People Get Ready · the Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy

Humanity is on the verge of its darkest hour—or its greatest moment

The consequences of the technological revolution are about to hit hard: unemployment will spike as new technologies replace labor in the manufacturing, service, and professional sectors of an economy that is already struggling. The end of work as we know it will hit at the worst moment imaginable: as capitalism fosters permanent stagnation, when the labor market is in decrepit shape, with declining wages, expanding poverty, and scorching inequality. Only the dramatic democratization of our economy can address the existential challenges we now face. Yet, the US political process is so dominated by billionaires and corporate special interests, by corruption and monopoly, that it stymies not just democracy but progress.

The great challenge of these times is to ensure that the tremendous benefits of technological progress are employed to serve the whole of humanity, rather than to enrich the wealthy few. Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols argue that the United States needs a new economy in which revolutionary technologies are applied to effectively address environmental and social problems and used to rejuvenate and extend democratic institutions. Based on intense reporting, rich historical analysis, and deep understanding of the technological and social changes that are unfolding, they propose a bold strategy for democratizing our digital destiny—before it's too late—and unleashing the real power of the Internet, and of humanity.

“As this lucid and informed study explains, digital technology is a

reality that will lead to grim dystopia in the hands of concentrated

economic and political power, but can also move us toward 'utopian

dreams' in the hands of an informed and engaged public. The authors

provide guidelines for understanding the evolving world, and for shaping

it to deter the worst outcomes and to attain promising goals that are

within reach, if the opportunities are grasped.” —Noam Chomsky“When

everyone else seems to be talking about the issues of the past, John

Nichols and Robert W. McChesney get us engaged with the issues of the

future. This is the essential book about the technological revolution

that every candidate for president, every activist, and every American

should read. We can no longer afford to be mere consumers and

spectators; we need to be citizens and we need to be at the table where

the decisions are made.” —Thom Hartmann, host of the Thom Hartmann Project and author of Rebooting the American Dream

“An

energetic if grim discussion of inequality and the coming era of

underemployment, viewed through the lens of the forgotten American

progressive narrative. [McChesney Nichols] bring clear urgency to

this sprawling polemic, which encompasses politics, the cybereconomy,

the decline of critical journalism, and historical movements beginning

with America's founding…. An authoritative account of the challenges

facing progressives wishing to fuse better governance with economic

justice.” —Kirkus Reviews

“John Nichols and Robert

W. McChesney make a compelling, and terrifying, case [for] a radical

reform agenda to take power back from the corporations and give it to

the people.” —Naomi Klein“John Nichols and Robert W.

McChesney . . . call us, as Tom Paine did more than two centuries ago,

to turn knowledge into power.” —Senator Bernie Sanders“The authors show ways out of this dictatorial compression chamber. Assuming that is, you become indignant enough.” —Ralph NaderJohn Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written The Nation's Online Beat since 1999, is their Washington, DC, correspondent, and is a contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times. He is also the associate editor of the Capital Times, the daily newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin, and a cofounder of Free Press. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune,

and dozens of other newspapers, and he frequently appears on MSNBC,

NPR, BBC and other broadcast media outlets as a commentator on politics

and media issues. Nichols lives in Madison, WI, and Washington, DC.Robert W. McChesney

is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at

the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the author or editor

of 23 books. His work has been translated into 30 languages. He is the

cofounder of Free Press, a national media reform organization. In 2008,

the Utne Reader listed McChesney among their “50 visionaries who are changing the world.” He lives in Madison, WI.