Review: Send in the marines to  bash some sense into the politicians
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 6, 2014
Start with the premise that politicians are inept, mainly greedy self interested exploiters and manipulators of the populace.  Add in the viewpoint  that there are a large underclass of lazy public who do not want to work but only want and expect entitlements / handouts.  Confront this with the iron fist of a military intervention and you might expect  to get one of two results.  1) A massive uprising that destroys the power behind the military such as Gandhi's led revolt in India, or the Arab Spring or 2) a crushing of the free thinkers leading to an even stronger centralized government such as Tiananmen square , the US whiskey rebellion, Lincolns crushing the draft riots in New York, Stalin dealing with rebellion in Russia....The author works under the forgone conclusion that a stronger democracy will be the result as the deadbeats lose their power to blackmail and leech from the true producers of the economy.  This is the same thought process that Assad is following in Syria.  Many would say a government imposed by military might must continue to use secret police, fear, intimidation and raw power as it has no true mandate from the people.  Even If it survives it will require more blood than the author acknowledges to truly pacify an active rebellion with raw power as every wounded rebel creates a martyr for the cause with angry friends and relatives (ask the Israelis) .  However the temptation to send in the marines and bash some heads of people who disagree with you is an easy viewpoint to understand, especially if you agree with the viewpoint behind the guns.  So it is extremely satisfying to read a novel where highly skilled troops stop  greedy politicians and forge a democracy with the builders/farmers that forces the lazy  deadbeats to earn their "entitlements".  It may be slightly unrealistically optimistic in outcome  as there are so many ways it could have gone massively wrong but this is the authors prerogative to demonstrate his viewpoints.  This book is somewhat reminiscent of Prince of Sparta by Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling.A good military  science fiction novel that is fast paced, maybe slightly simplistic but totally enjoyable and reasonably priced.  The marines kick ass and impose law and order on a world that desperately needs some savings from greedy power hungry politicians.