“The Party of the Rich” by Tim Dickinson appeared in Rolling Stone’s November 24, 2011 issue. Dickinson demonstrated that since 1997, the Republican party feverishly cut taxes on the wealthiest portion of the population and abandoned the poor and middle class population. In the article “The Party of the Rich” Dickinson illustrated that the Republican Party has become the party of the rich since Ronald Reagan was president. Dickinson also suggested that Reagan is an appropriate icon for tax-cutting Republicans and a prime example of a tax-cutting, small expenditure president. Dickinson illustrated that Reagan closing tax loopholes allow millionaires to pay less in taxes compared to bus drivers.…
Kolko, Gabriel. The Triumph of Conservatism: A Reinterpretation of American History, 1900-1916. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1967. Print.…
Paul Krugman’s book the Conscience of a Liberal is meant to shape conversation about income inequality and promote liberal ideas the way the Conscience of a Conservative promoted movement conservatism and policies that created income inequality. In the book Krugman explains how the policies of the New Deal created a long period of economic growth, the policies that led to income inequality rising again, and the levels of income inequality that exists now. He explains the rise of movement conservatism, and how movement conservative politicians exploited racial and social divisions and anxiety to advance their otherwise unpopular economic agenda. He explains abundance of political unity during the times with little inequality and the partisanship…
References: Barone, M. & McCutchen, C. (2011). Almanac of American Politics 2012. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.…
Conservatives: the political group who wanted to restore a strong family, traditional religious values, patriotism, and limited government…
Published in the New York Times, Murray is addressing a primarily liberal audience. However, it is read by a general audience both liberals and conservatives between the ages of twenty and sixty because it is circulated nationwide and internationally. This newspaper reaches the educated upper, middle, and lower classes. Murray includes himself in the same category as the reader, however his tone and word choice suggest that he sides with Summer's radical comments and this in turn weakens his argument as a whole.…
Critchlow, Donald. The Conservative Ascendancy: HHow the Republican Right Rose to Power in Modern America. 2nd ed. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2011.…
In his book The Conscience of a Liberal, Paul Krugman discusses the “progressive agenda” and its “fierce opposition. From the text, it is clear that Krugman is a strong supporter of progressivism, and is strongly against movement conservatism based on the actions of several conservatives. Based on historical context and his observations of the actions of the Republican and Democratic parties, Krugman effectively argues that the progressive agenda is highly beneficial to the overall social and economic wellbeing of the citizens of the United States and that conservatism is detrimental to progressivism. By showing the iniquities and greed of conservatism, Krugman is able to give emphasis to the importance of protecting and advocating for the…
In 1960, Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater established his conservative principles through The Conscience of a Conservative. Written at a time of great change in America with experiments in big government, the New Deal, and the climax of the Cold War, the views of Goldwater in the Conscience of a Conservative were looked at as revolutionary, yet controversial in the Republican eye. He believed and argued that freedom was the highest value in American society while also stating that compromising for something one does not believe in is unjust. In his book, Goldwater stated that he felt as though putting the power in the hands of a big government was not ideal. He believed that local small governments fit the best interest of the people. Goldwater said that we the people “can be conquered by bombs or by…
The economic policies outlined in the Contract with America were not new ideas to conservatives in the Republican party. Since the days of FDR’s “New Deal” and LBJ’s “Great Society,” conservatives questioned the role of government in the lives of everyday citizens. After Senator Goldwater’s defeat in 1964 and President Reagan’s two terms in office, “conservatives learned two lessons about the role of the Presidency. On the one hand, the President can have a profound international impact through his policies, as reflected in the winning of the Cold War and, later the war in the Persian Gulf. On the other hand, in the most fundamental area of the size and scope of government activities, the President could lead, but a Congress controlled by the opposition did not have to follow.” (The Contract With America, J. Gayner) During the mid-term Election of 1994, conservatives saw the opportunity to take the House and hold President Clinton’s liberal economic policies at bay.…
James Farney describes North American conservatism as an ideology focused on reacting to progressivism, resisting any changes from the perceived natural and historical. The three major areas of change that concern conservatives are the breakdown of the community, the breakdown of laissez-faire capitalism, and the breakdown of traditional family and gender roles. Each of these concerns maps onto one of the three branches of modern conservatism: traditionalists are primarily concerned with the community, laissez-faire conservatives (fiscal conservatives) are primarily concerned with government intervention into the economy and the social conservatives are primarily concerned with the changing nature of gender and family roles. Of these three…
Conservatives believe that democracy should occur under the context of the constitutional, an order that should not only limit and separate governmental power, but also to encourage democratic opinion and deliberation. Conservatives believe that “to preserve our republican social order, no radical extra-Constitutional steps are necessary. The constitution and the laws on our statute books are generally sufficient, if they are enforced.” (Story and Laurie, 81). This essentially means that they want courts to interpret the law as it is written rather than bending it or creating their own version of the law. They do so because they believe keeping a strict interpretation of the…
Michael Oakeshott was an Englishman born into the political turbulent era of 20th century, growing up exposed to a variety of political extremism in Europe, especially National Socialism and Marxism, along with two World Wars. As a result, he developed a dislike of radical political activism. This aversion is expressed in his work “On being Conservative,” where Oakeshott offers a unique political work that, instead of suggesting a prescriptive aid or explaining a political system, simply describes the conservative mindset. By doing so, he demystifies the conservative disposition during an era in which he believes is strongly anti-conservative in order to show its necessity in the world of politics.…
Cited: McKenna, George and Stanley Feingold. Taking Sides, Clashing View on Political Issues, 17th Edition. Dubuque, IA: McGraw Hill, 2011.…
So much has interested me in writing this manuscript. Tea Party assumptions are the focus, but each assumption led me down interesting paths, some of which I had not explored before. That is certainly true of evolution and immigration. Self-reliance and politics were well-trod paths that I had pursued before having written four other books over the past twenty years. I certainly don’t expect readers to turn to those earlier works, but I don’t think a writer ever fully disengages from earlier paths. After all, they were intriguing then, and, for me, they remain intriguing now. So I have to admit, if it wasn’t already evident to a reader, that without really planning it, self-reliance was part of my education and getting a law degree. Politics came next as I immersed myself in the work of Ed Koch as a Congressman and later as Mayor of New York City. As for free enterprise, my private law practice with corporate clients taught me a good deal, as well as when business interests were at stake as New York City tried to recover from being on the edge of bankruptcy in the late 1970’s. From City Hall, I experienced the enormous challenge of reconciling free enterprise with politics from day to day.…