Left Out!

Noam Chomsky once pointed out that a lot can be learned by examining the left end of the mainstream political debate because it reveals the limits to the principles guiding US government. Joshua Frank examines those limits, and shows how electoral politics in the US forces voters to make narrow, apathetic choices. When this occurs, Frank argues, the fight for democracy has been lost. But we are not without hope! Things can and do change. We just need to know whom and what we are up against. Left Out! names the names, bulls-eyes the opposition, and shows us how to get where we need to go.

Listen to Joshua Frank on Weekly Signals talk with Mike Kasper and Nathan Callahan about Left Out!.

Read a review of Left Out! at LewRockwell.com.

Advance Praise for Left Out!

"Here's Election 2004 on the butcher's block and Joshua Frank swings an unerring cleaver. By the time he's done, he's filleted the Democratic Party, carved up all the leading players from G.W. Bush to Howard Dean and thrown them on the grill. In these brisk pages you get the whole election industry cut and wrapped. Buy this book and take it home!"

-Alexander Cockburn, columnist for The Nation, and co-editor of CounterPunch

"From an electoral standpoint, the left is in crisis. Yet, for the most part, thinking about how to resolve the crisis follows predictable -- and predictably fruitless -- lines. Joshua Frank has broken out of the box and offered analysis so provocative that some will consider it dangerous. Fair enough. We need some dangerous discussions if there is to be any hope for progress.  Frank has done the discourse a service, as will readers who use this important book to force the debate that is so greatly needed."

-John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation and author of Against the Beast: A Documentary History of American Opposition to Empire

"The evidence unearthed here will unnerve many progressives who nurse their news from the nipples of The New York Times. But it's not too late to wean yourselves. Frank's sober assessment offers us a nourishing shot at redemption, a chance to escape the political quagmire that has deadened the voices of opposition in this nation at the most tremulous hour of the republic."

-Jeffrey St. Clair, co-editor of CounterPunch and author of the forthcoming book Grand Theft Pentagon

"A must-read book, full of valuable insights on how the political process operates when so-called liberals throw their hats into the ring. I have learned a great deal from Frank’s fast-paced account of political reality. Indispensable reading."

-Gabriel Kolko, author of Another Century of War?

"Joshua Frank dissects the stinking corpse of Kerry’s defeat and, with intelligence, wit and, yes, tremendous optimism -- explains why the left must reject the suffocating logic of lesser evilism."

-Sharon Smith, author of Women and Socialism: Essays on Women’s Liberation

"Like the voice who cried 'the emperor has no clothes,' Joshua Frank provides no quarter to the guilty as he peels away layer after layer of the paint of propaganda ... laying bare the myths and mendacity that fuel the American political machine. Left Out! is a wake-up call for anyone still clinging to the futile, desperate hope that the future exists within our alleged two-party system. Like a modern-day I.F. Stone, Joshua Frank is ruthless when necessary but his compassion and honesty are never in doubt."

-Mickey Z., author of There is No Good War: The Myths of World War II

"Joshua Frank does a radical thing in Left Out! -- tells the truth! The broken two party system -- better labeled a two-party dictatorship -- has blinded many political commentators about the reality of the 'system.' But it hasn't blinded Frank. I just hope 'Anybody But Bushers' read this book, understand it and don't repeat the mistake again. The lesson of 2004: you will never get what you want if you continue voting for what you don't want."

-Kevin Zeese, director of Democracy Rising

"Joshua Frank's book is more than a wake-up call to those Americans who won’t vote Republican and shouldn't vote Democratic, but do out of desperation.  Left Out! analyzes the 2004 Democratic presidential campaign from a perspective most media will never present.  It rips the mask off the Democrat's so-called opposition, revealing a pitiful political assemblage without a program or an understanding of its potential constituency -- all because the party sold its soul long ago."

-Ron Jacobs, author of The Way the Wind Blew: A History of the Weather Underground

"Joshua Frank belongs to a small club of political writers unimpressed with the credentials of Washington’s ruling elite … Left Out! pierces the mythology and spin that Washington manufactures on a daily basis. Virtually all mainstream political reporters welcome the opportunity to join the inside-the-Beltway media elite. Not Frank. He thrives on exposing the chicanery of politicians of all political stripes, while not embracing an ideological conformity."

-Mark Hand, editor of PressAction.com

"Left Out! is not a pleasant read. Readers may find themselves uncomfortable with the indictments of Democrats who let us down. But the blame does not stop with the party's leaders and candidates. No, Joshua Frank makes it clear that the watering down of the Democratic agenda, in order to woo voters who would hate Bush enough to vote for anybody but him, was a flawed strategy. And not just because the Democrats lost. We have lost our way, and are out in left field searching not just for a leader, but for principles, and yes, values, upon which to build a new party, and lead a revolution."

-Elaine Cassel, author of The War on Civil Liberties

"The generation that taught us how consent is manufactured is aging, yet a new crop of writers, scholars and journalists has risen to make sure no one is 'Left Out.' Joshua Frank, whose clearly written, well-researched, provocative essays are already familiar to thousands of readers on the web -- is at the forefront of this new generation.  He will continue to succeed where mainstream media has failed, and remain a thorn in the side of democracy's adversaries for decades to come."

-Adam Engel, author of Topiary