“Thorough,” only excretable quote from the political satire by Michael J. Knowles “Reasons to Vote for Democrats"; book consisting of 266 blank pages except for that very quote. The political commentator and host of a show on the Daily Wire, Michael Knowles published this book in February of 2017, and it soon took the spot of Amazon bestseller. Many suppose that the book simply carries the statement “there are no reasons to vote for democrats,” but there is more of a meaning than simply that. Unlike common belief, I sustain that this political satire is well thought out, and as an overall, “thorough.” 

David McCullough once wrote “to write well is to think clearly,” Michael J. Knowles states he has done exactly that, by writing “the clearest book possible.” Although many might believe the book is completely blank, it remains untrue, as it is able to carry a meaning and a purpose, which many other books are unable to do. 

The only writing on the book is the chapters in which the book is divided; of which the first is “values.” Knowles states he believes values were the best way to enter the subject; thus, he researched what the party believes about god, believed by Knowles to be the “ultimate source of values.” As doing his research, he encountered a 2012 clip from the democratic national convention; in which, during a debate about whether to include God in the platform, multiple fellows booed when the platform got amended. Michael Knowles then went on to look at the 2016 election in which Hillary Clinton accepted the plan parenthood award by Margaret Sanger.

Knowles explains Clinton stated “I admire Margaret sanger. Her courage, her tenacity, her vision.” Michael Knowles declared he tried to look for who Margaret Sanger is, and found out she was a truly terrible lady who is mostly known for racist statements and the quote “The campaign for birth control (which she pioneered) is not merely a eugenic value, but it's practically identical in ideal with the final aim of eugenic.” 

Unexpectedly, even to Knowles, who claims of always hearing the democrats being “the party of civil rights”, the section about civil rights is blanked. He stated. “that is not true, the republican party was founded in 1854 in opposition to slavery”. The republicans elected Abraham Lincon who opposed slavery, a massive war was fought in regard to it, being the deadliest war for American casualties in proportion to the population. He states the “very first black senators and congressman for a long time were in fact republicans and not democrats.” Knowles states he does not find it rational to condemn a political party only due to its past, so he fast-forwarded to recent history where he found the civil rights act of 94 being promoted by republicans in despite to democrats challenging it. 

As the third section of focus, Knowles also decided to address economics. Knowles states in an interview for the Andrew Klavan show, that he went into deep research about what policy prescription the democrats have to offer. Knowles talks about income inequality not affecting the growth of the entire economy. He addresses the economy not being a static pie, but rather, it moves and grows (GDP). Knowles talked about Barack Obama having doubled dept during his mandate; thus, severally affecting GDP. 

This book sold more than sixty thousand copies and became an Amazon bestseller in a matter of days. Even with amazon dropping the book for some time, “Reasons to Vote for Democrats” managed to sell more than twice the copies than all the fellow leftist copies combined. The book becoming a best seller teaches us what Michael Knowles was trying to achieve from this book; what it means for the right and the sense of humor in politics. 
 In an interview with Andrew Klavan, Knowles announced his suspect ion that his political satire did incredibly well due to republicans generally being shut out from most other media outlets and therefore go online and express their creativity and intelligence in this manner. Knowles expresses his empathy for everyone who commented on his book saying most comments are “very clever and humorous.” Knowles also motions the comments on the leftist copies of the book being “fake comments written by republicans making fun of their books.” 

The author also states that all the democratic copies of the book completely miss the purpose of the book. Knowles says, “They don’t get the joke, they use the book to mock conservatives in a mean way, which is not what my book was intended to do.” Knowles explains how the entire intent of the book is to be bought in large quantities to then gift to your lefty aunt. Knowles defines it only as “a little poke” making it clear that there is nothing mean about it. 

Knowles emphasizes how strong of a political tool humor can be by using Trump as an example and how this book is the proof of how powerful of a method it is. He talks about how it is disturbing to see “a blank book at the top of the best sellers page, as it may seems like a symbolic statement.” He also mentions how just like the Trump campaign it is a “reflection of the culture” and it was clear there was going to be a moral hazard, as we live in a moral hazardous culture. Political satires like this one have been around for years now. The first blank book about the opposing political party was published in the 1880 presidential election. He states that “most protestors don’t use cogent language” and how the right is able to capitalize on that. 

Even an empty book like “Reasons to Vote for Democrats” by Michael J. Knowles was able to contain a political statement. His empty-looking book is thorough both in its content and in its purpose. Knowles became a bestseller on Amazon, and because of this, we were able to better understand the society we live in. His experiment was able to teach us how even an old joke can be exuberant due to our new culture.