 12: Build It!
The Power of an Acorn
A Living Wage
Chapter 13: Granny Power
Chapter 14: The Politics of Fun
Connections for Part Two
Part Three: Life
Chapter 15: Take Charge!
The Upchuck Rebellion
Up from the Grassroots
Chapter 16: How We Live
Chapter 17: A Mass Movement Arises
Chapter 18: Flowers in the Field
Christians for the Mountains
Tending the Garden
Chapter 19: The Conscience of an Evangelical
First Steps
Forces of Darkness
Probing Cizik
A Progressive Opportunity
Connections for Part Three
Final Thoughts
DeMarco s Reading List
Index

Copyright 2008 by Jim Hightower. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Hightower, Jim, date.
Swim against the current : even a dead fish can go with the flow / Jim Hightower with Susan DeMarco.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-470-12151-1 (cloth)
1. Business and politics-United States. 2. Corporate power-United States. 3. Democracy-United States. 4. United States-Politics and government. 5. American wit and humor. I. DeMarco, Susan. II. Title
JK467.H54 2008
322 .30973-dc22 2007027348
To Molly Ivins, for all she did and all she was
The people have the power
The power to dream
To rule
To wrestle the world from fools.
-Patti Smith
Acknowledgments
For first-rate research, artful use of the Internet, good ideas, and personable dealings with all of the people involved with this book-thank you, Laura Ehrlich. For six years (and three books), Laura has handled everything from communications to production work, keeping our little shop (Saddle-Burr Productions) running smoothly-at least, when I don t screw things up.
Thanks, too, to Marva Mouser in our office, who helped lift the research load, and to Melody Byrd, who has the unenviable task of coordinating the book-tour schedule.
Rafe Sagalyn is the sort of agent writers need-calm in the storm, yet willing to kick up a storm when one is necessary. Thanks for bringing our book to print. And thanks, too, for introducing DeMarco and me to Eric Nelson and all the good folks who make John Wiley Sons such a welcoming place for maverick voices like ours.
Finally, a special thank-you to the mavericks whose stories we tell here. You activists, entrepreneurs, politicos, organizers, doctors, environmentalists, religious leaders, unionists, reformers, farmers, scientists, and other odd bedfellows-creative souls all-are a shining light to a brighter future for all of us. Thanks for being such a positive force in an often negative world.
Introduction
You don t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.
-C. S. Lewis
Rambling down the dusty road of life, DeMarco and I have picked up a few useful bits of advice, which we now pass along for guidance in your own journeys (no need to thank us; happy to be of assistance): Never eat at a caf featuring Bargain kebabs! Never hit a man with glasses; hit him with something much heavier. Never get into a drinking contest with a tattooed woman called Tanker.
Okay, so we have also picked up a few serious words of wisdom over the years. We ve found in them a path that makes life more interesting and much richer than it otherwise would be. Here s a small set of these maxims, all related, all culturally charged, and all worthy of being embraced as touchstones of a new progressive revival to lift us from the corporate doldrums that have stalled our country s revolutionary drive:

Question authority.
Question their answers.
Trust your values.
Stand up for your beliefs.
Take risks.
Invite change.
Seek alternatives.
Break away.
Make a difference.
Last year, I got this e-mail from a woman named Linda:
I have a decent job and do it well, but I m constantly thinking I m wasting my time. I want to begin doing something useful to contribute to changing things, at least becoming a cog in the wheel that s on the right vehicle. Any suggestions?
First, Linda, you are not alone. So many people yearn to break away but can t express it so succinctly. Second, in ways both small and large, it s quite possible for each of us to make the break, whether we re young and just starting out, or we re older and in search of another path.
We ve written this book to give people a sense of the various possibilities for escaping the corporate tentacles. The Powers That Be don t want you even thinking that this is achievable. But, as a friend of ours says, Those who say it can t be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.
In our many travels throughout this great country, DeMarco and I have come across all sorts of commonsense folks who re choosing to buck the system . . . and succeeding. They are not Einsteins, not heirs to a Rockefeller fortune, not people who just got lucky. They simply are regular Americans who decided to reject the prescribed rules and exit the corporate interstate. They re showing us new paths toward richer lives and-(dare we say it?)-happiness.
Our book will introduce you to some of these people, tell their stories, and connect you to individuals and groups that can help you navigate a different course. These are stories of people in business, politics, and other pursuits who are defining success for themselves, taking charge, living their values, doing good, and doing well. They are doing precisely what the elites want you to believe can t be done: changing their lives . . . and making a difference.

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
-Oscar Wilde
The institutions of power use everything from the lure of money to the blinders of conventional wisdom to keep us hitched to their plows, but the wonderful thing about Americans is that we have a healthy rebellious streak and the freedom to make choices. DeMarco and I urge everyone to tap into his or her maverick potential, but we hope that young people (teens and young adults) especially will question the rigid track that the system puts them on, insisting that it is the only way to live your life.
It s our belief that the kind of rebels you ll read about in this book are the great hope and the true leaders of our country. With desire and determination, you can be one of them. At first, you might assume that it takes an extraordinary person to make such a break and define his or her own success, but the people in the following pages didn t think of themselves as extraordinary at the start of their journeys. The first step is to decide to be disobedient, to say to the forces of the status quo, Nah, I m going to do it differently. The second is to look around, to explore the possibilities-which is why we invite you to meet the people in this book.
As the stories reveal, breaking away can be scary at first and can come with a price. But it s usually well worth that price, and disobedience itself can be empowering and exhilarating. Moreover, breaking the corporate bonds is the twenty-first century s paramount struggle for the democratic soul of America. For the last twenty-five years, the power elites have been shutting out and knocking down the workaday majority of Americans who are