With Election Day just a few hours away, it’s the perfect time to sit down and read a book that does a great job of showing just how useless politicians are and how corrupt many of these people are. This book is packed with tales of stupid public servants, corrupt elections, the idiocy of voters, and any other “wacky and unbelievable” thing you can think of.
If, for whatever reason, you haven’t already lost all faith in government and the idea of elections, then this book will probably help push you over that edge. Numerous dead people have been voted into office and animals have been voted as the mayor of small towns. Entire districts have failed to vote. A woman in Tennessee was elected constable because no one was on the ballot, and her write-in vote for herself was the only vote cast. And that’s not even the bad stuff, just the stupid stuff that’s on the hands of the voters.
This book features tales from around the world that shows just how incompetent politicians are (and the people who occasionally decide to vote). I’ll quote an excerpt here that I found to be hilarious, sad, and dangerous all at the same time.
Concerned by an increase in failures in their state tests, the California Department of Motor Vehicles simplified its written exam to a reading age level of 11. Among the multiple-choice questions was “What does a six-sided Stop sign mean?” The most frequent answer in Culver City, Los Angeles, was “slow down to 25 miles per hour.”
It’s bad enough that the most frequent answer to the easiest of questions was wrong, but how absurd is it of the California DMV to even attempt to make the test easier to begin with? I know with government everyone has to be a winner and equal, and not left behind, but is dumbing down drivers tests so that morons can pass their written part really a good idea? No, of course not. Government, always a joke.
The book itself is classified as Politics/Humor, and you definitely will laugh at a lot of the crazy political tales. Most of the stories told are really short, rarely will you encounter something bigger than a paragraph. It’s concise and well written; Phil Mason just reveals the information and never commentates on it nor pass any judgment. It’s very straightforward; here’s the facts think what you will about it. I appreciate that.
You can pick Dead Man Wins Election up in paperback format from Amazon for $9.99. I recommend it; it’s packed with information from around the world that most people don’t know and it’s funny. If you’re looking for a quick light read that you can read a few pages, put it down and come back to later, then Dead Man Wins Election is a great selection.
Dead Man Wins Election gets a four out of five: GREAT.
* A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.
