Made in Texas

From Barnes & Noble

George W. Bush's cowboy hat and cattle-rancher jargon evidence his Lone State allegiance; but, according to fifth-generation Texan Michael Lind, the president's home state roots are much deeper than we suspect. The author of Up from Conservatism traces Bush's foreign policy and economic positions to prevalent Texas attitudes. This insightful political critique follows in the tradition of Gary Wills's Reagan's America.

Publishers Weekly

Lind (The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics) delves deep into the heart of George W. Bush's Texas, and what he finds may give moderates pause and send liberals scurrying. According to Lind (a fifth-generation Texan), the politics of West Texas are steeped in racism, environmental exploitation, jingoistic militarism, crony capitalism, an anti-public education bias and a fundamentalist evangelicalism inconsistent with the separation of church and state. About President Bush's relation to these beliefs, Lind in part merely implies it by association, saying, "Cultural geography is of little use in analyzing the personalities of politicians-but it is indispensable in understanding their politics." However, Lind argues, with considerable verve, that the constellation of political beliefs embodying Bush-style politics is designed to exploit the nation's natural and human resources for the benefit of a powerful oligarchy. According to Lind, Bush's election translates to the "capture... of the vast power of the federal apparatus by Southern reactionaries...." and is "a threat to the peace and well-being not only of America but of the world." Stopping the threat, for Lind, does not necessarily mean reelecting Democrats, although unseating Bush would be a first step. Provocative as his examination may seem to some, Lind's hyperbolic tone is comparable to that of the most incendiary talk-show host. And his ultimate solution is strange and radical. Lind suggests that the federal government encourage a portion of the American population to relocate away from crowded, nonwhite, poor urban centers to the currently depopulated western plains to create a "decentralist utopia." Well, perhaps. (Jan. 14)

Foreign Affairs

This tale grounds the Bush presidential dynasty in the culture and politics of the one U.S. state to have been an internationally recognized independent republic. Lind, a fifth-generation Texan, not only critiques Texas politics and the Bush clan, he also dissects Texas' ruling Anglo-Celtic, Dixiecratic elite with the malicious precision only an intimate, home-state enemy can bring to bear. Lind delivers a heartfelt and stinging indictment of the Dixiecrats — the ex-Democrats, now Republicans, whose political traditions go back to the Confederacy. This book lays bare some of the essential forces driving American politics and will likely achieve one of its main goals: to unmask Texas as a Southern rather than a Western state. But Lind should beware of underestimating his foe. Dixiecratic rule in the South survived the loss of the Civil War, Reconstruction, the New Deal, the industrialization of the South, and the Civil Rights movement. Ruthlessly pragmatic where its vital interests are concerned, Dixiecratic political culture is flexible enough to endure as a vital if not always constructive force in American life.

Library Journal

Lind (Up from Conservatism), a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, suggests that "by the time George W. Bush ran for president in 2000, the Southernization of the Republican Party was complete." He further argues that the current occupant of the White House practices a particularly Texan version of Southern politics. There used to be two traditions of Texas politics: the traditionalists and the modernists, with George W. Bush exemplifying the traditionalists and Lyndon Johnson the modernists. Lind now believes that the traditionalists-characterized by a belief in "minimal government at home and a bellicose foreign policy abroad with religious fundamentalism"-have taken over not only Texas politics but U.S. politics as well. These new power brokers are "the rural, the religious, and the white," Lind argues, and "the Texan conservatism of George W. Bush combines seventeenth-century religion, eighteenth-century economics, and nineteenth-century imperialism." Forcefully argued, Lind's work presents a devastating critique of the politics of the Bush presidency, one that is at once convincing and alarming. Suitable for all public and academic libraries.-Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount Univ. Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.