4 out of 4 stars
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Abraham Lincoln once said, “Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” However, the current American political landscape is not fulfilling this requirement and is diverging from its core democratic values. Boom! A Revolting Situation by Thomas Richard Harry is an eye-opening political text regarding this issue. In this book, the author unveils the true face of Democrats and Republicans, as they are losing their credibility and throwing the voters in the lap of Independents due to their inconsistent and unfriendly policies.
The author is an independent and has a keen eye over American politics. He statistically provides pieces of evidence that how the level of discontentment has been rising among people since 1995 and now it has reached its apex. He is of the view that both the parties (Democrats and Republicans) have lost their leadership qualities and the discontentment among people is rising rapidly. The increasing role of Independent in American politics is the profound evidence of this unrest among people. The author considers it a “democratic absurdity” to select the two parties again and again. Instead, he evokes the people to look for other options within the existing electoral system. He maintains that Independents if unite together, can replace both the parties as their strength has reached up to 40% of the total elected members. So it is a time for the revolution. Now the American people should come forward to break the status quo.
The author triggers his political debate by quoting the Irish Revolution and resembles it with the current political unrest in the country. Later on, he explains the history of American politics and then he comes to the current political parties (Democrats and Republicans). He provides an in-depth analysis of what are the faults, which measures perverted these parties from the right direction. He vehemently discusses the increasing role of Independents in American politics and foresees them as an “alternative party.” He also provides important suggestions regarding improvement in social security, tax and propriety laws.
The author critically appraises the whole political situation and offers recommendations to redress the detracted political base. It is an eye-opening read for American establishment, as the incongruent policies and lack of political acumen on part of policymakers are resulting in the loss of prestige on internal and external fronts.
It is an important political text which despite its dry nature is very interesting and easy to follow. You never get bored while reading this book and its credit definitely goes to the author. At different places, Thomas Harry has included the quotes from different political books to support his views. So this book provides a good comparative analysis pertaining to the current American political scene. Apart from this, the notes and bibliography included at the end of the book help to understand different political terminologies used in the book.
Another plus point of the book is this that the author has chosen a balanced approach for both the parties. He doesn’t seem to undermine one or the other party, rather he critically judges their functioning and evaluates the reason which has pulled both the parties away from their core objective i.e. serve the people.
Now when we come to the drawbacks; candidly speaking, I couldn’t find any. The author is a serving politician and has shared researched information under his vast political experience. Therefore, it is a valuable book for all those who want to analyze the internal dynamics of American politics. Moreover, the book seems to be professionally edited. I couldn’t find any mistake except one or two punctuation errors. However, it did not detract me from reading this book. So I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It is purely a thoughtful book and will appeal to those readers who have an interest in politics, especially American politics. It can equally serve as a reference book for the students of political science.
On the whole, astute leadership is the need of the hour in American politics, so that it could play its role positively and effectively in internal and world politics. This book is the first revolutionary step in this direction.
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Boom! A Revolting Situation
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