Book Review

I just got done reading this book and really can't say enough good things about it. Upon first glance the title did make me laugh, the book is really not funny though. This book goes to the heart of the issue regarding the working poor in this country. The author is from a working poor family and this is his demographic. I believe what he says to be true, this is a class of people who believes in hard work (even though it gets them nowhere), guns and hunting (if your from the city you don't like guns because your a lily livered wimp), church (God will save you from your sins and deliver you to a better life, sure as hell better than the one that most folks are livin' here on earth), and right wing politics (going to Harvard or any other Ivy League school is suspect, elitist, and not to be trusted).

The best part of this book was the chapter on guns. It got me thinking about this issue. The author was pretty black and white in terms of statistics. In home robberies, homeowners accidentally shoot a non-criminal 2% of the time compared with the police, 11% of the time. He also talked about how statistically most gun related crimes are due to drugs and then guns and if drugs were gone the crime rates would drop. It is just easier for most politicians to focus on the gun issue because the drug issue is so much more challenging to address. Women who face a dangerous commute are less likely to be raped if they are carrying a gun. Also, showing an intruder a gun and yelling, "Get the fuck out of my house" works in most cases. He also talked about how easy it is to be against guns when you don't have to do things like commute by bus late at night to a bad part of town, protect your children in a drug infested neighborhood, or walk through crime ridden streets to go to and from the laundromat to wash your work uniform.

If you want to understand our political machine today, this is a great read. No, this guy doesn't have all of the answers. He is a self-proclaimed socialist and that has often been enough to alienate him from some of his home folk, including family. This book stated things that I had thought about in a way that I couldn't have stated them myself.