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Don't Vote It Just Encourages the Bastards [Kindle Edition]

P.J. O'Rourke
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Put the country's big, fat political ass on a diet. Lose that drooping deficit. Slim those spreading entitlement programs. Firm up that flabby pair of butt cheeks which are the Senate and the House.

Having had a lot of fun with what politicians do, P.J. O'Rourke now has a lot of fun with what we should think about those politicians. Nothing good, to be sure. Best-selling humorist P.J. O’Rourke is back with his latest political masterpiece, Don't Vote—It Just Encourages The Bastards. Using his signature wit and keen observational skills, O’Rourke reflects on his forty year career as a political commentator, spanning his addlepated hippie youth to his current state of right-wing grouch maturity. Don't Vote—It Just Encourages The Bastards is a brilliant, disturbing, hilarious and sobering look at why politics and politicians are a necessary evil--but only just barely necessary. Read P.J. O'Rourke on the pathetic nature of politics and laugh through your tears or—what the hell—just laugh.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

O'Rourke (On the Wealth of Nations) continues his libertarian attack of current politics. The author, an early editor at National Lampoon, takes on weighty topics like the Bill of Rights, climate change, health care reform, government bailouts, and foreign policy. When he wants to be serious, he quotes from John Locke and Thomas Hobbes; when he wants to be humorous, he brings up Joe Biden and Harry Reid. Republicans get a free ride mostly; if the subject is accumulation of power, Nancy Pelosi tops Dick Cheney. O'Rourke admits he's not a deep thinker, which is why when it comes to stem-cell research, he simply accepts that the dogma of his Catholicism clashes with scientific claims. But without further investigation, he embraces former president Bush's opposition to the research and lambastes president Obama ("damn wrong") for overturning the ban. When all else fails, use a dictionary definition, and O'Rourke breaks out his Webster's more than once. He works hard to lard his arguments with humor, but like much partisan work, these essays are best appreciated by those who already believe. (Sept.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Power, freedom, and responsibility are the most important elements of democracy, posits O’Rourke, author of Parliament of Whores (1991) and Driving like Crazy (2009). Americans like the freedom part, politicians like the power part, and hardly anyone wants to hear the responsibility part, he laments in this merciless but often humorous look at the shortcomings of American politics. American exceptionalism seems to extend to the fact that no other nation’s “covenants, treaties, conventions, protocols, compacts, and concordants” include the right to the pursuit of happiness. He criticizes liberal politics of universal health care and bailouts but also takes to task the conservatives for blowing a chance to “educate the electorate” and move more citizens into the Republican Party. O’Rourke charts the currents of his own ideological shift from raised Republican to youth as a Democrat for a decade and then a return to Republican as he matured. He dates his conservatism to the day his child was born: “Suddenly I was an opponent of change.” Whether readers agree with O’Rourke’s politics or not, his style is funny, cutting, and insightful. --Vanessa Bush

Product Details

  • File Size: 490 KB
  • Print Length: 305 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0802119603
  • Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (October 5, 2010)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B003ZUY17K
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Lending: Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,949 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

This book is a satire, to be sure, but it's an intelligent and thoughtful satire. Jay Reding  |  8 reviewers made a similar statement
DON'T VOTE is a windy, whiny, annoying book, even if you want to agree with it. Andrew C Wheeler  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
I just happened to buy this book at the airport yesterday before a 4 hour flight. Erica  |  7 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
77 of 84 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars O'Rourke at his best! September 27, 2010
By Erica
Format:Hardcover
I just happened to buy this book at the airport yesterday before a 4 hour flight. I recognized O'Rourke's name, picked it up, read a couple of paragraphs and decided to plop down the $25 cover price. I had every intention of reading it later in the week, as I was too tired and needed to nap on the plane. Well, I couldn't put it down! I read the entire book! He is witty, incredibly intelligent and even charming in his criticism of our political system and the state of disarray it's in. I may start referring to this as "the new Libertarian manifesto!" Read the chapter on Global Climate Change (where O'Rourke challenges you to go tell 1.2 billion Chinese people that they can't have a car, old stove or fireplace because we think it might be causing the Earth to get warmer) and, if you're anything like me, you'll be hooked!
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30 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Bought this after hearing an author interview October 3, 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
It was a good purchase, well worth reading.

American politics are dominated by news bites and slices of incomplete information and people that vote often lack a basic understanding of economic principles or in my opinion much logic. P.J. O'Rourke writes a line about what is wrong with politics, half the voters are less than average intelligence.

Using sarcasm and lots of analogies, he writes short examples of why certain political issues are often carried to absurdity, states like California with strict gun laws have lots of murders while those with very lax laws don't, for example, and also that we should probably have vote control because voting leads to politicians taking us into war which leads for far more deaths caused by guns.

He writes about the futility of much of the left and right ranting (radio, books, etc.) because it's like preaching to the little old ladies wearing white hats in the choir.

I enjoyed how he worded the observation that we allow 19 year old's to vote, but we don't trust them with a beer.

Just because he uses lots of tongue-in-cheek humor, sarcasm, and analogies that could be seen as over the top in there usage, he is obviously a well read and well informed and well connected person and his writing is crisp and straight forward. Much of the chapters read like part of a conversation with a neighbor over a beer while bar-b-cuing some burgers. Good old fashioned complaining about how stupid so much of the American political scene is, was, and will be for the foreseeable future.

He points out that taxes make Republicans, logic makes libertarians and having children makes conservatives. It's interesting in my own observations, and I think that he writes a bit about this too, is that people tend to live their own lives as they see fit (libertarianism at its core) but that they often want to force others to do things for their own good.

I think both lefties and righties could gain something from a thoughtful reading of this book, certainly libertarians would enjoy it, although, his own words about preaching to the choir ring partially true here.

There is a great bit of discussion in this book directed at our current mess and the administration in the White House, I found is critique spot on. There is a lot in here about economics and the national debt and spending, perhaps this is is the most important discussion in any political discussion these days, one that is over looked or soft footed about. It is far too important a discussion to dismiss, and should be required knowledge before one is allowed to vote. Good luck with that wish, of course.

I give this book a strong recommendation before this upcoming election or any in the future for that matter.
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34 of 39 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Vote, Get This Book October 2, 2010
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
P.J. O'Rourke's Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government was one of the books that most influenced my political upbringing. It was a book that explained why American politics was so incredibly messed up, and was relentless in making fun of that fact. Even though it's almost 20 years old, it's still a classic, and well worth reading.

Well, P.J. O'Rourke's at it again. He's written a virtual sequel to Parliament of Whores that shows that in the intervening 18 years American politics has managed to become even more screwed up. And there's no one better suited to lampooning the state of American politics than P.J. O'Rourke.

But what separates this book from the many other books of political satire is that O'Rourke isn't just a bomb-throwing satirist. When, just a few pages in, O'Rourke is name-checking Michael Oakeshott, you know you're reading the work of an author who's done his homework. This book is a satire, to be sure, but it's an intelligent and thoughtful satire. This book manages to mix Oakeshott, Adam Smith, and a schoolgirl's game of "Kill, F@#$, Marry" into a devastating and intelligent critique of American politics. O'Rourke's takes on everything from health care reform to the national debt, and manages to skewer these hot-button political issues without coming across as preachy or pedantic.

O'Rourke is America's best political satirist - because he's America's most well-read and intelligent political satirist. This book, like Parliament of Whores, is destined to be a classic that will still be readable and worthwhile in 20 years -- while other political satires have long since been sent to the remainder bin.

And the Kindle edition is reasonably priced too, which makes this a must-download for this election cycle and long after.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Classic P.J.
As we are in the midst of a Presidential election and the campaign mud-slinging is in full force, I was in the mood for some humor injected into the political realm. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Suzanne Dobbins
1.0 out of 5 stars Wasted $10
The book - that's funny at times - is an attempt of a confused right-winger to blame left-wingers for what his party failed to achieve. That's the essence of this volume. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Natalia V Boudnik
4.0 out of 5 stars Who could do without Politicians
Classic O'Rourke, if you like most of us think of politicians as a special breed of individuals not necessarily a very priviledge one when it comes to behaviour and common sense... Read more
Published 4 months ago by John F. Diefendorf
5.0 out of 5 stars another long time stand up comedian
PJ O'Rourke's humorous views on a very unfunny subject, our politicians, we have the best politicians money can buy, I just cannot afford any, his explanations and solutions for... Read more
Published 9 months ago by George W. Newport
5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading
Everyone of voting age should read this. Especially college age adults. So much common sense and food for thought. Old geezors like me will get a bang out of it also.
Published 12 months ago by Dr. R. P. Querry
2.0 out of 5 stars Funny, specious & mean
A few laughs, as expected. If you don't hate Obama, a lot of this will have no context. Definitely preaching to the right-wing choir. Read more
Published 12 months ago by A. R. Masters
1.0 out of 5 stars he just phoned it in
I'm a bed-wetting liberal. P.J. O'Rourke is on the other end of the political spectrum from me. But I've still generally liked what he's had to say: he's been cynical enough about... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Nadyne Richmond
1.0 out of 5 stars This book is well-nigh unreadable
P.J. O'Rourke is, at his best, funny and perceptive. Unfortunately, none of his best is on display in this book, which amounts to a rambling discourse on political theory. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Neurasthenic
1.0 out of 5 stars Toilet paper sold as a book.
Page 165: "Gun ownership is crucial to the preservation of American freedoms. We may have to shoot Democrats. It happened in 1861 and it could happen again. Just kidding. Read more
Published 15 months ago by ...
4.0 out of 5 stars Coming-of-age book
I realize this is listed as political humor, which it is, but I think it is also a "coming of age" book in that the author chronicles his development from a communist kinda guy who... Read more
Published 16 months ago by June
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