Caligula for President: Better American Living Through Tyranny

a true sage of the ages a bit more eclectic than her previous books she has her finger on the pulse of reality---the problem is that no one is listening should be required reading for all poli sci 101 students

Swift, Twain, Bierce, Parker... move over, there's a new sniper on the rooftop, and her satirical crosshairs are dangerously accurate. Cintra Wilson's Caligula for President is as whimsical and deadly serious as any satire that's come out in decades. And, like her protagonist, Wilson fears no one and takes on all comers: Republicans, hippies, religious zealots, the ACLU, Americans[!], whoever, whatever. The lefties will take this to its bosom, while rightwingers will nod in approval about Caligula's implicit suspicions of "big gummint" as it is. And yet, she is attacking both sides with glee. Ostensibly an attack on the dismantling of the Constitution by the Bush II regime, Wilson is not so blinkered that she can't see the hypocrisy in just about everything. And she is astute enough to know that the desire of the American Ruling Class to be Caligula-like is nothing new. Funny thing is that, well, it's funny. People on the subway look at me like I'm nuts when I laugh out loud at just about every page. And then, OUCH, that hurts. A random point in case: Caligula describes how he turned his failed attack on Britain into a PR coup by bringing back seashells from the French coast, and claiming he had defeated Neptune and captured his treasure. And then, pow, "America has killed the ocean, too." Every page has something to think about and laugh about. Caligula for President gets my vote.

This was one of those books that, once I saw the title, I just *had* to read it. Although it didn't turn out to be a surrealist alternate-future metafiction, like the Thursday Next stories, which was what I was expecting, I wasn't disappointed. There's no plot, the only character is Caligula, and the bulk of the book is his argument for the inevitability and superiority of heaven-sanctioned totalitarian rule to democracy. This Caligula argues that he's the best choice for America, not because he will refrain from gross abuses of power, but because he admits freely that he will immediately begin to remove all freedoms. At least we'd know what we were getting. Under the Caligula administration, he would be the only recognized god, thereby eliminating all current religous strife. He argues that it is phyisically impossible for a ruler with any amount of power to practice self-restraint, and cites a staggering number of examples, both ancient and recent. Although at times Caligula for President reads less like tongue-in-cheek humor than a diatribe of Cintra Wilson's political views and displeasure with the Bush administration, the majority is spot-on, satirical and very funny. Forget the War on Terror, Caligula fought the ocean. Was it really madness to promote a horse to a Senatorial seat? Or was it a stroke of preemptive genius to keep would-be usurpers out? Caligula for President has some brilliant insights into modern government and economics drawn from one of history's most infamous despots. And that's either really funny or really sad.

So absolutely spot on that in the moments when I wasn't laughing out loud I was terrified. Confirms what you have always suspected way down deep in your lizard brain. Lou Dobbs, a polar bear full of adderall, Slayer's Reign in Blood, and the Lincoln Bedroom. Cheers!