Jim Hightower - Swim against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow

Contents

Copyright 2008 by Jim Hightower. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Hightower, Jim, date.

Swim against the current : even a dead fish can go with the flow / Jim Hightower with Susan DeMarco.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-470-12151-1 (cloth)

1. Business and politicsUnited States. 2. Corporate powerUnited States. 3. DemocracyUnited States. 4. United StatesPolitics and government. 5. American wit and humor. I. DeMarco, Susan. II. Title

JK467.H54 2008

322.30973dc22 2007027348

To Molly Ivins, for all she did and all she was

The people have the power

The power to dream

To rule

To wrestle the world from fools.

Patti Smith

Acknowledgments

For first-rate research, artful use of the Internet, good ideas, and personable dealings with all of the people involved with this bookthank you, Laura Ehrlich. For six years (and three books), Laura has handled everything from communications to production work, keeping our little shop (Saddle-Burr Productions) running smoothlyat least, when I dont screw things up.

Thanks, too, to Marva Mouser in our office, who helped lift the research load, and to Melody Byrd, who has the unenviable task of coordinating the book-tour schedule.

Rafe Sagalyn is the sort of agent writers needcalm in the storm, yet willing to kick up a storm when one is necessary. Thanks for bringing our book to print. And thanks, too, for introducing DeMarco and me to Eric Nelson and all the good folks who make John Wiley & Sons such a welcoming place for maverick voices like ours.

Finally, a special thank-you to the mavericks whose stories we tell here. You activists, entrepreneurs, politicos, organizers, doctors, environmentalists, religious leaders, unionists, reformers, farmers, scientists, and other odd bedfellowscreative souls allare a shining light to a brighter future for all of us. Thanks for being such a positive force in an often negative world.

Introduction

You dont have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.

C. S. Lewis

Rambling down the dusty road of life, DeMarco and I have picked up a few useful bits of advice, which we now pass along for guidance in your own journeys (no need to thank us; happy to be of assistance):

• Never eat at a caf featuring Bargain kebabs!
• Never hit a man with glasses; hit him with something much heavier.
• Never get into a drinking contest with a tattooed woman called Tanker.

Okay, so we have also picked up a few serious words of wisdom over the years. Weve found in them a path that makes life more interesting and much richer than it otherwise would be. Heres a small set of these maxims, all related, all culturally charged, and all worthy of being embraced as touchstones of a new progressive revival to lift us from the corporate doldrums that have stalled our countrys revolutionary drive:

Question authority.

Question their answers.

Trust your values.

Stand up for your beliefs.

Take risks.

Invite change.

Seek alternatives.

Break away.

Make a difference.

Last year, I got this e-mail from a woman named Linda:

I have a decent job and do it well, but Im constantly thinking Im wasting my time. I want to begin doing something useful to contribute to changing things, at least becoming a cog in the wheel thats on the right vehicle. Any suggestions?

First, Linda, you are not alone. So many people yearn to break away but cant express it so succinctly. Second, in ways both small and large, its quite possible for each of us to make the break, whether were young and just starting out, or were older and in search of another path.

Weve written this book to give people a sense of the various possibilities for escaping the corporate tentacles. The Powers That Be dont want you even thinking that this is achievable. But, as a friend of ours says, Those who say it cant be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

In our many travels throughout this great country, DeMarco and I have come across all sorts of commonsense folks whore choosing to buck the system... and succeeding. They are not Einsteins, not heirs to a Rockefeller fortune, not people who just got lucky. They simply are regular Americans who decided to reject the prescribed rules and exit the corporate interstate. Theyre showing us new paths toward richer lives and(dare we say it?)happiness.

Our book will introduce you to some of these people, tell their stories, and connect you to individuals and groups that can help you navigate a different course. These are stories of people in business, politics, and other pursuits who are defining success for themselves, taking charge, living their values, doing good, and doing well. They are doing precisely what the elites want you to believe cant be done: changing their lives... and making a difference.

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.

Oscar Wilde

The institutions of power use everything from the lure of money to the blinders of conventional wisdom to keep us hitched to their plows, but the wonderful thing about Americans is that we have a healthy rebellious streak and the freedom to make choices. DeMarco and I urge everyone to tap into his or her maverick potential, but we hope that young people (teens and young adults) especially will question the rigid track that the system puts them on, insisting that it is the only way to live your life.

Its our belief that the kind of rebels youll read about in this book are the great hope and the true leaders of our country. With desire and determination, you can be one of them. At first, you might assume that it takes an extraordinary person to make such a break and define his or her own success, but the people in the following pages didnt think of themselves as extraordinary at the start of their journeys. The first step is to decide to be disobedient, to say to the forces of the status quo, Nah, Im going to do it differently. The second is to look around, to explore the possibilitieswhich is why we invite you to meet the people in this book.