You Have the Power: How to Take Back Our Country and Restore Democracy in America

by Howard Dean

Book Overview

Governor Howard Dean of Vermont argues that you have the power to change the future course of America.

If you are worried about the way America is being governed and want to reclaim the country you know and love, now is the time to take it back.

You Have the Power is an energetic and detailed guide to restoring American democracy. It exposes the radical extremism of today's "mainstream" Republicans and shows Democrats how to be...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743291492
• ISBN13: 9780743291491
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Howard Dean's Manual for Reform

Howard Dean is proving himself to be one of the Democratic Party's more enduring leaders. Not yet 60, he has already served as Governor of Vermont, head of the Democratic Governors Association, a Democratic candidate for the party's 2004 presidential nomination, head of the political action committee Democracy for America, and since, February, 2005, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. With the Democrats poised to make big gains in 2006, Dean's future relevance is likely to continue for some time. I am not a neutral observer. I was a Dean delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2004--his only delegate from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, or the Mid-Atlantic states. And I have actively participated in Democracy for America and urged Pennsylvania's members of the Democratic National Committee to support his candidacy for this position. Dean's ascension to the Chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee from the ranks of unsuccessful Presidential candidates is unprecedented. Most Democratic National Committee chairs have been fundraisers and/or political technicians. Dean is the rare Democratic National Committee with a visible policy platform and a coherent set of ideas. This book is a summary and integration of Dean's views in a variety of areas: public policy platform; critiques of the Democratic Party (including Bill Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council), the Republican Party (including George Bush, Newt Gingrich and the radical right), the media (including coverage of him and coverage of President Bush), a mix of moral exhortations to get actively involved in the political process, and pragmatic suggestions on how to strengthen the Democratic Party and why doing so is absolutely necessary. This book is also an excellent summary of how his two decades in Vermont's state government have shaped his worldview; he is a strong patriot for Vermont as well as for America. "Ours is a very nurturing state with a sense of neighborly obligation. You typically see this in rural states, where communities had to band together because they were relatively isolated and self-supporting. There's a strong ethic that says we're all in it together; and it translates into an almost ingrained sense of collective responsibility and a deep commitment to public programs that tie people together...." Dean's signature programs as Governor of Vermont were business tax cuts, an expansion of social welfare programs from the poor to the middle class by raising income eligibility requirments, parenting training programs for low-income families, offering home visits from social workers and nurses to mothers of newborns, annually balancing the budget, and saying no to undramatic traditional government spending in order to be able to finance some bold initiatives. "All because Vermonters believed that our community of like-minded, stable, middle-class citizens could be expanded to draw in people at risk. In other words, we really tried t

Time to tell the truth and learn to reframe the debate

A doctor and a politician in one, Howard Dean knows very well what's he's getting at. Look, you can be a centrist or a liberal and still end up in the same conservative trap. Think about the last two stolen presidential elections. Gore was a centrist all throughout his political career until Bush got his presidency through the supreme court in Dec 2000 and Kerry was a liberal who temporarily tried to be a centrist in 2004 but that of course prevented him from being himself. This book clearly proves that you should not be afraid to boldly turn the tables on rightwing puppets like Limbaugh and Foxnews to name a few or people will not trust you as their leader. I also recommend "Don't Think of an Elephant" by George Lakeoff. P.S.: Some Democrats like the previous reviewer are running scared because they're in big trouble for kissing up to Bush, Delay, and GOP neocons in general. And there's no question that conservatives are actually scared of a tough as hell doctor like Howard Dean who knows their tricks inside out.

A positive challenge to the negative nabobs ! ! !

If you're fed up with the status quo, and want to join an intelligent refomer who uses scalpel to expose the rotten flesh of the existing system, this book will confirm your every worst fear about politics. In 1968, I watched presidential candidates descend on our little community and was totally baffled at the insipid, trivial and biased coverage of the so-called national press. It's now much worse, and Dean has the guts to "expose the rotten flesh" of the media. His criticism of the Democrats pulls no punches, and is devastating on the Greedy Old Party. Dean knows anout miracle cures, which is what voters expect every four years; BUT, like every good doctor, he knows it is far more important to change one's lifestyle than to pop yet another pill or spend another session under the scalpel. He doesn't do "feel good" politics, he prescribes changes in lifestyle. Think of applying the doctor's motto to politics, "First, do no harm." If you understand that, you'll understand his approach. If you go to a doctor to have your appendix removed, you'll end up with no appendix and a fading little scar on your tummy. Politicians, as anyone who watched the debates or saw any political ads knows, recommend a shotgun to remove your appendix -- and the entire substance of their debate centers on the use of a 410-gauge or a 12-gauge gun with SSGs or birdshot. Most politicians want to go back to the past; Barry Goldwater liked 1910, George Wallace liked 1930, Richard Nixon liked 1950 and, both John Kerry and George Bush act as if they'd love to go back to the Clinton prosperity of 2000. Dean is one who realizes that all of us are going to live in the future, and it's up to each of us as to how we live. Despite the nattering nabobs of negativism, to use the words of the man who helped invent much of today's negative politics, Dean has unbounded optimism in America. He's not here to pronounce a death sentence, which many politicians offer if they are not elected; he's here to show all Americans how to live a better life. If you're tired of the way lawyers have run the country, there's a lot to be said for doctors. This doctor says a lot in a brief space. He knows, "Politicians can't solve our problems for us." Dean says America's faults are based on the attitude "we're always looking for someone to come along and save us." The good doctor knows we have to save ourselves. This book is a prescription to get started. It's well worth reading. From there on, if you love this country, it's up to you and people like you. Dean is confident it can be done.

The Truth Of Our Times

Howard Dean really speaks his mind in this book. Despite the media's portrayal of him as a red-faced, raving, leftist fanatic, he is actually quite a moderate Democrat. This book is a how-to guide to succeed in the political world, and is a wake-up call for both sides on what they should be doing to bring our country back together again. Also, unlike Bill Clinton's My Life, the book is small enough that you can read it on a long airline flight. I urge everyone, Democrat or Republican, to at least give this book a try.

A handbook for Democrats

Written by the Gov. Howard Dean, MD who surgically implanted a new spine into the Democratic Party this book lays out what has gone wrong with our party (and our country) and plots a course for the future. For those who didn't pay attention to the Democratic primary race - who may only know Howard Dean as that `scream guy' - read this book. There are at least 700,000 people out there who are better citizens, better Americans because of this man. All Democrats, Liberals, Progressives should read this book. Republicans who think all Democrats are wild-eyed America-hating socialists may learn a thing or to also. I purchased my signed copy at a Dean speech in Ohio.