There’s a New Shuffle in Lilliput

Obsessed from his childhood with Jonathan Swift’s story of Lemuel Gulliver’s travels, Arthur C. Gulliver is committed to an asylum for his pestiferous soliciting to raise funds for an insane voyage to the fictitious land of Lilliput. But, with the aid of two other inmates, he manages to realize his dream and sail to Lilliput.
The Lilliput Arthur finds in the mid 1930s is much different than Lemuel Gulliver’s. The monarchy is gone. Lilliputians zoom across land and sea in spheres of transparent steel. Spanking is the Lilliputian method of formal greeting. Drunkenness is required by law. Skyscrapers hang gracefully suspended in mid-air. Politicians pay voters directly and openly for their votes. The military wields a fantastic paralytic ray. Nights in the city are lit by small artificial suns created by great beams of light. And, a mysterious third chamber in the tricameral legislature dominates Lilliputian government.
In the mid-1930s, Joseph Martin Cunningham wrote this sequel to Gulliver’s Travels. Intended as a political satire about the follies of America during the Great Depression, it seems surprisingly topical today. The comical parodies of Wall Street’s financial scandals, the influence of lobbyists, the Congressional reconciliation process, earmarks, and political financing seem to be drawn out of today’s headlines.