Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservativism Brought Down the Republican Revolution - Hardcover

Tanner Cato Institute, Michael D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1933995009 ISBN 13: 9781933995007

Publisher: Cato Institute, 2007

Synopsis

Despite an ostensibly conservative Republican president and republican control of Congress, government is bigger and more intrusive than ever. That is not by accident; it is the conscious aim of a new brand of conservatism that seeks, not to reduce the size of government, but to use big government for conservative ends. This book shows how the Bush administration, Congress, and large parts of the Republican Party and the conservative movement have abandoned traditional conservative ideals and embraced the idea of big government.

About this title

From the Publisher

For conservatives generally and the Republican Party in particular, now is a time of intense soul-searching. For the first time in a dozen years, Republicans have 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 gov-ernment 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.

From the Back Cover

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING:

"George W. Bush, reviled by the left ever since he became president, has recently accomplished the feat of acquiring a new and unlikely set of detractors. The longer he flounders in domestic and foreign policy, the more a vocal contingent of intellectuals and columnists allied to the Republican Party is attacking him. Unlike that of most Bush critics, however, their complaint isn't that the president has veered too far to the right. It's that he isn't conservative enough. In Leviathan on the Right, Michael D. Tanner offers the fullest exposition of this line of reasoning to date. Tanner is a lucid writer and vigorous polemicist who scores a number of points against the Republican Party's fiscal transgressions."

-The New York Times Book Review

"In this thorough political analysis, Tanner examines the transformation of conservative doctrine in America , decrying the movement towards big-government spending. Since being elected, George W. Bush has allowed the largest expansion of government spending since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. According to Tanner, this shift is not circumstantial, a result of post-9/11 considerations, but rather a fundamental shift in the conservative paradigm. Articulate and incisive, Tanner's critique provides a helpful overview of the issues facing conservatives today and an introduction to the myriad facets of contemporary conservative thinking-from national-greatness conservatives to technophiles to compassionate conservatism. Tanner's arguments are considerate and well-researched, and his optimistic belief in a return to small-government conservatism is largely appealing."

-Publishers Weekly

"Since President Bill Clinton proclaimed the demise of big government in a State of the Union address, the federal government "spends more, regulates us more, and reaches far more into our daily lives than it did before the Republican Revolution." This is the thesis of Tanner, who argues that the Republican Party, "supposedly the party of smaller government" and until recently in power for over a decade, in fact succumbed to the many temptations and opportunities to govern actively. Tanner is especially good on the roots of big-government conservatism, an analysis based upon his categorizations of neoconservatives, national-greatness conservatives, supply-siders, technophiles, and the Religious Right and his view of domestic issues like welfare, health insurance, entitlements, and education. He presents a lucid argument that deserves a place in any public or academic library collection seeking to document contemporary U.S. politics."

-Library Journal

"So the Tanner gist to Republicans is soul-searching: Study this book, think hard and get back to your roots and drawing board, fast. You can't out-center the centrists. The future is yours to lose. Or, conceivably, win."

-William H. Peterson, The Washington Times

"How the party of limited government evolved into a new breed of conservatives willing to use the power and resources of the state to shape society in their own image is the subject of Michael Tanner's excellent new book."

-Caroline Baum, Bloomberg.com

"Tanner tells how Republicans have helped increase the federal government's power. One is tempted to compare the Republicans to preachers who denounce sin in the pulpit and then practice it at the no-tell motel. But Tanner shows that such an analogy would be off point. Instead of hiding their support for big government, he writes, many conservatives openly embrace it. It would be as if a pastor used the church bulletin to praise adultery."

-John J. Pitney Jr., The Politico

"Liberals are so convinced that Bush is the most conservative president in American history, they have long overlooked his many transgressions from conservative orthodoxy, well documented in the new book Leviathan on the Right, by Michael Tanner."

-Bruce Bartlett, Nationally Syndicated Columnist

"Leviathan on the Right is a powerful argument that not only explains how today's brand of `conservatism' is fundamentally different from that advocated by Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan but also shows the dismal consequences once opportunistic Republican politicians and notionally right-of-center pundits embraced big government intrusiveness and social engineering. Tanner focuses brilliantly on domestic matters. Yet a darker context is implicit: the hubris among neo-con crusaders, technophile dirigistes, and other fine-tuners of human affairs in the Bush administration is also what has led us straight into the fiasco of Iraq ."

-CC Goldwater, Executive Producer, Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater

"Leviathan on the Right is a rational and in-depth look at the evolution of the Republican Party and government expansion. This is a must-read for anyone who truly believes that less government is better government."

-Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN)

"In Leviathan on the Right, Michael Tanner methodically strips away the empty rhetoric employed by the current generation of Republican leaders in Washington and lays bare the dirty little secret of the vast majority of Republicans in positions of power: they are not conservative at all, but rather distorted mirror images of those they loudly criticize--liberals."

-Former Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA)

"Tanner names and details the gradual abandonment of the commitment to limited government, federalism, and individual freedom that has led us to the mess in which we find ourselves today."

-David Keene, Chairman, American Conservative Union

"In addition to documenting the Republican legislative embrace of an ever-expanding federal government, Tanner provides a cogent and persuasive analysis of the intellectual currents on the center-right that have swept big-government conservatism into the mainstream of Republican thinking. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the Republican Congress's abandonment of the limited government/personal freedom principles that won them their majorities in 1994."

-Former Congressman Pat Toomey (R-PA), President, Club for Growth

About this edition

• Publisher: Cato Institute
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1933995009
• ISBN 13: 9781933995007
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320