Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Atlantic Monthly Press (1991), Hardcover, 233 pages
Description
Essays. Politics. Nonfiction. Humor (Nonfiction.) HTML:A #1 New York Times bestseller: "An everyman's guide to Washington" by the savagely funny political humorist and author of How the Hell Did This Happen? (The New York Times). P. J. O'Rourke's Parliament of Whores has become a classic in understanding the workings of the American political system. Originally written at the end of the Reagan era, this new edition includes an extensive foreword by renowned journalist Andrew Ferguson�showing us that although the names may change, the game stays the same . . . or, occasionally, gets worse. Parliament of Whores is a "gonzo civics book" that takes us through the ethical foibles, pork-barrel flimflam, and Beltway bureaucracy, leaving no sacred cow unskewered and no politically correct sensitivities unscorched (Chicago Tribune). "Insulting, inflammatory, profane, and absolutely great reading." �The Washington Post Book World.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member mrtall
P J O'Rourke is a brilliant satirist, and a sneakily smart commentator on all manner of subjects. But he has never been better than in Parliament of Whores, his takedown of the US Government.
You may fear that taking aim at a target so big, so bloated, so unmissable will lead to puffery, but P J
It's all good, but my favorite chapter is the truly surreal report from the 1989 Housing Now! March on Washington DC. The chapter on the USA's agricultural policy is also spectacular.
And don't worry about the book's age: government never gets better, it just gets bigger, so Parliament of Whores is never more apposite than it is today.
You may fear that taking aim at a target so big, so bloated, so unmissable will lead to puffery, but P J
Show More
attacks with enraged, spittle-flecked, venomous joy, never missing the opportunity to clamp down on the telling details, to skewer the vulnerable gaps in the great sheets of protective blubber that insulate politicians, bureaucrats and government departments from ordinary taxpayers' assaults.It's all good, but my favorite chapter is the truly surreal report from the 1989 Housing Now! March on Washington DC. The chapter on the USA's agricultural policy is also spectacular.
And don't worry about the book's age: government never gets better, it just gets bigger, so Parliament of Whores is never more apposite than it is today.
Show Less
LibraryThing member wenestvedt
Wide topics like this are great for P.J.O'Rourke because he has a great range of things ot be funny about. He takes good opportunity to explain how the U.S. government works (or doesn't), and it even bears re-reading.
LibraryThing member cs503
Reading this book a decade and a half after it was written, it is interesting how relevant it still is. Since the book is primarily a send-up of the U.S. government, this is an understandably troubling idea. Although Mr. O'rourke is very self-centered in his writing, he still manages to be
Show More
interesting and entertaining. Show Less
LibraryThing member megaden
Oh, how I adore P.J. O'Rourke. Biting political satire, but not petty. A few of my favorite quotes: "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." "The Democratic platform was pure whining brat: "Like, full employment is sooooo and I hate having a big
Show More
navy and you promised a drug-free America and I want my free drugs now." Show Less
LibraryThing member KarlNarveson
Worth a glance. Frightening, really, how little has changed in the 20 years since publication. But then, not much has changed since the days of Mencken or of Mark Twain, of whose styles O'Rourke is a creditable emulator.
LibraryThing member ritaer
Much less funny now that the government can't do anything right philosophy has become reality rather than exageration for effect.
LibraryThing member carterchristian1
Funny, perceptive and as KarlNarveson has written in his review below "Frightening, really how little has changed.
LibraryThing member nbmars
I picked up this book, published in 1992, at the 2012 Gaithersburg Maryland Book Festival because it was FREE. It was well worth the price. Although I probably never would have bought it, it was a delightful read.
O’Rourke’s trenchant and acid observations about the American government, with a
“Dukakis was considering Danny Ortega [the head of the Nicaraguan Contras, for those of you too young to remember] as a running mate, but Ortega’s Central American peace plan proved too similar to Ronald Reagan’s. So Mike went with the high-concept ticket-balancing choice of Lloyd Bentsen, who was two hundred fifty years old and a little to the right of Albert Speer. Actually, Dukakis wanted a Texan who was slightly more liberal, but George Bush was busy.”
O’Rourke considered himself a conservative in 1991, although today’s Tea Party might call him a lefty. He is critical of most aspects of government spending but he is willing to give credit where it is due. He commends the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for its careful study of “unintended acceleration” supposedly experienced by owners of Audi 5000’s. He found that the professionals at the NTSB were not mere bureaucrats, but were sincere professionals who knew a lot about cars. They spent a lot of money to conclude that the unintended acceleration was almost surely caused by pushing on the gas pedal rather than the brakes, but they knew that a lot people who thought they could recover lots of money from Audi did not want to hear that.
Another form of governmental expenditure he approved of was the development and purchase of Aegis class missile cruisers, the operation of which he describes as follows:
“I couldn’t talk the captain into firing a missile for me, but he gave me a videotape of a test firing….Even in slow motion there was nothing slow about the missile launching. The flip lid whips open, and for a moment you see a bald top of something emerging in light and smoke, a high burlesque of a jack-in-the-box; then the ship’s deck is covered by a tower of blast and dazzle blanketing one bright, rising, white, fiery column—hell’s own hard-on. This (emphasis in original) is the way to waste government money.”
His principle message, however, is that a great deal if not most government expenditures are wasted. His description of the farm price support program should make your blood boil…and yet these ridiculous payments to rich farmers to refrain from growing crops and make the rest of us pay more for a food continue!
The biggest problem of government is that citizens all seem to want payouts of some kind, the biggest of which is social security, but no one seems to be willing to pay for them. He concludes:
“ All through history mankind has been bullied by scum. Those who lord over their fellows and toss commands in every direction…are the most depraved kind of prostitutes. They will submit to any indignity, perform any vile act, do anything to achieve power. The worst off-sloughings of the planet are the ingredients of sovereignty. Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy the whores are us.”
I can’t wait to read his description of the campaign for the Republican nomination of 2012, a book I sincerely hope he writes.
(JAB)
O’Rourke’s trenchant and acid observations about the American government, with a
Show More
few exceptions, are at least as true today as they were in 1991. His descriptions of the conventions that nominated Bush I and Michael Dukakis are hilarious. For example, his description of the process of choosing a Democratic vice presidential candidate:“Dukakis was considering Danny Ortega [the head of the Nicaraguan Contras, for those of you too young to remember] as a running mate, but Ortega’s Central American peace plan proved too similar to Ronald Reagan’s. So Mike went with the high-concept ticket-balancing choice of Lloyd Bentsen, who was two hundred fifty years old and a little to the right of Albert Speer. Actually, Dukakis wanted a Texan who was slightly more liberal, but George Bush was busy.”
O’Rourke considered himself a conservative in 1991, although today’s Tea Party might call him a lefty. He is critical of most aspects of government spending but he is willing to give credit where it is due. He commends the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for its careful study of “unintended acceleration” supposedly experienced by owners of Audi 5000’s. He found that the professionals at the NTSB were not mere bureaucrats, but were sincere professionals who knew a lot about cars. They spent a lot of money to conclude that the unintended acceleration was almost surely caused by pushing on the gas pedal rather than the brakes, but they knew that a lot people who thought they could recover lots of money from Audi did not want to hear that.
Another form of governmental expenditure he approved of was the development and purchase of Aegis class missile cruisers, the operation of which he describes as follows:
“I couldn’t talk the captain into firing a missile for me, but he gave me a videotape of a test firing….Even in slow motion there was nothing slow about the missile launching. The flip lid whips open, and for a moment you see a bald top of something emerging in light and smoke, a high burlesque of a jack-in-the-box; then the ship’s deck is covered by a tower of blast and dazzle blanketing one bright, rising, white, fiery column—hell’s own hard-on. This (emphasis in original) is the way to waste government money.”
His principle message, however, is that a great deal if not most government expenditures are wasted. His description of the farm price support program should make your blood boil…and yet these ridiculous payments to rich farmers to refrain from growing crops and make the rest of us pay more for a food continue!
The biggest problem of government is that citizens all seem to want payouts of some kind, the biggest of which is social security, but no one seems to be willing to pay for them. He concludes:
“ All through history mankind has been bullied by scum. Those who lord over their fellows and toss commands in every direction…are the most depraved kind of prostitutes. They will submit to any indignity, perform any vile act, do anything to achieve power. The worst off-sloughings of the planet are the ingredients of sovereignty. Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy the whores are us.”
I can’t wait to read his description of the campaign for the Republican nomination of 2012, a book I sincerely hope he writes.
(JAB)
Show Less
LibraryThing member RandyStafford
My reactions to reading this book in 1991.
O'Rourke communicates a great deal of information about U.S. government. You find out exactly what the truly hard-working congressmen do all day. They work hard at giving short, frivilous speeches; at devoting time to serious and complicated issues -- for
He cites the source of the remark about democracies only lasting until the majority of voters discover they can vote themeselves largess out of the public trough -- 18th century Scot historian Alexander Tytle. AARP, to O'Rourke, represents the ultimate special interst -- and we can, or will, all belong to. O'Rourke shows us the effects (all negative) of a war on poverty (and offers an interesting mathematical proof from the government's own figures -- that poverty doesn't exist). He talks about the hoax that is the federal budget.
O'Rourke is willing, amongst the hyperbole, to look at things in a new, valueable (even if at times deliberately absurd way) that is effective satire. He seems to be mostly libertarian but likes defense). However, he curiously complains about lack of regulation under Reagan. I think he sees the need for regulation in industries, like the S&L, that already operate under regulations but thinks most regulation counter-productive. To him, the world is often an unfair, miserable place -- and goverment intervention will only make it worse.
O'Rourke communicates a great deal of information about U.S. government. You find out exactly what the truly hard-working congressmen do all day. They work hard at giving short, frivilous speeches; at devoting time to serious and complicated issues -- for
Show More
an hour or two at a committee hearing; at raising money, passing silly, expensive legislation; and reading cheat sheets on legislation prepared by staffers. And, last but not least, here the whines and complaints, and "give-mes" of thousands of people. He tells you exactly what's wrong with farm legislation , what went wrong with the Savings and Loans, why our war on drugs isn't serious, how the President does little, and the general whorishness of the American public in voting themselves benefits.He cites the source of the remark about democracies only lasting until the majority of voters discover they can vote themeselves largess out of the public trough -- 18th century Scot historian Alexander Tytle. AARP, to O'Rourke, represents the ultimate special interst -- and we can, or will, all belong to. O'Rourke shows us the effects (all negative) of a war on poverty (and offers an interesting mathematical proof from the government's own figures -- that poverty doesn't exist). He talks about the hoax that is the federal budget.
O'Rourke is willing, amongst the hyperbole, to look at things in a new, valueable (even if at times deliberately absurd way) that is effective satire. He seems to be mostly libertarian but likes defense). However, he curiously complains about lack of regulation under Reagan. I think he sees the need for regulation in industries, like the S&L, that already operate under regulations but thinks most regulation counter-productive. To him, the world is often an unfair, miserable place -- and goverment intervention will only make it worse.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ecw0647
This is the most devastating critique of government since H.L. Mencken, although O'Rourke is short on constructive solutions to most of the problems he exposes.
O'Rourke spent considerable time following around an unnamed congressman. O'Rourke, quite correctly, argues we get a bargain for our
A few more O'Rourkisms: "The Graham-Hollings bill [deficit reduction act was like trying to stop smoking by hiding cigarettes from yourself and then leaving a note in your pocket telling you where they are." His description of journalism: "Trying to find hair in a bowl of dough." He leaves us with the reflection that government may be a parliament of whores, but "in a democracy the whores are us.
O'Rourke spent considerable time following around an unnamed congressman. O'Rourke, quite correctly, argues we get a bargain for our
Show More
money. The average congressman has a budget of around $550,000 for staff, salaries, and expenses. That works out to only about $1.00 per taxpayer in his district. That's pretty cheap considering all the gripes and whining he/she has to listen to for a living. The congressman has a staff of 9 employees. There aren't many businesses serving 600,000 that could survive with that small a staff, and the congressman makes far less than a "shortstop hitting .197."A few more O'Rourkisms: "The Graham-Hollings bill [deficit reduction act was like trying to stop smoking by hiding cigarettes from yourself and then leaving a note in your pocket telling you where they are." His description of journalism: "Trying to find hair in a bowl of dough." He leaves us with the reflection that government may be a parliament of whores, but "in a democracy the whores are us.
Show Less
LibraryThing member datrappert
O'Rourke tells it like it is (except that it has gotten even worse since he wrote this book). This would be funnier if it weren't so depressing.
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1991
Physical description
233 p.; 8.9 inches
ISBN
0871134551 / 9780871134554
Local notes
wien
Similar in this library
Give War a Chance: Eyewitness Accounts of Mankind's Struggle Against Tyranny, Injustice and Alcohol-Free Beer by P.J. O'Rourke
All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster by P.J. O'Rourke