Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brough Down the Republican RevolutionFor conservatives generally and the Republican Party in particular, 2006 was a time of intense soul-searching. For the first time in a dozen years, Republicans lost control of Congress. As a result, they are being forced to reexamine who they are and what they stand for. It’s about time. After all, more than a decade has passed since President Bill Clinton announced in his State of the Union address that “the era of big government is over.” Yet, since then, government has grown far bigger and far more intrusive. It spends more, regulates us more, and reaches far more into our daily lives than it did before the Republican Revolution. Behind this alarming trend stands the rise of a new brand of conservatism—one that believes big government can be used for conservative ends. It is a conservatism that ridicules F. A. Hayek and Barry Goldwater while embracing Teddy and even Franklin Roosevelt. It has more in common with Ted Kennedy than with Ronald Reagan. Leviathan on the Right provides an incisive analysis of the roots and core beliefs of big-government conservatism and the major currents that fueled its growth—neoconservatism, the Religious Right, supply-side economics, national greatness conservatism, and Newt Gingrich–style technophilia—and offers a detailed critique of its policies on a wide range of issues. The book contains a clear warning that, unless conservatives return to their small-government roots, the electoral defeat of 2006 is just the beginning. |
From inside the book
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... today the Republican Party is the conservative party. The rise of big-government conservatism has taken place in the context of Republican politics and been reflected in the policies of a Republican president and a Republican Congress ...
... government is, but at their heart both want a smaller govern— ment than we have today. Not so big-government conservatives. Indeed, big-government conservatism has little in 13 Big Government: It Isn't just for Liberals Anymore.
... today, including those decried by big-government conservatives, were devised with the best of intentions. Good intentions, however, seldom survive the realities of the programs in practice. Big-government conservatives imagine ...
... today's liberals, big-government conservatives feel free to disregard the Constitution when it serves their purpose. Where, after all, does President Bush find in the Constitution authorization for the federal govern— ment to govern ...
... today, an equal threat may come from the Republican right. Should big-government conservatives win the debate over the direction of conservatism, it will represent a fundamental change in the balance of political forces. Are we destined ...
Contents
10 National Busybodies | 197 |
DEFINING THE FUTURE | 205 |
11 The SmallGovernment Alternative | 207 |
12 The Coming Debate | 229 |
Notes | 235 |
Index | 301 |
About the Author | 323 |
Cato Institute | 326 |