Book Review #010 - This Fight Is Our Fight

Rating: 5/5 calculated, but charming phrases

Author:
Elizabeth Warren

Amazon Link:
referral program on hold :(

Elizabeth Warren is the democratic candidate that I most closely align with in terms of political beliefs. I didn’t know much about her background or motivations, so I thought I’d pick up her book and see if I could take a closer look at what separates her from other candidates, what kind of background she has, and what motivates her to run for president. I must say that I am very impressed with Warren. She seems genuine and very sharp in her text and she develops her primary policy goals from initial motivation to actionable strategy on a number of progressive fronts. I would recommend the book to any democrat who wants to be politically informed and any progressive who wants to know how her and Sanders differ in their approach to progressive strategy.

Warren’s effort here should be the gold standard for political manifestos. She expertly weaves her personal story in with her political platform. She provides approachable narrative to support her experiences and pulls back the curtain on the political machine in Washington in her policy sections. What she describes as her primary political motivators are progressive goals with a populist shade that are easy to support. Reasoned arguments for policy to strengthen the middle class provides balance to Warren’s emotional argument for progressive social standards concerning education and healthcare.

Warren already was an easy candidate for me to support because of her progressive stance on financial policy and labor. Adding her touching personal story on top of that makes her the total package as a candidate. She is very intelligent, empathetic, has integrity, and has reasoned political motivations that are aimed at correcting the power imbalance in government. She is also a woman, which is significant on it’s own, but especially so, considering the 2016 election. America is ready for a female president and we should recognize that Hilary’s defeat may have been the only path to this moment for Warren. I feel that most liberal-leaning voters will have no choice but to be enthusiastic and supportive.

Warren describes her political goals and provides a means to achieve them. Her primary draw of resources is from restructured tax plans to increase government income from the richest Americans, corporations included. If you have an income-utility outlook on taxation, this is absolutely the right direction. Warren provides data and numbers to support her policies, enough to convince the reader she knows what she is doing, but not enough to distract from her narrative. Overall, Warren has crafted a fine book and has set the stage for political and popular support toward her bid at the presidency. I absolutely support her and I can’t wait to see how she handles the rest of the election cycle.

Book Review #009 - Shortest Way Home

Rating: 4/5 glowing river lights

Author:
Pete Buttigieg

Amazon Link:
referral program on hold :(

Mayor Pete Buttigieg lays out his background and describes his journey through life as a student, soldier, son, husband, and public servant in his first text; Shortest Way Home. The personal stories are varied and integrated with small descriptions of his political philosophy, making that narrative flow naturally as he steps through each stage of his life and arrives at his present position as a candidate for the American presidency. The book was emotional, reasoned, and as down-to-earth as a candidate can be when setting their public record as they see fit. I’d recommend the book to anyone who is interested in Pete Buttigieg as a candidate and wants to know more about his background. His story is authentic and creates enough personal interest to stand on it’s own as an inspection of American culture from the prospective of a young politician at the launch of his national career.

The most refreshing characteristic to see in a modern presidential candidate is some kind of personal modesty regarding their arrival at such an illustrious position. The ability to admit that not all answers are immediately clear, but that the path to a solution is a rational result of transparent consideration of the challenges and options available is something that I appreciated at a time when political ideals are so emotionally charged. Mayor Pete describes his approach to solving problems more than he discusses specific policy solutions. This can perhaps be considered a weakness of his exposition, as a candidate is typically expected to bare his arms and armor regarding policy objectives in his candidate biography. Pete takes a different approach by establishing his identity as a primary objective, adding policy only as needed. I would agree that I was looking for clear policy actions and found myself wondering how valuable character development is to his candidacy, as there is so much of that material to be found. Much like other politicians in the past, Pete Buttigieg aims to set his history to public record with this text, rather than cement his positions on policy. I think the material is thin as it stands, but if he releases future material which is more precise in describing his plans, he could easily fill that void. As it stands, I think this text will be viewed as the character development for Pete and will serve as a part of a wider body of material meant to sway voters and establish his political aims.

I felt the book was interesting but not enough of a declaration of principle to build confidence in Mayor Pete as a candidate. I finished the text with a deep emotional connection to Pete, but without the confidence I need as a voter to be sure that he will drive the change I believe we need to see in our government. I think his candidacy is a statement with respect to American political culture, but he needs more steel in his foundation before he can really build anything more significant. A good start, hopefully Mayor Pete follows this book up with more material that will demonstrate his intentions beyond a simple explanation of his personal character. Although that wouldn’t be bad, it isn’t what I feel we need in a post-Trump candidate.