Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire US Government

Name: Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire US Government
Author: P.J. O’Rourke

by P.J. O’Rourke

A libertarian laughs at both teams.

For you if

you want to laugh at Washington without picking a team to cheer.

⚡ Choose Your Route ⚡

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O'Rourke goes after Washington and finds no one he can't mock: Democrats, Republicans, lobbyists, the press, himself. He wrote it as a libertarian Republican, and he insults everyone, which is the point. Hand it to anyone who thinks only one team is the problem.

Where This Book Lives

Themes: community corporate greed propaganda satire

Pass with note. Published 1991 and crude in places; the title is kept as published. It is right-coded satire on purpose, to balance a bundle that otherwise leans left. Check O'Rourke's date of death (believed 2022) and any controversies before publishing. Neighbors: Stupid White Men (partisan satire from the left, already in the catalog).

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Related Viewing

Shares a topic or setting with this book, or several of its themes.

Thank You for Smoking(2005)

dir. Jason Reitman

Same themes: Corporate Greed, Propaganda

The tobacco lobbyist who never loses an argument.

Nick Naylor is the chief spokesman for the tobacco lobby and a very good talker. He argues with a senator, a teenage son and a cancer-stricken former Marlboro Man, and never loses a debate, because he never has to be right, only to be unbeaten. It's a comedy about how persuasion works when the facts are against you.

Why it’s here: The film is a satire of spin, built on a charming villain. What's punk is that it punches up at lobbyists and the PR people who work for them. What's pedagogical is that Nick narrates his own rhetorical tricks, so a viewer can learn to name them. Pairs with Merchants of Doubt, which was suggested earlier this month, and Trust Me, I'm Lying in the catalog.

Where to watch: Rent $3.99 on Amazon, Apple TV and Fandango At Home; no subscription streaming listed (JustWatch US, Oct 2026)Letterboxd ↗

Same pattern, different era

Different time, different place. The same thing keeps happening.

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