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Goosebumps
Warning! Those brave enough to venture past this sentence take notice of two tings: my heart felt apology and heed this warning. In the book we are about to explore, we will encounter none other, than the ramblings of a madman. For those who dare to continue, you will face: extreme ignorance, glaring hypocrisy, and atrocious writing. In his memoir, Do the Right Thing, Mike Huckabee (R-AR) illustrates his concept for America with by using his brainchild of "Hucktown" a place where Huckabee is the model citizen and where everyone else in town is made to emulate him... Like R.L. Stine always says, "Reader beware, your in for a scare!
Welcome to "Hucktown!"
Welcome one and all to "Hucktown", but before we begin our tour, we have three simple rules that everyone should abide by. They are as follows:
[1] Stay with the group and please use the buddy system at all times.
[2] If you do find that you have become separated from the group, do not panic. It's already too
late.
[3] Lastly, please do not drink the purple Kool-Aid that you may be offered by many the residents.
On a more serious note, the concept of "Hucktown" is a very real, and very scary concept. Mike Huckabee introduces it to the reader very early in his memoir Do The Right Thing. According to Mike Huckabee, "Hucktown" has no crime, no littering, no cheating, and no alcohol or drug usage. It also only has two parent families with one parent each from the opposite sex. In other words it sounds pretty decent at first glance. However, upon further investigation, some major problems begin to appear.
First and foremost is that this world is neither realistic nor idealistic. A society such as this, a Utopia if one will, is beyond the scope of reality. The human element must be accounted for and by doing so, the image of "Hucktown" is immediately shattered. In a society where the main goal is to perfectly mirror one man's personal choices and then make those choices (one man's perspective) into law is not only unrealistic but immoral. The American dream is a place where a man is free to make his own choices and rule his own life with as little interference from others as possible. The fact that Mike Huckabee wants everyone to be just like him is not only an affront to the American Dream, but in actuality is the antithesis of it. To live in Huckabee's ideal world is not only immoral, it is slightly disturbing. Someone may need reveal to him that he isn't god because I think he might be somewhat confused on the issue...seriously.
The issue of his massive ego can also be seen several other times throughout the book. Throughout the entire book, Mike Huckabee blatantly holds himself high on a pedestal while trying to tell everyone just how perfect he is. For example, he continuously calls himself the man who has done the most for every issue. In the first chapter he states: "During the 2008 campaign season, none of the candidates had accomplished more on life issues than I had- no one (Huckabee, 2009)." Later in the book, when reminiscing about how a particular group chose not to endorse him. In his memoir he writes: "In so many ways, I was a perfect choice for them." This trend of him declaring himself the best person ever continues throughout the book at a sickening rate. Whats most disgusting is that he seems benignly unaware of his ego stroking.
Another way his ego can be seen, although it may speak more to his own ineptitude than his ego, is his incessant mentioning of his opponents and the constantly condescending tone he uses to ravage them all with throughout the book. From the very beginning (literally the third page) of the book, Huckabee mercilessly blasts his former opponents Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Rudy Giuliani (R-NY). He berates and attacks them to the point that one may begin to wonder if Huckabee is mentally stable, seriously. In all of the political memoirs I have read (Palin, Romney, Bush etc.) no one mentions his enemies more than Mike Huckabee. In fact Mitt Romney never once mentions Huckabee at all in his entire book and Sarah Palin never mentioned any of the other Republicans (except John McCain) except for one instance in America by Heart where she quotes Mitt Romney. That's it, just one reference. When compared to the fact that Huckabee mentions Romney over fifteen times within the first chapter, Mike looks that much more pathetic. And just in case one does consider all of the politically heated barbs that Huckabee launches at Romney throughout the book, bare this in mind. Mike Huckabee likes and supports Sarah Palin (R-AK), who in 2008 was Team Romney until she got named McCain's (R-AZ) running mate. Some time perspective, is the ultimate equalizer.
While his boasting and posturing may be annoying and uncomfortable to read, perhaps the most atrocious part of this whole mess is his unapologetic hypocrisy. Throughout the book he makes the case for his most prominent political positions, namely social issues. Being a former minister, I duly prepared myself for the God Chapter, Pro-Life propaganda, and overall preaching that I knew could break loose at any time. What I read in that book however, was more terrible than anything I could have imagined. Take, for example, his position on same sex marriage. As one might expect, he vehemently opposes the very idea, going so far as to demand that a family can not exist without having one parent from each sex. However, he defends that argument with this passage:
"Sadly, there are some in our society who think it perfectly acceptable for their views on same-sex
marriage or the partial-birth abortion to be forced on others, but vehemently object to another
point of view winning out in the process of public debate, deliberation, and decision (Huckabee,
2009)."
When I first read this, I had to do a double take. The audacity of this comment and the amount of twisting and hate behind it was enough to make me want to gag. But in the end he is right. Sadly, there are people in this great nation who do "think it perfectly acceptable for their views on same-sex marriage or..." abortions "to be forced on others." The good news is that society as a whole doesn't normally tolerate one group dictating the norms of life to another. In the end fairness and freedom win out. Just look at Roe v. Wade and Proposition 8 if you need any more convincing. The point is that it is narrow minded, religious zealots like Huckabee who bring religion too far into the public square and they attempt to hijack personal liberties all in the name of their own particular brand of antiquated morality. And that my friends is one of the saddest things of all.
Lastly, the writing in this book is dreadful in comparison to just about any other piece of written work ever. It may even kill me to call this book a piece of literature. He writes in such a set formula that the same sentence shows up throughout the book nearly ten times. The writing is wildly sporadic and although the author does write with passion, it is wrongly administered. To call Mike Huckabee a writer would be a great offense to any self respecting author.
The Review
In conclusion, Do the Right Thing by Mike Huckabee is a reminder of all the offensive and antiquated moralities that the overly religious right attempts to use to dictate public life. Being a self respecting Republican it actually hurts me to admit that there are people within my party that believe in the very ideas that our founders fought so hard against long, long ago. The In Review rating for this book is a half a star. The only redeeming factor comes with his discussion on how he ran his campaign on almost no money and still managed to mount a fully-fledged presidential candidacy. I would suggest to anyone looking to read this book to stop now, turn around and run away screaming. It really is that bad.
Later,
Cody
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