"People's Republic" by Kurt Schlichter

Above: "People's Republic" - Kurt Schlicther - 213 pages.

In the next box was the UCLA student paper, The Daily Entity. It had been the Daily Bruin until a few years before when a student from Marin County, who claimed to be part Cherokee, demanded the name be changed because bears were sacred to his people.

I completed reading this book today.

Ten years ago, the idea of a second American civil war would have seemed highly implausible. Today, not so much. The following link is to my review of "American War," by Omar El Akkad which I read in March of this year. "American War" posits, in the near future, a breakaway from the United States of a few southern states due to their refusal to comply to a federal ban on fossil fuels. Just below is a link to my review of "American War," which I read earlier this year.

"American War" by Omar El Akkad | Stephen DeWitt Taylor

Here comes a second American second civil war offering from Kurt Schlichter. "People's Republic." Kurt Schlichter is a trial lawyer, and a retired Army infantry colonel with a degree from the Army War College who writes twice a week as a Senior Columnist for Townhall.com.

Circa 2035, America's cultural divisions have split the United States apart. Blue America, called the People's Republic, is comprised of America's northeast, and the west coast. The People's Republic is in decline. While the elites do well the majority serfs (my term) are oppressed. The United States, succeeding quite nicely, is made up of the remaining states. The new US capital is in Dallas. A lethal operative from the US is charged with infiltrating Los Angeles and rescuing the daughter of an important US corporate chieftain. Kelly Turnbull, our hero, takes along Junior, the target's sister.

What follows isa well-crafted thriller where Turnbull and Junior stay just ahead of bad guys as they pursue their assignment. Like a lot of thriller narratives, the plot races along, but is forgettable. The good guys succeed. The real value of the book is in its sardonic descriptions of social conditions in the decaying, soon to collapse, People's Republic. Here are some representative examples:

The campus began where the shops and restaurants stopped. There was only a sign pointing toward the Hillary Clinton Medical Center - as a kid, Turnbull had gotten stitches there back when it was named after Ronald Reagan. Before the sign was a bank of newspaper racks. The Los Angeles Times, which cost seven dollars and was printed on 8.5" x 11" newsprint, had a headline which read "PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC SETS NEW RECORDS FOR PRODUCTIVITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE."

In the next box was the UCLA student paper, The Daily Entity. It had been the Daily Bruin until a few years before when a student from Marin County, who claimed to be part Cherokee, demanded the name be changed because bears were sacred to his people. The new symbol of UCLA was a circle; the original smiling bear had been changed to a stick figure human, but despite its lack of sex-specific characteristics it was deemed too "cispatriarchal," so the symbol morphed into what was essentially a happy face.

The Entity's headline chronicled the latest defeat for the UCLA Entities basketball team: a photo showed the wheelchair-bound center going for the ball against her 380-pound gender indeterminate opponent. The headline read "ALL PEOPLE ARE VICTORIOUS WITH INCLUSIVE SPORTS! Further down, one would find the final score was six to nine in favor of the Stanford Reproductive Freedoms.

In "People's Republic," Schlichter is trying to tell us what today's US as a country is becoming as its citizens, morphing to subjects, adopt Marxist and Socialist ideas. He posits a "brave new world...." a world which doesn't work and enslaves the majority of its subjects. The book is a neat, thought-provoking romp. It reads fast and, along with some good laughs, gives one reason to reflect on what is coming if we don't change our ways.