Rating: 
Summary: A MUST for those interested in either government or humor!
Review: This book is fantastic in two ways: It presents an intelligent, intricate look at how the US government works (or doesn't work) and keeps the reader not only interested, but constantly laughing.
Unlike many other so-called political satirists, O' Rourke doesn't just poke fun at politicians and institutions, he delves into the reasons WHY our government has become so bloated and inefficient. To be fair (and although its no secret O' Rourke is conservative, he usually is fair and open-minded), he does point out some of the things our government does do well and states that most of our elected officials do work hard and have the most honorable intentions.
Liberals may be apprehensive about reading a book from an author with a conservative slant, but partisan politics is virtually absent here. Unlike typical Republican lapdogs (e.g. Rush Limbaugh), O' Rourke doesn't preach and this book is more observational than anything else; making observations is more informative (and funnier) than stating opinions anyway.
This book was put together in the eighties and some of the examples and names may be dated, but thats inconsequential to the enjoyment of the book, since he writes about our institutions rather than events or people. Some of the stories will inflame readers, exposing the multitude of ways in which the government wastes time, money and lives, but the resultant black humor is so hysterical you're more likely to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.
This may be O' Rourke's finest book in a career filled with great books; its a double-threat: Its funnier than most humor books AND more informative and intelligent than most political/sociological books.
I can wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone who likes to think or laugh (that covers mostly everyone, at least outside of government :))
Rating:
Summary: belly laughs and common sense
Review: (...)Among the current crop of humorists, P. J. O'Rourke is one of the very best. Though it must be acknowledged that he's operating in a target rich environment, his stories of government stupidity, overreach, waste, and arrogance are truly funny. He's pretty much a libertarian, though made uncomfortable by many of the social behaviors that it would allow and overly enamored of the armed forces, so he's just as likely to light out after stupid Republican ideas as he is to castigate Democrats. Parliament of Whores finds him in the perfect position to flail both, as he follows George Bush the elder to Washington in 1989, and sets out to examine the entire U. S. government. Unsuspecting readers may assume that O'Rourke is just going to snidely lambaste bureaucrats, politicians, institutions, and government generally, but that assumption really underestimates him. He's after much bigger game, as he reveals in the title of the book : Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us. The various government employees and elected officials actually come out looking pretty good. As portrayed by O'Rourke, they seem for the most part to be genuinely dedicated to their work and trying to do the best they can. It is the American people who come out of this looking pretty awful. Time and again, as he shows how useless, wasteful, and outrageously expensive the myriad government programs are, O'Rourke also makes it clear that they exist, and exist at such bloated sizes, because they have constituencies. And those constituencies are not the easily caricatured and vilified underclass, they are more often the regular work-a-day middle classes. You don't end up with a government as elephantine as ours unless those folks, we folks, in the broad middle have a huge appetite for government services. In what I think is the best chapter in the book, "Protectors of a Blameless Citizenry," O'Rourke tracks a terrific example of this : the demand for government investigation of sudden-acceleration incidents (SAIs). If you recall the hysteria, this was the allegation that some vehicles, when you were just parked innocently in your garage, would suddenly lurch forward into a garage wall. Any objective observer could have taken one look at these SAIs and figured out that they were merely episodes where people shifted into Drive without their foot on the brake, or stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake. But to draw such a conclusion would have meant blaming people, blaming taxpayers, blaming voters, for their own carelessness and stupidity, and that would be intolerable. Instead, it has become the particular duty of government to absolve us of blame for such manifestations of our own ineptitude, recklessness, and stupidity. P.J. O'Rourke is a national treasure, if for no other reason than this willingness to hold us all up to well deserved ridicule. The troubling question that he raises in this book, one which Alexis de Tocqueville made in rather more measured tones in Democracy in America, is whether democracy is ultimately doomed by this very phenomenon, of the citizenry trying to avoid responsibility for their own lives. Once the people in a democracy realize that they can simply blame others for all of the problems in their lives, even those of their own making, the democracy is morally doomed. And worse, as Alexander Tytler said some 200 years ago, in a quote that O'Rourke cites : A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of
voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse out of the
Rating: 
Summary: Screamingly funny...
Review: For those of us who came up through the universities in the
Eighties, P. J. O'Rourke (in his conservative incarnation) was a
hurricane of fresh air. After years of finger-wagging about how evil
America is, how the middle-class straight white male taxpayer is the
root of all evil, his satires horse-laughed all that liberal
self-righteousness right out of our systems. All his books follow
the same convention--he collects his previously published essays of
observational humor, and writes linking material to create a unified
theme. Here, it's the federal government. Example: What are the
three branches of government? Money, television, and b.s. It's hit
or miss, as most humor is, but the hits really score
bullseyes. Whenever I read O'Rourke's stuff aloud to friends, there
isn't a dry seat in the house. I had the great pleasure of telling him
so in person at a book signing once. Parliament of Whores shows
P.J. to be more than a humorist--he is, if nothing else, the present
era's greatest political aphorist. Example: "When buying and
selling are legislated, the first thing to be bought and sold are
legislators." A keeper.
Rating:
Summary: Screamingly funny...
Review: For those of us who came up through the universities in theEighties, P. J. O'Rourke (in his conservative incarnation) was ahurricane of fresh air. After years of finger-wagging about how evilAmerica is, how the middle-class straight white male taxpayer is theroot of all evil, his satires horse-laughed all that liberalself-righteousness right out of our systems. All his books followthe same convention--he collects his previously published essays ofobservational humor, and writes linking material to create a unifiedtheme. Here, it's the federal government. Example: What are thethree branches of government? Money, television, and b.s. It's hitor miss, as most humor is, but the hits really scorebullseyes.Whenever I read O'Rourke's stuff aloud to friends, thereisn't a dry seat in the house. I had the great pleasure of telling himso in person at a book signing once. Parliament of Whores showsP.J. to be more than a humorist--he is, if nothing else, the presentera's greatest political aphorist. Example: "When buying andselling are legislated, the first thing to be bought and sold arelegislators." A keeper.
Rating:
Summary: O'Rourke at his best
Review: A good handbook for any student of government...a bit bitter at times, but, hey, that's why it was written! O'Rourke's observations make up the best of his books, with All the Trouble and Holidays in Hell close by. Lest you think he's nothing but a Republican lackey, he slams George Bush, S&Ls, and GOP foreign policy as much as he does agricultural subsidies, social security, and urban blight. Those diametrically opposed to the right may fuss and boil too much to enjoy it, but moderate and libertarians will enjoy it immensly.
Rating:
Summary: for a conservative Republican, he's OK
Review: As a (generally) liberal person, I found this book an extremely guilty pleasure, like a hard-core ecologist getting most of his income from oil stock. In little more than 200 pages, he explains clearly and concisely how the government should work-- and how and why it often doesn't. What makes O'Rourke different from the current batch of conservative goose-steppers is that 1) he is intelligent, 2) he is (relatively) unbiased, taking shots at the Right as well as the Left, 3) he gets his facts straight, and 4) he is gut-bustingly funny (I was laughing so hard on the bus, people were avoiding me more than the stinky homeless guy). In fact, you might want to have a high-lighter handy because, if you talk politics much, you'll be quoting this more than Bartlett's. Still, I've docked the book one star because of some cheap shots and ethnic slurs.
Rating:
Summary: for a conservative Republican, he's OK
Review: As a (generally) liberal person, I found this book an extremely guilty pleasure, like a hard-core ecologist getting most of his income from oil stock. In little more than 200 pages, he explains clearly and concisely how the government should work-- and how and why it often doesn't. What makes O'Rourke different from the current batch of conservative goose-steppers is that 1) he is intelligent, 2) he is (relatively) unbiased, taking shots at the Right as well as the Left, 3) he gets his facts straight, and 4) he is gut-bustingly funny (I was laughing so hard on the bus, people were avoiding me more than the stinky homeless guy). In fact, you might want to have a high-lighter handy because, if you talk politics much, you'll be quoting this more than Bartlett's. Still, I've docked the book one star because of some cheap shots and ethnic slurs.
Rating:
Summary: Total Government experience WITHOUT being drafted or jailed!
Review: By far the most piercing look at government of all levels, with a child's eyes view of the thieves who lead us to our wallets! Peej has been a writer extrodinaire since the Lampoon days, and has aged like fine wine (which would cost far less without all the taxes imposed). Try it!
Rating:
Summary: Political satire at its best
Review: Even though this book was written over ten years ago, it is still an up-to-date indictment of the American way of doing government, with lessons for those both in the USA and those of us who live in other (though similar) systems. What i thought summed up the brilliance of O'Rourke is that i would read sections that i didn't agree with, but could still not help myself from laughing out loud. And it is dispiriting yet insightful to read about his views on Afghanistan a decade ago, and how so little has changed!
I have loved everything that i have read so far that has been written by O'Rourke, and i am guessing that he is a love-it or hate-it style for most. But if you are in the love-it camp, you are in for a treat. As usual, his satire and wit has managed to combine insight with humour - a bloody good read for all.
Rating:
Summary: Humor and the Libertarian perspective
Review: Full disclosure: I am a government employee. Nevertheless, I loved this book. O'Rourke, despite being a humorist by nature, is also one of the most eloquent mainstream advocates of Libertarianism, a concept alien to most Americans. While I disagree with the degree to which O'Rourke would cut government programs, I do agree with his fundamental notion that much of what the government does should be reexamined to determine if the government should in fact be doing it. This book is a rarity--it will make you laugh and think at the same time.
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