Michael McCord calls this book a political fable. It's a look into a bizarre political landscape that takes place in the near future.
The book is laugh out loud funny in places. At other times it seems to be an eerie predictor of what is just about to happen. It's so well done that political junkies from every state will be able to identify which members of their legislatures might make up the Imbecile Caucus of the Mad Hatter Republicans in Real America, on both a state and national level.
In this (not so) strange world, there are two kinds of people: Real Americans or moochers. Real Americans read the Sludge Daily War Report or the Galt Street Journal. They support the Galtian Imperatives (even if they don't understand them) and the War on the Poor. Fact free statements have become the guiding principle of the Mad Hatter Republicans. The characters from Ayn Rand's novels are deified as if they'd actually existed.
Vermont is a foreign country in this world, an anti-Galtian political zone.
As I was reading the book, headlines kept cropping up in the real world that were straight out of McCord's fable. On June 24: "Under GOP Plan, States Would Be Free to Take Money Away From Poorest Schools." That's right out of the Galtian Imperatives. Last week another story prompted me to email Michael to say, "You thought you were writing fiction, not history."
That's what is so interesting and creepy about this book. As you read, you'll see it happening all around you. It is smart, funny, and one heck of a ride into a horrifying future. You'll find that by the end of the book you're not so sure where the lines are drawn between fact and fiction.
Buy the book
Michael's website
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