I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would.

I really hate politics and I assume most of my audience does as well. I am extremely cynical, to the point of believing that all politicians are just puppets of the same masters. This book had me rethinking that.

When young, I considered myself a liberal (we don’t have “democrats” in Canada), but liberalism has gone so far to the left in recent decades that now I would be labeled a “far right extremist”.

This book gives a history of the democrat party and how it moved from the “party of the people”, to a party of the rich and famous, as well as a party of extreme stances on social issues instead of the basic conservatism it started as. This history was interesting. I used to think of republicans as the ones with the extreme social stances.

When polled on these social issues, most regular people find themselves in the middle, yet neither party reflects this popular opinion. With extremes on both sides, many common people like me find no party to stand behind. I agree with the authors conclusions that politics must shift back toward the center or these issues will continue to cause widespread discontent with politics in general.

To me, both parties are way out of touch. They are both pro war, pro big government, pro corporate favoritism, and both caught up in nonsense social issues. I, like many, don’t even see the point in voting, for it feels like voting for one snake or another. It would be nice to have a government that actually had the interest of the common person at heart.

I try not to read about politics, but like I said this was more interesting and enjoyable than I anticipated.

Disclosure: @henryholtbooks sent me this book to review. I was not paid to review. I probably wouldn’t ever buy a book like this, but I am glad I read it.