Update -
David Sirota appeared before a standing room only crowd at Carmichael Books on Frankfort Avenue in Louisville on Wednesday evening. He was introduced by his friend, Jonathan Miller.
Sirota elaborated on his themes in the book in a power point presentation complete with graphs, charts and squiggly lines that all went down (as in voter satisfaction, manufacturing) and up (as in gas prices). Sirota told the crowd that the anger the American public is feeling won't go away and that if the GOP wins the White House there will be more fear, isolationism and anti-immigration sentiment.
Sirota said that he recently appeared on Fox News to debate NAFTA as a direct result of his book's popularity. He urged the crowd to get involved at the state level.
 The Uprising – An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington
David Sirota’s new book seems to be an unlikely candidate for the New York Times bestseller list-until you read it. To paraphrase Renee Zellweiger to Tom Cruise - He had me at page 5 when he wrote in the first chapter of the book poetically entitled “A Portrait of the Writer on a Bathroom Floor”.
“…An insurrection is on-a fist-pounding, primal screaming revolt from a mob wielding protest signs, ballots, computer keyboards, shareholder proxies, and even, in some cases, guns.
It is an uprising.
Knowing I’m still drunk, I question the epiphany for a moment.
Is this uprising real? Can it succeed? Can it become a full-fledged movement?
Then I puke…”
Sirota’s search for the revolting populists begins at a DailyKos Convention, heads east for tour of Montana politics, spends a day with Lou Dobbs, visits the Minutemen in the Southwest, hangs out with union organizers on the Wet Coast, visits the US Senate and other equally obscure organizations and finishes his tour in the unlikeliest place of all – an ExxonMobile shareholders meeting.
He studies each different movement like a biologist with a new genus of beetle. He is fascinated by their motivation. Why do middle class Americans go to the desert to keep out illegal aliens? What is Lou Dobbs so angry about? Why would a Dominican nun be leading a shareholder revolt? What is fusion politics?
He connects these movements to their historical ancestors and draws analogies to other phenomena that may (or may not) make their behavior more understandable. Comparing, contrasting, delving into the historical context and the politics inside and outside each group, he takes the reader inside to meet real people doing things they sincerely think will make the world a better place. Sirota doesn’t always agree with them, but he lets them tell their stories, often in their own words.
Sirota’s comparison of the present movement against the War in Iraq to the protest movement against the War in Vietnam is far from an unqualified endorsement.
Of a Washington rally against the Iraq War, he says,
“Sure, everyone here at this rally has every right to use caricatured 60s symbolism, don Arab regalia most American (unfortunately) equate with Islamic terrorists, and stress the strong support of Hollywood celebrities. They have this right, but that doesn’t mean they are achieving their state goal of trying to end the war. In fact, it is-quite predictably exactly the opposite. The lead story on national television tonight -shocker! - will be about (Jane) Fonda and how her appearance at the march was her first major antiwar declaration since she was humiliated for seeming to publicly endorse the North Vietnamese Communists almost four decades ago. That’s a perfect storyline only if the goal of the march is to convince the 70 percent of Americans who oppose the war that they definitely don’t wan to join the organized antiwar crusade.”
It is especially enjoyable to read the way Sirota manages to weave Saul Alinsky (the great 20th century organizer) into each chapter. Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals can be applied to any group whose intention is to move society in its desired direction.
The main reason for Kentuckians to buy this book is not because it is fascinating. It is. It is not because it is a dizzying look at all the angles of the populist movement. It is because of Chapter Two – the Thrilla in Montana. The antics of divided House (Republican controlled) and Senate (Democrat controlled) chambers as they duck, weave, poke and bob remind one fondly of the ballet of the Three Stooges in pre-Shep days.
As the Montana Legislature hurtles toward the end of their 90 day session without a budget and both Houses play brinksmanship with dueling tax proposals, someone gloomily predicts a special session.
Sirota writes, “Special session,” I know, doesn’t sound so bad. It may even sound kind of good because, hell, who doesn’t like “special” things? But it is an abomination that the public hates.”
Any of this sounding familiar?
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