Product Description

The bestselling author of War on the Middle Class looks at the critical issues and challenges of the 2008 election

In Independents Day, Lou Dobbs examines the public policy choices over the past thirty years that have eroded individual liberties, disenfranchised the middle class, reduced worker rights and pay, and led our nation into social and political division at home as well as into conflict around the world. Dobbs lays out the folly of continuing to follow existing domestic and foreign policies that have enriched and entrenched the elites, and burdened to the breaking point the rest of America. He posits a determined course for both prosperity and the survival of the American dream in a society that is desperate for new leadership and new ideas. Most important, Dobbs explores how we must and can restore the fundamental national value of equality of rights and opportunity for all Americans.

Independents Day is an independent populist’s view of the critical issues and challenges that confront the presidential candidates and American voters as we approach the 2008 election.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29155 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Author and journalist Dobbs (War on the Middle Class), best known for the snub-nosed populism of his nightly CNN news program Lou Dobbs Tonight, presents a thoughtful case against American political strategies past and present, encouraging citizens to "live every day as independent day." Pointing to the "near-epidemic levels" of "business scandals, Capitol Hill ethics violations, White House spin, and corporate layoffs," Dobbs concludes that "disregard for the will of the people" is the new status quo among the government and business elite. Contending that "our government rationalizes away the common good and our national interest," the author unfurls tales of partisanship, unfathomable plunges into debt, the ramifications of cheap labor, a stomach-lurching account of who owns what we generally regard as our public highways, and "the Pontius Pilate way the government washes its hands of involvement in those matters it has assigned to contractors." Issues range from immigration to trade policy to the poor state of public education and the celebrity takeover of news media. Dobbs' polemic is a four-alarm wake-up call meant to jar America's populace into reclaiming their values and voice; presenting a culmination of disturbing trends that may soon relegate "our national sovereignty to history's dustbin," Dobbs's troubling news will give any citizen much to ponder.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Lou Dobbs is the anchor and managing editor of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight. Dobbs also anchors a nationally syndicated financial news radio report, The Lou Dobbs Financial Report, and writes a weekly commentary on CNN.com.

Dobbs is the author of the two New York Times best selling books, "Exporting America" and "War on the Middle Class" and co-author of the book "Space." His latest book is "Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit," published in November 2007.

Dobbs has won nearly every major award for television journalism. In 2005, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded Dobbs the Emmy for Lifetime Achievement. The previous year, the National Television Academy awarded Lou Dobbs Tonight an Emmy Award for "Exporting America." He received the George Foster Peabody Award for his coverage of the 1987 stock market crash. In 1990, he was given the Luminary Award by the Business Journalism Review for his "visionary work, which changed the landscape of business journalism in the 1980s."

In 2004, Dobbs received The Man of the Year Award from The Organization for the Rights of American Workers and the George J. Kourpias Excellence in Journalism Award from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers for his contributions to the national debate on jobs, global trade and outsourcing. Dobbs was also presented with the Eugene Katz Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Immigration from the Center for Immigration Studies for his ongoing series "Broken Borders," which examines U.S. policy towards illegal immigration. He also received the Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership in Media Award at the 2004 Albert Schweitzer Leadership Awards Dinner for his commitment to helping high school students seek out, recognize and develop leadership potential. In 1999, he received the Horatio Alger Association Award for Distinguished Americans and, in 2000, the National Space Club Media Award. Dobbs was named "Father of the Year" by the National Father's Day Committee in 1993.

He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in economics.

Customer Reviews

Meet the Press has a new host.
After reading the book I think we have found the new host for Meet The Press. The perfect un-biased host. As Tim Russert did, he leans a little to the left, but has a very un-biased opinion on both sides of the coin. Wouldn't it be nice.

Howard Smith

Reporting the Problems
Lou Dobbs is a journalist and TV reporter. The cover says Big Business and the government is at war against working Americans and democracy. One front is the massive debt to burden taxpayers for future generations (bonding taxes the many to benefit the few), the other is the attack on "good jobs at good wages", increasing health care costs, and the educational system ("dumbing down" students). Small businesses have been attacked since WW II. Big Oil attacked cities to disperse people, eliminate local agricultural farms, and create a dependency on oil. Dobbs says the twin-party system has failed America. But this has been going on since the late 19th century. Matthew Josephson wrote "The Politicos" to explain how financiers and manufacturing capitalists conquered the Republican and Democratic parties to become their masters (like Mark Hanna). The controlled media and the educational system have fooled generations who know little of history and economics. The devaluation of the dollar after 1971 was followed by higher prices for oil and other products. This was a stealth tax that continues to the present day.

The `Introduction' lists the faults of those who control the government. "Their arrogance now threatens the future of our nation, and their elitist sense of entitlement has reached such heights that our leaders are now openly dismissive of the will of the people" (p.1). Dobbs says the problem of illegal immigrants and open borders is a symptom of this class warfare. Its purpose is a further attack on working Americans. The corporate media ignores the real issues (p.3). Dobbs lists the problems created by out "elite" (p.6). Dobbs asks important questions on page 7. Why are we the world's leading debtor nation? Why can't we defeat the insurgency in Iraq? Why do we have consecutive trade deficits since 1976 (p.7)? Why are we dependent on other nations for oil and consumer electronics? Can we believe the elites in politics, business, academia, and the media in allowing NAFTA and the World Trade Organization to control America? Dobbs says the twin-parties are incapable of serving the people (p.9). Dobbs believes the participation of citizens in politics and government will effect a change. But only if they form a united movement. Dobbs is dead wrong in saying no political apparatus or party machine is needed. Only a united movement of the people can effect a cure for the politics of the "elite". Howard Jarvis' book sketched the organized movement needed to put Proposition 13 on the ballot in California. That took 16 years! Dobbs should have used a fact checker for this book. My recollection of history differs from this book. Look up the Yazoo Land Fraud of 1799 for "scandals and corruption" (p.21).

The chapters on hidden lobbies that are tax-exempt is particularly informative ("Shadow Governments"). Chapter 8 doesn't tell how Big Corporations have controlled and influenced major religious bodies. Chapter 9 tells of the economic harm from illegal immigrants. It imports poverty and increases costs for public benefits. The class warfare against ordinary Americans is listed in Chapter 10. Is schooling less effective because of what is on TV (p.174)? [Is there a need for censorship?] Chapter 11 tells of the increase in drug use in America. Is it caused by TV advertising? Is the residue contaminating our water supply? Can we win the war on drugs? Chapter 12 examined the madness in the media. Does junk news distract people from the real news? Do they serve the public? Is it the fault of Big Corporations? Why aren't other journalists free to speak out (p.205)? Chapter 13 summarizes this book. Does it convince you that our present condition is a form of political repression?

Very fine work by our friend, Lou Dobbs..."Let's Get To Work"!
CNN's Lou Dobbs, who has exposed such little
charlatans as Morris (gag,swallow) Dees and
other maggots, clears the air on why the Dem-
opublican and the Republicrats really are the
'The Evil of Two Lessors' and should be avoided
like the plague! If only he'd quit beleiving in
the 'hoax of the twentieth century' and stop us-
ing the incorrect word'democracy' (folkes, he re-
ally means 'Constitutional Republic'. But these
are small complaints when he screams on his show
five night a week at that 99-i.q idiot at Penn.
Ave. "You Go Lou"!