Summary of P. J. O'Rourke & Andrew Ferguson's Parliament of Whores

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The American government takes away between a fifth and a quarter of all our money every year. It checks the amount of tropical oils in our snack foods, tells us what kind of gasoline we can buy for our cars, and dictates what we can sniff, smoke, and swallow.
#2 Government is boring because political careers are based on the most tepid form of lie: I’ll balance the budget, sort of. In a democracy, government is determined by majority rule, which means that most of us will end up getting nothing out of it.
#3 American ignorance of government is well developed. We know very little about the workings of Congress, the presidency, the Supreme Court, and so forth. We learn about these things in a high-school civics course and one spring vacation when dad took the family to Washington, DC.
#4 American Civics is a textbook that teaches students about American government. It is extremely boring, and it assumes that its readers are as ignorant of everything as it is of government.

Sujets

• Topic
• Politics

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 28 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669368847
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on P. J. O'Rourke & Andrew Ferguson's Parliament of Whores
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The American government takes away between a fifth and a quarter of all our money every year. It checks the amount of tropical oils in our snack foods, tells us what kind of gasoline we can buy for our cars, and dictates what we can sniff, smoke, and swallow.

#2

Government is boring because political careers are based on the most tepid form of lie: I’ll balance the budget, sort of. In a democracy, government is determined by majority rule, which means that most of us will end up getting nothing out of it.

#3

American ignorance of government is well developed. We know very little about the workings of Congress, the presidency, the Supreme Court, and so forth. We learn about these things in a high-school civics course and one spring vacation when dad took the family to Washington, DC.

#4

American Civics is a textbook that teaches students about American government. It is extremely boring, and it assumes that its readers are as ignorant of everything as it is of government.

#5

The Declaration of Independence is a list of complaints against the British Crown, and it can be applied to the current federal government of the United States.

#6

The U. S. Constitution is not hard to understand. It is very concise, giving the complete operating instructions for a nation of 250 million people. The First Amendment forbids any law abridging the freedom of speech, and there is no mention of abortion whatsoever in the Constitution.

#7

The first objective of the Constitution was to create a more perfect union. However, we have not achieved this yet. We have established about as much justice as the country can stand, and we have not promoted the general welfare.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The American political system is like a Mexican Christmas fiesta. Each political party is a huge piñata, and the voter is blindfolded and given a stick. They then swing the stick wildly in every direction, trying to hit a political candidate on the head and knock some sense into him.

#2

The Democratic party is, to be polite about it, broad based. It’s the Cat-Canary Love Association, Dogs and Mailmen United. Some people say the only reason Lloyd Bentsen is a Democrat is to keep Republicans from being embarrassed by his ties to big business.

#3

At the Democratic convention, Jesse Jackson had real ideas that could have changed America. But he cuddled up to Michael Dukakis in return for a role in a never-never administration.

#4

The Democratic convention was led by Ann Richards, who spoke about the homeless and the poor. She also spoke about how people like the letter-writer in her district had been forgotten in America.

#5

The Democrats had a hospitality suite at their convention, where they served drinks to corporate statists. The Republicans had a T-shirt that said, DRY, SOBER AND HOME WITH HIS WIFE.

#6

I was drunk, but I was still touched by the Democratic National Convention. I was beginning to realize how American fanaticism for turning everything into a political party really is a great thing.

#7

The 1988 election was a result of choosing candidates, and it led to the presidency of Michael Dukakis, the husband of the best-selling author of an unauthorized biography of himself, Kitty Dukakis. Dukakis was a governor of Massachusetts when he had a moment, and he promised to stand around and take credit for anything good that happened.

#8

The 1988 election was extremely close, with George Bush and Bob Duck or Ned Bird Dog or whatever his name was competing against each other. Bush was known as a wealthy playboy, while Duck was known as a labor union leader. Bush claimed to be the only person in the Western Hemisphere who didn’t know about the Iran-Contra scandal.

#9

When you looked at the Republicans, you saw the scum off the top of business. When you looked at the Democrats, you saw the scum off the top of politics. Personally, I preferred business. A businessman will steal from you directly rather than getting the IRS to do it for him.