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Blue Grit: Making Impossible, Improbable, and Inspirational Political Change in America | 
 enlarge | Author: Laura Flanders
Creator: Naomi Klein
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 631126
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0143113224
Dewey Decimal Number: 324
EAN: 9780143113225
ASIN: 0143113224
Publication Date: January 29, 2008
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Condition: Good reading copy. May have slight scratches on cover. Overall very good condition. Orders shipped within 2 business days. Choose EXPEDITED for fast delivery.
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Product Description
Noted political commentator Laura Flanders investigates the state of American politics from the bottom up
With her trademark wit and indefatigable reporting, Laura Flanders, host of RadioNation and bestselling author of Bushwomen: Tales of a Cynical Species, reveals as only she can the state of progressive America today. All over the country, grassroots organizations are making a difference, and democrats of all stripes are doing what the national party has failed to do: engage new voters, advance progressive issues, and even run their own candidates for officeand winin some of the most unlikely places. With a fiery polemic, assured narrative, and acute political commentary, Blue Grit is crucial reading for anyone interested in the future of the Democratsand this country.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Wanders, But I Finished It October 13, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
20081214 DEPARTED AMAZON WITH OUTRAGE OVER THE MANIPULATION OF VOTES.
I put this book down several times over a week and picked up another, but I finally finished it, and that brings it up from three to four stars.
Here are my notes and some quotes, and I must say, given better organization and editing, this book probably deserve to earn five stars, but not in its current state.
It is important to note that the author, in lamenting the total breakdown of the Democratic Party, did not anticipate the outright purchase of the Party by the Trilateral Commission and the financial industry that fielded both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (a protege of Zbigniew Brzezinski, who also gave us Jimmy Carter). A very exciting "show" is being run, and regardless of which candidate wins, we all lose as the two criminally-corrupt parties remain under the direct control of the financial elite.
+ Progressive ideas have been defeated by dirty tricks and fraud
+ "mainstream" Dems are dead, the best action is happening on the margins and bottom up
+ New word for me: optiholic
+ Democratic Party not listening to youth or foot-soliders, "give us your money, we'll tell you when we want to hear from you."
+ Liberals long for the past, progressives certain the future is bright.
+ League of Independent Voters rising in influence
+ Labor has dropped out [I would say more bluntly, labor leaders have been bought off and completely betrayed the labor rank and file]
+ Democrats close their local offices after the funding dries up, not organized for year-round operations
+ Need new ways to empower new networks (young, new immigrants, color)
+ Democratic Party is NOT the Progressive Coalition--some overlap
+ Red is not Red, Blue is not Blue
+ Cities are fighting federal efforts to retard wages, demanding and imposing living wages
+ Democrats not taking cities seriously
+ People across the Nation are against draconian drug laws and huge prison populations with attendant costs
+ Author believes that conservatives have locked down the national policy process while progressives are finding their voice in cities
+ I am introduced to the term "losing forward"
+ Local democrats are succeeding when they ignore the lack of support from the national party and go local, do what the party won't do
+ LIBERAL FOUNDATIONS SPEND TEN PERCENT OF WHAT CONSERVATIVE FOUNDATIONS SPEND ON ELECTION MESSAGES
+ Democratic Party is losing revenue from contributions to an increasing preference for grass root local organizations
+ Progressive activitists are focusing on "movement" instead of the national party focus on "getting out the vote." [As I write this ACORN is under multiple investigations while the media has not noticed or chosen not to cover fraud on the right]
+ KEY POINT: DEMOCRATS CAN NO LONGER COUNT ON BLACK CHURCHES AND LABOR UNIONS
+ Will take ten more years to create viable grass roots coalition
+ Too much focus on electing Democrats instead of achieving outcomes
+ PARTY AGENDA IS FIXED, IGNORES SOCIAL NETWORKS AND LOCALIZED GRIEVANCES
+ Democratic Party is still focused on top-down and direct mail instead of bottom up local empowerment.
+ BLISTERING ON "LIP-SYNCH LIBERALISM"
+ Citing Charon Asetoyer, "one size fits all slogans do not work"
+ Democrats losing it on Language, networks, credibility
+ Right has BOTH the dollars AND the captive idological media that carries entire populations from cradle to grave (talk radio, think tanks, national organs) [I have a note, Left just has MSNBC & NYT]
+ Dump Lieberman was a bottom up citizens movement that recognized his betrayal of Democratic interests and took matters into their own hands--this is reported to have freaked out the Democratic leadership
+ Disc jockeys have more political power today than most realize, and they can "deliver" thousands to the streets at any given time and place
+ 62% of the Democratic state committees do not have permanent communications directors (or an annual campaign)
+ NEW ORLEANS ONE YEAR AFTER KATRINA: ONE THIRD STILL WITHOUT ELECTRICITY
Ends with comments on campaign fraud, and I have a final note, crummy sources and crummy endnotes.
A couple of quotes that I felt should be shared here:
"The United States more closely resembles a purplish smorgasbord than a blue-red sandwich." (p. 35)
"People are craving leadership that is real." (p. 124)
This book is more of a personal essay, the result of a personal "walk-about" that pays little heed to other books in the democracy and progressive domain, other than the first one in the list below, that is cited several times by the author. See these other books for a left-oriented take on what needs to be done to restore democracy in the USA. I MUST EMPHASIZE MY VIEW: THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS REPUBLICAN LITE--THEY ARE BOTH CORRUPT AND BOTH HAVE BETRAYED THE PEOPLE'S TRUST.
Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics
Crashing the Party: Taking on the Corporate Government in an Age of Surrender
The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics
Left Hand of God, The: Healing America's Political and Spiritual Crisis
The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America's Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love
State of the Unions: How Labor Can Strengthen the Middle Class, Improve Our Economy, and Regain Political Influence
The Working Poor: Invisible in America
Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor
Doing Democracy
The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World
 Has A Winning Strategy June 14, 2008
This book hits the nail on the head as to why the Republican party has been more successful than our Democratic party. According to Flanders, the Democratic Party organizes from the top down and only pays attention to it's strongholds. The party traditionally has little or no organization in the so-called Red States. Flanders shows that there are disenchanted voters in Red States and Red areas of Blue States. They are putting forth grass roots efforts and winning local elections.
The book also goes on to say that the party needs to stay true to it's ideals. This is where I disagree in many instances. In some cases Democratic Candidates do not share all of her Liberal views. However, I think that her criticism of the so-called New Democrats and specifically, the Democratic Leadership Conference (DLC)is right on. I definitely agree with DNC Chair Howard Dean's 50 state strategy.
As a political activist, I am going to recommend this to my fellow Democrats.
Campaigns not Candidates January 30, 2008
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Blue Grit is what the Democratic Party needs. It's a little bit like soul it's a lot like grits. Whether they get it or whether they will ever get it is another story.
The story that Laura Flanders tells in her prescient book is one that the fourth estate--fawning over Barack Obama's rout in Iowa--would have been well advised to read. They might have learned a thing or two: That progressive movements are not built over night and that they are not built on the backs of candidates, no matter how inspiring they are. Flanders is not a conventional campaign correspondent--conventional campaign correspondents don't actually cover campaigns; they cover candidates--and that is why Blue Grit, which chronicles progressive change in unlikely places, is much more valuable than the daily dose (often mind numbing) of political reportage. For a good example, see Flanders' recent stories in the Nation magazine on why the current campaign is not about Obama and why the real battle is not between Obama and Clinton but between the suites (the penthouse party) and the streets.
Flanders is more attuned to the people who make political change, often against great odds, than anyone else writing today. Thus her book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the current moment, a field guide to a more promising political future.
What is happening and what will happen in '08? As Flanders points out, the Democratic gains in '06 "didn't usher in new power for a new agenda." But the political shift is taking place at a different level. "The top of the ticket is not where the action is. Political change, as opposed to personnel change, works from the bottom up..." Will we see political change in the next election or just another changing of the guards?
 More like Blue Snit. June 10, 2007
4 out of 14 found this review helpful
I just finished reading this book, and my take-away impression is that half the book is about brave individuals working alone or together in little three-or-four-letter-acronym political activist groups to advance "progressive" causes, and the other half is about what is wrong with the Democratic Party.
The book is half blue grit, and half blue snit. It seems there's a split in the Democratic Party these days, and in this book Laura Flanders explains in detail why and how this came about. This would be interesting reading, I would think, to anyone who's into politics, be they on the right or the left.
I don't consider myself a "progressive", but I enjoyed this book mainly due to the detailed accounts of the inner workings of politics, at least on the Democrat side. I also enjoyed Laura's fun, upbeat, not preachy and not mean writing style. I don't agree much with her politics, but I'm reviewing her book not her politics, and it's fun to read.
My one major criticism of the book in general has to do with the order in which material is presented. We start out with detailed accounts of people and activist groups I've never heard of in states where I don't live (Utah, Nevada and Montana) and the one-little-story-after-another just got quite tedious after a while. I almost stopped reading the book after the first two chapters. I suppose a "progressive" would just love this stuff but not being one I found it boring after a while. It would have worked better for me to start with the national stuff that I've been watching in the news for the past few years and then work into the local stories.
One thing this book did for me is confirm what a "progressive" is for me. According to Laura on page 9, "Those on the Left, to a greater or lesser degree, hold to a belief that this whole society is set up to serve those with power and wealth, and oppress all those without." And that's why I don't call myself a "progressive" because this sounds like good old-fashioned 19th century Marxism. Are we still in the South before the Civil War? Do we live in Russia in 1916? How cynical can you get? I would never be confused with someone wealthy or powerful, but a lot of the way our society is set up does serve me, and I don't feel particularly oppressed by anyone or anything. Perhaps I'm just not enlightened enough.
Another thing I would have appreciated is a real bibliography. There are "notes" in the back, and just enough for me to realize that someone who worked on this book understood the concept, and then did just little enough so that it looked like they didn't care.
Then there's the stuff I found downright funny.
On page 178, Ms. Flanders writes, "Much as I love my listeners on Air America Radio, for example, it worries me how little they like to hear from anyone with an opposing point of view." That kind of honesty is as unusual as it is refreshing.
On page 158, she writes about the Fairness Doctrine and says, "The elimination of the doctrine, by the Federal Communications Commission under Reagan, opened the door for Rush Limbaugh and around-the-clock, one-note, wingnut talk radio." The irony of that coming from an Air America personality is beyond words.
On page 186, Ms. Flanders is writing about why the rich out vote the poor. She writes, "In contrast to most advanced democracies, the right to vote in the United States isn't conveyed automatically with citizenship and coming of age. Voters have to prove themselves and always have, and the challenges related to registering, qualifying, and having one's vote be counted have always worked to help manipulate or suppress votes." Really? I can't even remember what, if anything, I had to do to get my voters' registration card. I haven't had to do anything since. My biggest problem with voting is forgetting to do it.
Anyway, this is a fun book to read regardless of the author's politics. And, unlike preachy pundit books, even someone on the other political side from the author can learn something.
This American Life: Flanders is a Political Ira Glass May 24, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I loved this book, I simply didn't want it to end. Another volume maybe, Laura?
Flanders is a top-notch storyteller, social observer and enthusiastic cheerleader for progressive social change. Her style is refreshing and human; she's tough on all the right assholes, gentle with the good guys and emphatic as she bursts many a bubble of disinformation, misinformation and outright deception. But more than anything, her stories of the courage and committment of small "d" democratic activists across the country make you want to jump into the fray and make a difference in the ways her heroes did.
It's easy living in a progressive city (Flanders reminds us that every metropolis with a population above 500k went for Kerry--take note DNC) to feel defeated by the inability to make real change that matters. For a year following the disastrous 2004 election, Flanders crossed the country, from New Orleans to Utah, from Montana to the Vegas Strip. And while the post-election pundits chastised the Democrats for not being mainstream and centrist enough, Flanders tells us the real decisive victories happened on the progressive left. In union halls. On Indian reservations. With young people. All of whom pounded the pavement to wrack up historic numbers in terms of voter registration and Democratic votes. And yet the Democratic Party infrastructure, ever the gang that couldn't shoot straight, under-appreciated, misunderstood and outright negated these victories time and time again. Flanders talks about the union rep who remarked that "Republicans reward their friends, Democrats reward their enemies."
Flanders' frontline reportage is biting and witty, acerbic and generous. Here she is on the lack of grassroots infrastructure to support change long term: "What the [Democrats] built was a Penthouse Party: all top-floor suites, no load bearing walls, no foundations, no functioning stairway to the street." Time and time again she nails it. What I loved is that like Ira Glass on an episode of This American Life, you find the dramatic, detailed account of regular folks fighting the good fight inspiring and memorable. More, more, more.
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