Dumbocracy: Adventures with the Mad Left, the Raging Right, and Other American Idiots

Dumbocracy: Adventures with the Mad Left, the Raging Right, and Other American Idiots, Marty Beckerman, 2008, ISBN 9781934708064

The author spent four years visiting political extremists from both sides of the spectrum. They are people who believe in nothing less than total victory for their side. Most Americans are moderate on these issues, but pro-life activists and pacifists, for example, still see things as very black and white.

Beckerman discovered many interesting things in his travels. Betty Friedan, founder of the National Organization for Women, compared American housewives to the millions who walked to their own deaths in concentration camps. Those on the right blame homosexuality for the destruction of American society, but just over half of Americans think of homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle. Texas A&M University requires all faculty members to celebrate and promote homosexuality.

It would be a much better country if women did not vote. That’s just a fact. ” Ann Coulter. The American Institute for Philanthropy has ranked MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) as one of the most corrupt and least effective charities in the country. In 2006, the California Supreme Court allowed authorities to break into citizens’ homes at any time, without a warrant, to check their blood alcohol levels. A Missouri legislator compared biology professors to terrorists for teaching evolution. Environmental activists demanded control of citizens’ home thermostats, threatened to spy on non-recyclers, and suggested that governments should intelligently reduce human populations to a sixth of their current number.

In 2006, the Bush Administration joined Iran in banning a gay rights group from addressing the United Nations. In 2004, Canada officially banned criticism of homosexuality, which is now punishable by up to five years in prison. Also in 2006, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that forcing drug suspects to use laxatives to find drugs in their digestive tracts is not an unreasonable search. In the 1990s, a Republican member of Congress proposed imposing the death penalty on all drug traffickers. When his son was convicted of growing 30 marijuana plants, he received community service, not a lethal injection. Neither party has a monopoly on hatred of free speech.

This is the kind of book that True Believers on both sides will throw around the room (sometimes those are the best books). For everyone else, it’s an excellent and insightful look at the state of politics in America. It is very worth reading.