In God We Trust

A Novel of American Politics

De: Michael Harrington

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

A chronicle of our times based on real events, In God We Trust is a story of political intrigue, religious conspiracies, and the corruption of money. It’s the story of Dante Jefferson Washington, a brash, young, black, religious conservative and Deputy Chief of Staff to South Carolina Senator Winston J. Sinclair. Dante’s ambitions for public service soon become entangled in the unholy alliance of money, politics, and religion that define our national political dysfunction. His journey echoes that of his Italian namesake in The Divine Comedy. A social and political contradiction because of his race and political ideals, Dante pursues his Beatrice in a former college classmate, a beautiful immigrant medical student caught between her British Christian and Pakistani Muslim heritage. Their lives and those of their two closest friends are torn apart by the disaster of 9/11 and the war that follows. The author is a prize-winning political scientist and economist. The political narrative is informed by recent research into national partisan polarization that challenges and dispels some of the false popular ideological stereotypes promoted by both party extremes. What is this book about? On the story/plot level it’s about our current political dysfunction seen through the eyes of a “coming-of-age, loss of innocence” protagonist. It is also a mystery of conspiracies of Freemasons, religious orders, and backroom politics. At a timeless, philosophical level it’s about whether the foundation of social order should be derived from the laws of a higher power or from the laws established by man's reason. Even if one rejects the idea of a higher power, the religions of the Book then reflect the wisdom of the ages, so the question is to what extent man’s enlightenment improves or supplants that wisdom of the ages. The answer is unclear and worth contemplating… Excerpt: CHAPTER ONE Dante Jefferson Washington was a black man in America, whatever that meant. He wasn’t really sure. In the past it would have meant he was a slave. But today it could mean something completely different, like he was supposed to be good at hoops. Besides, he wasn’t really 'black' black. In reality, his skin had that milky tinge of café au lait, or maybe caffe latte or macchiato, depending on the season. He was a Starbucks-hyphenated American because his ancestors had evidently conspired in some unspeakable mixing of the races. Hell, maybe he descended from ol’ General George hisself. But Dante knew the anomaly of his life was not his skin color. It was his politics. He was conservative, actually, a Conservative. In truth he was young, educated, an urbane lover of jazz and blues, and considered himself socially, well, broadminded. Every morning he stood before the mirror and stared at this caffe latte man named after an Italian poet, perhaps descended from the Great White Father of his country. No matter. At the dawn of the New Millennium in the U.S. of A., one was black or white, liberal or conservative—there could be no mixing of these bloodlines. On Capitol Hill he was a black man, and a Conservative—a true freak of nature. Why? Well, he supposed that was a complicated question.