Review by Abacus -- Boom! A Revolting Situation
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Abacus
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Review by Abacus -- Boom! A Revolting Situation
[Following is a volunteer review of "Boom! A Revolting Situation" by Thomas Richard Harry.]
4 out of 4 stars
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Boom! A Revolting Situation: By Thomas Richard Harry, Published by iUniverse, Inc., Cover Design by Victoria Valentine.
In Boom! A Revolting Situation, in keeping with about 40 percent of the American voting public, the author finds himself dissatisfied with the Democratic and Republican parties, classifies himself as an Independent, and has written this powerful petition to urge that Independent voters’ revolt in order to bring about a “Balanced” democracy. Harry, using Northern Ireland as an example, makes the point that the goal of a revolution is to produce a change but if you choose to do it with guns, and explosives you end up killing and maiming, losing loved ones and wasting years. The civilized way to bring about change is through the ballot box.
Independents are feeling disenfranchised: the American constitutional premise that you, the people, elect us, the politicians, and we will govern for your interests is not working for Independents or others. The two political parties representing choice seem only interested in fighting for themselves and keeping themselves in power. What Independents want is a political choice that emphasizes the greatest good for the greatest number.
Harry discusses the political development in America from the founding fathers to today, comparing the conservative view: the least government we need to adequately oversee society, as opposed to the democratic view which would provide broad rights for its citizens. Both seem ready to govern the people, but who governs the government. Voters may decide between alternatives, but politics determines the choice of alternatives. Since the 1990s government has seesawed between liberal and conservative administrations, each increasingly committed to its own ideology to the detriment of either party to govern for the common good. Harry quotes the APSA Group in the 1960s who reported that our political parties could not unify their members behind an effective program for governing the nation because the parties were each too internally divided between liberals, moderates, and conservatives. We are now in a place where the parties offer the country clearly contrasting directions and bright line choices. The parties have coalesced with almost all liberals congregating in one party and almost all conservatives in another thus causing excessive division between the parties.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars because of the author’s passion, his deep, multi-faceted, complete and interesting viewpoints, his reasonable tone, and his thoroughness. I do not rate it less because it is well written, and quotes many good references and statistics. An interesting observation made by Harry is that as Americans, no matter what our voting preferences are, we live happily side by side, our kids play together, but our political parties prefer to resist each other. So “Up the revolution – but through the ballot box”, do it peacefully, articulately, passionately, and make sure that government is for all of the people at least most of the time, and most of the people, all of the time.
I like the thoroughness of the book, no avenue is left unexplored. I liked most the conversational tone making it very easy to read and the mental exercise of writing the review. I did not like the “wretched” picture of politics today, although I believe it to be true. I would recommend this book to the voting public, people with a passion for history or politics or philosophy, and people who feel that the political outcomes they observe are not what was promised. If you like very light reading, I might not recommend this book.
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Boom! A Revolting Situation
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4 out of 4 stars
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Boom! A Revolting Situation: By Thomas Richard Harry, Published by iUniverse, Inc., Cover Design by Victoria Valentine.
In Boom! A Revolting Situation, in keeping with about 40 percent of the American voting public, the author finds himself dissatisfied with the Democratic and Republican parties, classifies himself as an Independent, and has written this powerful petition to urge that Independent voters’ revolt in order to bring about a “Balanced” democracy. Harry, using Northern Ireland as an example, makes the point that the goal of a revolution is to produce a change but if you choose to do it with guns, and explosives you end up killing and maiming, losing loved ones and wasting years. The civilized way to bring about change is through the ballot box.
Independents are feeling disenfranchised: the American constitutional premise that you, the people, elect us, the politicians, and we will govern for your interests is not working for Independents or others. The two political parties representing choice seem only interested in fighting for themselves and keeping themselves in power. What Independents want is a political choice that emphasizes the greatest good for the greatest number.
Harry discusses the political development in America from the founding fathers to today, comparing the conservative view: the least government we need to adequately oversee society, as opposed to the democratic view which would provide broad rights for its citizens. Both seem ready to govern the people, but who governs the government. Voters may decide between alternatives, but politics determines the choice of alternatives. Since the 1990s government has seesawed between liberal and conservative administrations, each increasingly committed to its own ideology to the detriment of either party to govern for the common good. Harry quotes the APSA Group in the 1960s who reported that our political parties could not unify their members behind an effective program for governing the nation because the parties were each too internally divided between liberals, moderates, and conservatives. We are now in a place where the parties offer the country clearly contrasting directions and bright line choices. The parties have coalesced with almost all liberals congregating in one party and almost all conservatives in another thus causing excessive division between the parties.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars because of the author’s passion, his deep, multi-faceted, complete and interesting viewpoints, his reasonable tone, and his thoroughness. I do not rate it less because it is well written, and quotes many good references and statistics. An interesting observation made by Harry is that as Americans, no matter what our voting preferences are, we live happily side by side, our kids play together, but our political parties prefer to resist each other. So “Up the revolution – but through the ballot box”, do it peacefully, articulately, passionately, and make sure that government is for all of the people at least most of the time, and most of the people, all of the time.
I like the thoroughness of the book, no avenue is left unexplored. I liked most the conversational tone making it very easy to read and the mental exercise of writing the review. I did not like the “wretched” picture of politics today, although I believe it to be true. I would recommend this book to the voting public, people with a passion for history or politics or philosophy, and people who feel that the political outcomes they observe are not what was promised. If you like very light reading, I might not recommend this book.
******
Boom! A Revolting Situation
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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