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YOU HAVE THE POWER
How to Take Back Our Country and Restore Democracy in America
by Howard Dean
News from Simon & Schuster
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Contact: Leah Wasielewski, Publicist, 212-698-7183
Governor Howard Dean, whose grassroots presidential campaign changed politics forever, lays out a blueprint for the future of the Democratic Party and America in YOU HAVE THE POWER: How to Take Back Our Country and Restore Democracy in America (Simon & Schuster, September 2004, $19.95). Partly a memoir of the Dean for America campaign, partly a Democratic strategy guide, YOU HAVE THE POWER is above all a passionate call to action, urging ordinary Americans to reclaim their rightful place at the heart of the political process.
YOU HAVE THE POWER opens with an inside look at Dean’s presidential campaign and its implications for American democracy. A sense of outrage propelled Dean into the 2004 presidential race. The Vermont governor was incensed by a radically reactionary administration that had misled the nation into war and consistently put corporate interests over those of working Americans. He was disgusted by spineless Democratic politicians who had essentially become de facto Republicans for the sake of political survival. Dean for America tapped into a massive wellspring of anger—a long-silent majority of middle-class citizens who had been marginalized by the right and abandoned by the Democratic establishment. But in the end, the Dean campaign wasn’t about anger—it was about hope. The idea that ordinary Americans, by pooling their efforts, could end politics as usual and win back their country.
Dean for America was the nation’s first “campaign by, of, and for the people.” It was a true grassroots movement that took on a life of its own and spread like wildfire, fueled by the Internet and small donations. Through on-line groups like DeanLink.com and Meetup, people connected and mobilized in unprecedented ways. For the first time, hundreds of thousands of people made donations of five and ten dollars through the Internet. One woman famously donated 50 dollars in quarters that she’d saved from her monthly disability check. The small donations added up; the campaign raised a whopping $14.8 million over three months—a record for a Democratic candidate—and propelled Dean to party frontrunner.
Although John Kerry ultimately won the nomination, Dean writes that Dean for America was “about much, much more than electing me to the White House. It was about reempowering people.” As such, the Dean campaign holds valuable, specific lessons for bringing the Democratic party back to power—and giving the country back to ordinary Americans. “We need a new progressive politics,” writes Dean, “with progressive strategies to match, so that democracy in America can become not just a matter of belief but a plan for action.”
In YOU HAVE THE POWER, Howard Dean argues persuasively for:
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• Embracing a new kind of grassroots campaign Little of the Dean for America movement was orchestrated by a central office. Hundreds of groups like Seniors for Dean, African-Americans for Dean, and Dean Corps sprang up on their own, spontaneously, and profoundly shaped the campaign. This decentralization, Dean writes, was the campaign’s greatest innovation, and one that has yet to be co-opted by other campaigns, which were quick to adopt small-donor programs and Internet organizations. Reempowering the electorate, Dean writes, “requires a cognitive change in those who run campaigns and not just a change in technique or technology.” (155)
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• Improving the voting system A huge hurdle for participatory democracy, Dean writes, is that voters simply aren’t excited about the candidates. In a two-party system, voters are often forced to choose between the lesser of two evils, while third-party candidates do not seem like viable alternatives. For example, in the current election, a vote for Nader is essentially a vote for Bush. To reenergize voters, Dean proposes an “instant runoff” system, where voters rank the candidates in order of preference. Since Nader would presumably finish last in a three-way tally, the election would then hinge on how many Naderites listed Bush or Kerry as their second choice. As for the other crucial element to election reform, Dean puts it bluntly: “We need voting machines that work.” (183-185)
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• Taking power into your own hands Raising voter turnout is critical, Dean writes, but “voting is not enough.” Dean argues, “Voting gets you a D if you want to live in a healthy democracy. If you want an A, you have to work in a campaign for a candidate in any office three hours a week. And you have to send your favorite candidate five or ten or fifty dollars. To get an A+, you have to run for office yourself. Run for the school board, county supervisor, state legislature, Congress. Run for student council or library trustee. If ordinary Americans like you don’t run, people from the right wing or the Christian Coalition will.” (186)
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• Restoring the media as a legitimate watchdog of democracy Although Dean is well-known for his contempt for the press—and yes, he does address how his “Iowa Scream” was distorted by the media—he argues that enlightened media regulations could restore objectivity and credibility to the airwaves. The danger of the current situation, he writes, is not censorship or political bias, but that, “in the pursuit of entertainment and ratings, the role of media in our democracy has been trivialized.” He supports policies that discourage large corporations from ownership of media and urges audiences to seek out alternatives to CNN and Fox, including NPR and local news shows. (124-151)
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• Drawing the line In two forceful chapters, “Losing Our Country” and “Losing Our Party,” Dean takes a historic view of how, since the Nixon administration, the Republican party has steadily pushed the country’s political leadership to the right, masking massive deficit spending and corporate handouts with divisive rhetoric, dishonest (but extremely savvy) media campaigns, and sham legislation like No Child Left Behind (or, as Dean calls it, No School Board Left Standing). At the same time, Democrats have acted like lame ducks, allowing President Bush to ram through irresponsible tax breaks for the wealthy and a prescription-drug plan which amounts to a massive handout to the pharmaceutical companies. Democrats need to recognize, Dean writes, that “our opponents in Congress are extremists.” Democrats need to stop “using appeasement as a political strategy” and aggressively engage with Republicans on their own terms. Democrats cannot afford to cede hot-button topics like faith and values to the Republicans, and they have to take the offensive in exposing Republican hypocrisy and dishonesty. (31-87)
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• Restoring party discipline For years, the Republicans have been better organized and presented a more cohesive agenda than their Democratic opponents. Democrats must stand united—or face the consequences. “We don’t need to march in lockstep on every vote,” Dean writes. “But on critical votes that touch on our key issues, Democrats cannot abandon our core values.” In one of his toughest assertions, Dean argues that “there is no reason not to pose primary challenges to Democratic incumbents who vote with the Republicans on critical Democratic priorities.” (168)
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• Strategizing for the long haul Like the Republicans, Democrats must establish a permanent, election-to-election presence on the American political scene through think tanks, foundations, grassroots organizations, and media outlets. Stealing a page from Newt Gingrich’s 1994 playbook, Dean urges Democrats to contest every seat, for every office, in every county of the United States—even in areas that are largely Republican. Dean writes, “It can’t be done in one election cycle. So we have to think in terms of many cycles, because change is possible over time.” (153-154, 167-168)
With the same conviction, candor, and fiery resolve that ignited a national movement, Howard Dean delivers a primer on rebuilding American democracy from the ground up. Unabashedly partisan, boldly visionary, and, in this high-stakes election year, impossible to ignore, YOU HAVE THE POWER is an instant political classic.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
HOWARD DEAN, former governor of Vermont, is the founder of Democracy for America, a grassroots organization that supports socially progressive and responsible political candidates.
ABOUT THE BOOK
YOU HAVE THE POWER: How to Take Back Our Country and Restore Democracy in America
By Howard Dean, with Judith Warner
This edition: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 09/2004
ISBN: 0743270134
List Price: $19.95