3 out of 4 stars
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What would happen if an ordinary American citizen, one without a party affiliation, were to become President? This is the question posed by Dana L. Turk in The Independent. The man in the spot light is Sam Waters. A veteran, building contractor and family man, he lives in the small town of Buffalo, Wyoming. In one of those “going viral” episodes so prevalent in the age of social media, Sam’s letter to the editor of his local newspaper spawns a campaign on his behalf. We follow him through that campaign and the first two years of his administration.
I selected this book because I have a strong interest in politics. While I consider myself a centrist, others might label me a liberal. Reading The Independent gave me a chance to stretch my political comfort zone. I was interested to see how the author would treat the concept of a president without a party affiliation.
Oddly enough, what I both liked and disliked about the book was Sam. I initially enjoyed his character because I strongly agreed with his reason for running. This was a belief that politicians don’t respect their constituents, that political parties cater to their extreme voters and that both are beholden to lobbyists. I also enjoyed some elements of his unconventional campaign.
However, after Sam takes office, I disagreed with his actions. These moves surprised me, as his plans were not revealed during his campaign. Despite arguing that the constitution should be the driver for good governance, he takes a number of steps that I think violate the concepts of checks and balances, separation of powers and equality of the three branches of government. For example, he mandates a monthly joint session of Congress, something the constitution does not give him the authority to do. He also bullies the media with statements such as: “I challenge all of you to report real news and if you do you will be welcome at these sessions and other press conferences in the Capitol. If you prefer to taint the news with yellow press, you will be banned from the Capitol.”
Sam seems to believes there is only one “right” way things should be done and he is going to impose that way, onto Congress, the press, lobbyists and ultimately onto the American people. He feels what he is doing is in the best interest of the country. However, his behavior becomes so outrageous that I briefly wondered if the author had written a satirical work and I was missing the joke. After finishing the novel, I read the introduction again and noticed something I didn’t consider earlier. The author states that, because of the entrenched party system, an independent president would have to: “express an ideology so brash it would draw the attention of … an audience that demands accountability from their elected representatives.” I would agree that Sam’s actions as president were indeed “brash.”
The author has a straight forward writing style that is consistent with his portrayal of Sam. However, the book has a number of errors, as well as run on sentences. Words were capitalized that should not have been, given the context in which they were used. Examples include town, foreign aid, newspaper and veteran. Also, dashes were sometimes inserted where other punctuation marks should have been used.
After much thought, my rating for The Independent is 3 out of 4 stars. I briefly considered giving it two stars but decided that was based on my feelings about the political views expressed in it. After reevaluating it with the same criteria I would use for a less emotionally charged book, such as a murder mystery or science fiction novel, I decided to rate it three stars. It did not reach four stars because of the errors outlined.
I would recommend this book to those who have an interest in politics. However, I would caution that your enjoyment of it may well depend on your political views. I wouldn’t recommend it if you have strongly held liberal or progressive beliefs and don’t want to see them challenged. On the other hand, if you have strongly held conservative or populist beliefs, you probably will like the novel. Even though I did not enjoy parts of the book, I was still interested in understanding the political arguments presented by the author.
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The independent
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