By JOHN NORTH

Progressive radio personality and political commentator Jim Hightower sounded a theme of rebellion in addressing the national and state political scenes as he  touted his newest book last Thursday night in downtown Asheville.

“We can have the life — the culture — we want by being disobedient,” Hightower said. “We have to step out of the rut.”

Hightower, with his characteristic folksy style and crackling dry wit, spoke for half an hour and fielded questions — including listening to a few rambling statements from audience members — for 20 minutes in front of a gathering of about 150 people in the sanctuary of First Congregational Church of Christ.

Afterward, he adjourned to a private reception and book-signing attended by those paying $50 each. The proceeds from the event were to be given to Common Cause N.C., which bills itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group for open government.

Just before the program’s opening, a man ambled into the sanctuary with two companions and prompted laughter when he quipped, “You can tell it’s not a church (service) — everyone’s sitting in front!”

N.C. Rep. Susan Fisher, D-Asheville, introduced Hightower by saying he has spent three decades “battling against the powers that be on behalf of the powers that ought to be.”

She termed the Denison, Texas, native a populist, a progressive and a “road warrier,” noting that Thursday’s appearance marked his third visit to Asheville.

As for his latest book, “Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow,” Fisher said it “provides really clear examples of how ordinary citizens can make changes” in their communities.

Hightower noted that he and his entourage are in the midst of “a 40-some city” tour of America, which began in March and ends in May, to promote his book. “We’ve chosen to have these forums rather than the traditional book tour,” he explained.

The pundit stated that his tour has gone out of its way to schedule appearances at independent bookstores across the nation, and that a book signing was set at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café while in the city.

“It makes me just as happy as a mosquito in a nudist colony” to be in Asheville, Hightower joked, as the crowd chuckled.

Roughly nine months, a timespan that he said respresents the end for President George W. Bush, will also mark an end to the “theocratic, plutocratic ... boneheads in the White House.”

Instead of bluebloods and aristocrats, “we’re a bunch of mutts — that’s who settled this country,” Hightower said. “This book tells about these people and their visions.”

He then quoted Oscar Wilde as saying, “‘Be yourself — everyone already has been taken.’”

In speaking about national politics, Hightower said it is time for a change in policy — “what I call ‘tinkle-down’ economics.” Moroever, he said he is critizing “not only Bush,” but a some recent Democratic administrations.

Eighty-one percent of the American people believe the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction, Hightower said, citing a CBS News-New York Times  poll released earlier last Thursday.

He said that, contrary to the mantra that everyone must “go along” with the corporate movement, many Americans feel they would “like to — at least — be the cog and wheel on the right vehicle.”

The possibilites for change in U.S. societ are limitless, Hightower, citing what he termed one of his favorite quotes: “Those who say it can’t be done shouldn’t interrupt the people doing it.”

In his book, “None of the poeple we write about are Rockafellers or Einsteins. The people we write about are rebels in the best American tradition.”

He then referred to Lewis Grizzard, whom he termed “the great Southern humorist, noting that he greatly enjoyed explaining to Northerners the difference between the definitions of “naked” and nekkid.”

“‘Naked’ means you don’t have any clothes on,” Hightower quoted Grizzard as saying. “‘Nekkid’ means you don’t have any clothes on — and you’re up to something.”

The crowd roared in laughter at Hightower’s retelling of the Grizzard joke.

Returning to his book, Hightower said he tells about the taxicab drivers of Madison, Wisc., organizing a cooperative, resulting in an average wage of $28,000 per year for the drivers of 63 taxis. “They were able to send their kids through college,” he noted. “Not many people (who drive cabs) can say that ... It’s because they stuck together.” He noted with a grin that their motto is: “Democracy in motion.”

He said he book also tells of a pharmacist who left a good-paying job with a high-priced chainstore to open his own independent pharamacy that catered to people without insurance.

The man was able to sell medicine much cheap — sometimes nearly half the price — of chain drugstores, because he did not deal with the government’s system.

“It’s a matter of aligning your work with your values,” he said.

In the U.S., “money doesn’t just talk — it shouts,” Hightower lamented. Politically, “it’s not just the occasional briber and bribee — it’s the system” of corporate lobbyists that is the problem.

However, he cited several cities, including Portland, Ore., that are offering “corporate alternatives” to the lobbying system. “It’s a dramatic change in politics — and it works,” he said.

He also said there are some examples of states taking the initiative, including Maine, where “politicans now can’t take a dime in corporate contributions. And it’s working out where anyone can run for office,” as opposed to in the past where someone needed to some level of prosperity.

“You’ve done the same thing here in North Carolina, with Common Cause taking the lead” in changing the way the state Supreme Court justices are chosen via the Clean Elections reform.

Hightower said he likes the concept that some progressives have devised with “a county fair of politics, liked we did here with the Rolling Thunder Revue ... There was politics, great music and even beer — to lubricate the movement ... Again, people taking charge of politics.”

He then cited another story from his book — about the evangelical environmental movement that is rapidly growing in the U.S.

“A number of ministers, especially (ages) 50 and younger, are defying (evangelist leader) Pat Robertson ... The movement is spreading. It’s a profound change. Now they don’t call it global warming — they call it ‘creation care,’ but who the hell cares” what they call it?

He urged the prospective activists in the crowd to consider his admonition that “it’s not enough to be a progressive  you also need to know how to do things.”  To that end, Hightower recommended that those interested in boosting the movement develop specific marketable skills.

From his new book, he told of an independent hardware store near his home, which “will sell you a nail. They will help you pencil out a project. They will loan you a tool.”

With a grin, Hightower said he much enjoyed the irony of the hardware store’s ungrammatical slogan: “Together, you can do it yourself.”

More seriously, he said, “We need to do it together — this rebellion” against what he termed the current problematic political system.

He then told of a story about a man, escorted by a monk, who purchased an item from a little boy in an Asian country. After paying the boy, the man motioned that he was expecting some change. The boy glanced at the monk and intoned to the man, “Change comes from within.” The crowd roared with laughter at the joke.

“I say we need change within the United States,” Hightower said, noting that he had taken quite a liking to a moving company’s slogan: “If we can get it loose, we can make it happen!”  And, he concluded, “that’s what’s happening in America.”