Dumbocracy

"This is called thinking. And if more people - on both sides - were prepared to acknowledge their own shifts of view and to explain and examine exactly why they have changed with the times, our public discourse would be immeasurably improved."—Andrew Sullivan, the Atlantic

In this election year, we hear much about the all-powerful “bases” of each major party. Who are these activists? What drives them? And why are they all equally dangerous to our lives, liberties, and pursuits of happiness? In Dumbocracy, journalist Marty Beckerman spends four years with foot soldiers of the Left and Right—pro-choice and anti-choice, pro-gay rights and anti-gay rights, pro-war and anti-war—and delivers a searing, hilarious indictment of the True Believer mentality.

Whether it’s banning free speech to protect people’s feelings or banning adult entertainment to enforce morality, extremists have no use for our civil liberties. The ends justify the means for each side—such as brainwashing children and criminalizing dissent—because culture warriors have no other reason for living than victory. However, Beckerman is unafraid to expose their tactics—and their never-ending hypocrisies—with comical, over-the-top glee worthy of South Park or The Daily Show.

No extremist will escape unscathed, but moderate readers of all stripes will fall in love with Beckerman’s iconoclasm. In the tradition of P.J. O’Rourke’s Parliament of Whores and Michael Moore’s Stupid White Men, Beckerman’s grand political satire will have readers laughing on the floor and ripping the hair from their scalps.

Marty Beckerman, twenty-five, is also the author of Generation S.L.U.T. (MTV Books, 2004). He has written for Playboy, Reason, Discover, The Huffington Post, and New York Press. He has been featured by The New York Times, the New York Post, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, and National Public Radio. Hunter S. Thompson once called him a “morbid little bastard,” which Beckerman considers the greatest compliment of his career.