The Redtape Letters - Softcover

Whipple, Lee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1890394343 ISBN 13: 9781890394349

Publisher: Rhodes & Easton, 1999

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The Redtape Letters is the correspondence of Uncle Red, a liberal U.S. senator, to his nephew, Ticker, a freshman at an Ivy League college. Uncle Red advises Ticker in the conversion of Ticker's roommate, Dan, from conservatism to latter-day liberalism, an exercise Uncle Red secretly sees as a means of solidifying Ticker's own loyalties.

The book is modeled on C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters much as Lewis, Himself, modeled Pilgrim's Regress on Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. The time is the present. An informal dorm-room discussion group is the backdrop. Ticker's liberal classmates, Tiffany, PJ, "Yellow-dog" Jake, Howard Bentley the III, and the conservative Reginald Strong, participate in the discussions, providing complications. All is captured in Uncle Red's letters and Ticker's implicit replies. The main content of the book is a ruthless unmasking of latter-day liberalism, both as it is practiced by the liberal elite who profit (not presented as a conspiracy theory) and as it is practiced by nave True Believers, the "Troobs." Philosophy, psychology, and tactics are laid bare. Conservatism emerges as the positive alternative. At its heart, the book is about good and evil: secular Man-centered and God-centered world views in opposition. There is both humor and intellectual exercise, as Uncle Red advises, explains, and constantly adjusts to complications. Uncle Red, in the tradition of Screwtape, is brutally, for family eyes only, honest in his (white is black) mentoring of Ticker. An "underbook" (as done by William Safire inhis novel Freedom), letter by letter, gives sources and commentary. The underbook, in a separate section at the end, serves the function of footnotes without disrupting the story's flow.

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From the Publisher

From the author of Reader's Digest book-of-the-month selection, "Whole Again," comes this provocative work of fiction that informs, entertains, and inspires-a devilish conversation, a la C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters," tracing politics and the issues of the day to their roots, morality and religion. Others agree, "The Redtape Letters" is an important book that both teaches and entertains.

Excerpt. � Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Chapter 1: Letter the First Dear Ticker,

Glad you're settled in-and in old Portland Hall, where I stayed when I was at school. Are the Ivy League girls still lookers? Say hello to Dean Flap and President Slough for me. They have long been friends of the family. How else would someone with your scores have gotten in? Ha ha. Just Teasing. Seriously, though, you must study hard. When it comes time to run for Congress, a gentleman's C could haunt you. The niggling press. Grades aside, Ticker, books can be useful. They hone the political edge. The Caesars are buried in tomes, my boy. Ho ho. Food for the enterprising bookworm. About your roommate-I think it's a wonderful idea. Is he really a conservative? The admissions people must be slipping. Happily, the error allows the enterprise you suggest.

By all means, convert him! It will be a good exercise, and should prove amusing. In fact this may be just the thing for you-one must know his liberal catechism well to teach it. Count me in. I will happily advise. You must be careful at first with terms, my boy. "Liberal" has become a bad word, the L word. Don't insist on it right away. In my day it was the P word, "progressive." What shall we call ourselves next? "Social Democrat" has a nice ring. No matter what, stay away from the S word, "socialism." Act like you don't understand, if anyone mentions it in the same breath with liberalism. Shake you head and look vexed. New words, son, but it's the same ol' game. Write to me of your progress with Dan, our soon to be liberal young friend. Tell me a little about him. How in the world did he end up in the Ivy League? Your affectionate uncle, RED

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