Dead Right

Library Journal

Why did the hoped-for new Republican majority never materialize despite the party's electoral success in the 1980s? Drawing on interviews with party leaders, pollsters, direct mail specialists, and journalists, Forbes columnist Frum paints a picture of a party that forgot its historic conservative message in order to position itself in the middle of the American political road. Noting that the government grew apace under Reagan and Bush despite rhetoric to the contrary, Frum takes Reagan to task for letting entitlements get out of hand and criticizes Bush's federal aid programs as more big government. Frum contends that the GOP's job is to reduce federal bureaucracy to the minimum size feasible under present political conditions. Aiming at that goal will spell success for the party. Philosophically deep and politically cogent, this is recommended for academic and larger political science collections.-Frank Kessler, Missouri Western State Coll., St. Joseph

Booknews

Frum, a former Wall Street Journal editor and a columnist for Forbes magazine, leads readers on a witty and opinionated tour through the chaos of post-Reagan conservatism, and analyzes the conservative movement's turn away from the economic issues that dominated the 1980s to a new preoccupation with race, ethnicity, and sex. He dissects the new conservative position on issues ranging from education to workfare, and scrutinizes the movement's leadership. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Gilbert Taylor

Conservative politicians are putting out books explaining the crack-up of their cause. Frum differs from the pack--represented by Quayle's "Standing Firm" (see Upfront, this issue) and Charles Kolb's "White House Daze" --in his attention to ideas over anecdotes, analysis over day-to-day electioneering. An alumnus of the high-profile proving ground for conservative writers, the "Wall Street Journal"'s editorial page, Frum delivers a cogent retrospective of the Republican Party's interlude of influence (1981-87) as a means of handicapping its potential presidential field for 1996. He holds grave doubts about the ebullient Kemp, the censorious Bennett, and the nationalist Buchanan. Critical of the welfare state and skeptical of the party's repute as the opponent of bloated government, he argues, instead, that Republicans are as beholden to certain of Big Government's clients--farmers, small businesspeople, and veterans--as are Democrats to any of their special interests. In other areas, such as in its wary handling of the so-called religious right, Frum sees a party even further astray from conservatism. His essay is meant to agitate the ranks and, perhaps, leave them behind. A lively autopsy of an agonizing reappraisal.