Swim against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow Book

That's presuming there is a flow…

Considering the dysfunction in Washington these days and the pollution of our waterways it's not clear that there is a current that a dead fish could go with. But, yes, Jim Hightower and Susan DeMarco have got it right: we need to swim hard against the tide of stupidity and BS awash over this once great land.

The book is in three sections, business, politics and life. In business Hightower laments at how big corporations manage to break the law and get away with it. He notes, in characteristic style: "Most laws governing corporate behavior are weaker than Canadian hot sauce and rarely enforced." He goes on to point out that many of the fines that corporations pay for wrongdoing "are merrily deducted from the corporation's income tax!"

Yes, God is in his heaven watching over the corporate person made in His image. Not.

In Part II Politics, we can see that Hightower is a redneck, red-state progressive--in other words, what might be thought of as an oxymoron, without the oxy. But actually if we all knew where our bread was buttered there might be a bit of a blue shift since any dang fool knows that Bush type Republicans are as elitist as royalty. Anyway, Hightower knows whereof he speaks when it comes to politics having been elected, not once, as he reminds us, but twice to statewide office in Texas. And I would say, if a progressive can win in Texas there's definitely hope for the rest of the country. But maybe not, since here is how Hightower characterizes Texas politics:

"…Texas is rich in the politically ridiculous (it's a point of pride for us, actually). We elected a guy named Jesse James nine times--as our state treasurer! Ma Ferguson, elected governor here in 1924, opposed a bill to provide bilingual education, declaring, 'If the King's English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me.'"

In "Section Three: Life," here's the "basic question": "Will we let greedheaded profiteers determine the boundaries of our lives? Or will we take charge, blazing new paths for ourselves and our country?"

OMG! This is rallying cry. And the first order of business is agribusiness and how "They TORTURE food! They apply massive doses of pesticides and artificial fertilizers to these living organisms. They inject animals with antibiotics and sex hormones…. They force grass-eating cows to become carnivores and even cannibals. They blast fruits and veggies with ripening gas and zap them with radiation. They dose the finished foodstuffs with assorted sugars, artificial flavorings, transfats, and chemical preservatives…."

The next order of business is to stop the pollution and the--putting it bluntly--global warming. At this point Hightower and DeMarco throw in a telling quote: "Those who deface a Hummer in words or deed, deface the American flag and what it stands for." --Rick Schmidt, founder International Hummer Owners Group."

Near the end of the book, Jim and Susan give us Rev. Rich Cizik, an evangelic Christian who drives a Prius. Naturally this came to the attention of people like James Dobson and Pat Robertson, "Christians" of a different stripe, and they had at the good reverend. Dobson called Cizik "divisive" because he was pressing an agenda that is "anti-capitalist," reflecting "an underlying hatred for America." Robertson declared the Cizik was letting himself be "used by the radical left to further their agenda."

Bottom line here: sharp, witty, funny and to the point: wake up America.

--Dennis Littrell, author of the mystery novel, "Teddy and Teri"