THE POLITICS OF INSANITY
After the elections of 2016, can there ever
be a United States of America again?
THE POLITICS OF INSANITY-AMAZON COMMENTS
These are genuine reviews from Amazon.com. Names and email addresses have been deleted to protect the privacy rights of those who were kind enough to write in, but feel free to visit Amazon.com to see the originals of these reviews. Thank you. – Hugh
***** Thank you, Hugo N. Gerstl for Another Fascinating Read. Thank you Hugo N. Gerstl for another Fascinating Read! – March 2017
***** Must read. This is a MUST READ for so Many! It should be required reading for any Poli Sci Course. I really never understood Political Machinations until I read this book! It is clearly written without Prejudice and Extremely Clear and Concise in the descriptive pages that help you to understand What, Where and Why, the Political Scene is so complicated, yet the Written Word here, makes it much more understandable and there is Clarity At Last! – October 2016
***** Other than that, How did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln? An in-depth view of the wildest political ride in modern history. What a shame that, like so many pundits and talking heads, he got it wrong. Still, it makes for a clear explanation of how the system is supposed to work. If nothing else, a great, easily read civics lesson. – January 2017
***** A Must for every alert citizen. An almost prophetic book full of essential information and insights about the American elections. A must for every alert citizen! – November 2016
America’s friends and our enemies alike are scratching their collective heads and thinking, “If you turned the world on its side all of the loose nuts would end up in the United States!” The Theater of the Absurd has come to life on every television set, smart phone, and social media outlet around the world. A megawealthy upraised carnival barker, who systematically alienated every segment of society in the United States, became the President of the United States!
Candidates – including Mr. Trump - categorically denied the signs of global climate change. And rock-ribbed Reactionaries – Trump’s “base,” parroted – and continues to parrot, “Never mind, God will protect us, and since he’s a Christian God, He will help us get rid of the Muslims in the process! Could anyone imagine two serious candidates for the highest office in the land arguing over the size of their genitals? (“You know what they say about men with small hands...”)
Welcome to The Politics of Insanity, a serious look at the newest form of the bizarre “reality TV.” A nation where thoughtful, serious contenders eked out 2% of the vote at best. Where it became acceptable to say, “Would you want to have a president with a face like that?” Where a semi-nude photo of a candidate’s wife was splashed across a TV ad?
But believe it or not, the Bible’s (Ecclesiastes 1:9) statement, “There is nothing new under the sun,” is accurate. Political insanity did not start in the United States, and even in America we’ve been down this road before.
Hugo N. Gerstl, author of The Politics of Hate (2012) slices into the “American Pie” of 2016 politics with a clear-eyed analytical scalpel, and, despite what appears to be an impenetrable tragicomic maze of craziness, he optimistically concludes, in the words of a former President, whose wife lost the race for the White House, “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right with America.”
On the other hand, with the world becoming less global and increasingly tribal, one really can’t be sure when – if ever – the world will ever be “normal” again.
THE POLITICS OF INSANITY – 2016
THE BOOK THAT
SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN
Make no mistake, I am nothing short of horrified – and deeply, profoundly ashamed of what happened in American politics in 2016, and what has happened since. Every week, the present incumbent of the Oval Office frustrates, humiliates, and frightens thinking, caring American even more. He is a “Tweeter,” not a Leader, and anyone who takes his bombast seriously deserves the “Leadership” we now purport to have.
Make America Great Again? I don’t think so. I can only hope – and hope is all we have at the present – that the words of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi come true: “It’s not time to agonize. It’s time to organize,” and that 2018 will once again see the pendulum of American politics swing toward the responsible center, where there is cooperation, not fragmentation, and where there is responsible, responsive government rather than a circus of the truly absurd.
Mr. Trump is making a shameful mockery of the highest office in the land, condemning accurate reporting as “fake news,” and lauding the crazies and the fringes as “honest reporting.”
Zvi Morik, consumed with the success of The Politics of Hate, all but ordered me to write a sequel. The splendid Lisa Peaks cover of the first book was nothing compared to the absolutely superb cover of this volume. Alas, I finished the book on the eve of the 2016 election when it looked like Hillary Clinton would win the Presidency and things would continue to operate in a constructive, hopeful vein. It was not to be, and it turned out to be far worse than any thinking person’s worst nightmare.
The United States has become more fragmented than ever, and it’s come down to America and North Korea – North Korea, for God’s sake! – throwing sand in one another’s eyes while they dance to the macabre tune of a potential cataclysmic war!
I had occasion to give a lecture at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2017 on Donald Trump’s “presidency.” I had been scheduled to speak for 10 minutes – realizing, that if you talk longer, you will surely bore your audience and lull them to sleep. While I kept my remarks as short as I could, the audience kept peppering me with questions, and when I looked at my watch, I found that the audience had been riveted to the talk for 1½ hours – not because I am, by any means, a great speaker, but because the audience was genuinely mistrustful and justifiably frightened.
In the words that have ended every President’s speech since I was a child – but this time said with an earnest new meaning – “May God Bless Us and May God Protect the United States of America!”