Well, "Don't Start the Revolution Without Me" came out at nearly the same time as "The Revolution: A Manifesto" and I, being the little revolutionary that I am, have now read (or heard) them both.

Where "The Revolution" was full of hard economics, constitutional scholarship and carefully constructed arguments, "Don't Start the Revolution Without Me" was full of down-to-earth realities, anecdotes and accessible language. The two books could hardly come from two different people, one an MD and constitutional scholar, the other a professional wrestler and actor from a blue collar family. Despite these surface differences, the central message is the same; Two paths diverge before the American people: On the one side we have the path of restoring liberty, restoring financial responsibility and accountability, dismantling the military industrial complex and eating crow on the international stage. On the other side we have a path that can only lead to the collapse (peaceful or otherwise) of the United States of America.

While these two possibilities are clearly evident in both books, where Dr. Paul comes down both favoring and believing in the possibility of the former, Jesse "The Mind" Ventura seems to have declared the latter the only path left open to us. Given the contents of both books, I find myself much more in the latter camp. While Dr. Paul's hope is noble and beautiful in its own way, I don't think that it's possible. The entrenched political interests are entrenched.

The story-telling journey style of "Don't Start the Revolution Without Me" is something that I really enjoyed. It reminded me quite a bit of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" (only without the complex and hard to follow philosophical syllogism) and added quite an element of credibility to "The Mind"'s conclusions. He didn't just suddenly become a revolutionary; he saw the "body politic" from within, he did battle with the beast on its turf, he even battled _for_ the beast. This is not some pie-in-the-sky idea; it's the reality that's at our doorstep, whether we want to accept it or not.

Revolution is coming to this country and the more we accept and embrace that, the better the outcome will be.