United Liberty

Ralph Nader has apparently gone off and written a novel. The effort, called Only The Rich Can Save Us!, is an antithetical retort to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged (which I’m sure more have read than ever voted for Nader in his myriad presidential efforts) depicting a group of rich celebrities who save the word by embracing altruism.

One of the best elements of a political satire is the creative effort of the author to mask who they are satirizing. Christopher Buckley, William F. Buckley’s son and the author of Thank You For Smoking!, was a master of this, as was Michael Crichton. The overtly political storyline of Revenge of the Sith led interviewers to ask if the character of Palpatine represents George W. Bush, as he had never overtly spelled it out. There is apparently no such subtlety in Nader’s work:

Even the character names Nader invents are mostly sophomoric wheezes on other notables. There is a bloated right-wing blabbermouth named Bush Bimbaugh, identified as the king of shout radio; another broadcaster is called Pawn Vanity. When there is nobody in particular to lampoon, the names are often tritely alliterative: Lancelot Lobo, Michelle Mirables, Roland Revelie, Wardman Wise. The chairman of the House Transportation Committee is Harry Horizon. There is a CEO named Cumbersome and a senator named Crabgrass, bringing to mind a postmodern Pilgrim’s Progress.

The names he came up to resemble the real political world sound like I’m tuning into Michael Savage’s radio show. Apparently writing is not what Nader was intended to do. It would be wise to suggest he stick to - well - whatever is he has been doing up to now.