GOP goes Buck Wild

In his book, Buck Wild: How Republicans Broke the Bank and Became the Party of Big Government, Cato Institute scholar Stephen Slivinski details how the former home of fiscal conservatism has become a bastion for big spending and big government.

Far from being yet another liberal slam of conservative policies, Slivinski wants to see the Republican party actually live up to the principles espoused by the likes of Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell.

Slivinski details why GOP politicians have been so anxious to join the Democrats in supporting a larger government and bloated budgets. There are numerous reasons, but it essentially comes down to one word - power.

Republicans have become more interested in power than principle. Slivinski explains why this is dangerous for the GOP and the nation and what we have to do to correct the problem.

He looks at the history of the party and how it abandoned the policies that brought it to power and heroes who have championed the cause of fiscal conservatism.

My favorite quote about the book comes from P.J. O'Rourke:

Buck Wild does more than reveal what's wrong with the Republicans. It reveals what's wrong with us, the voters who put them in office. Politicians are foxes. But we insist on believing that some are guard dogs. We elect them to watch the hen house, and on the first Wednesday in November there's nothing left but feathers.

Politically, the GOP has fed and encouraged the welfare mentality problem in America instead of educating the public about why government programs are not the answer to their problems. They would rather bring home the bacon, than trim the fat.

I would love to read this book and go after my elected officials armed with all the facts and statistics presented by Slivinski. If you get a chance, pick this book up. If you have the extra money, buy me one too. I'll take a hand-out from a private citizen, just not the government.

Comments

[Sam Wilkinson]

Would it kill you to knock it off with the anti-Democrat crap? You're the one whose party has been in power, spending us into total oblivion. Democrats have done any serious spending in years, while Republicans have treated future generations like a never ending ATM. Seriously, your willingness to always go back to rote criticisms of Dems is just ridiculous.

[seeker]

The Democrats are poo-poo heads.

[Aaron]

Uh, which post did you read Sam. I only mentioned Democrats once and that was to say that Republicans have joined them in spending willingness. The post (and the book) was a criticism of the GOP and little if anything to do with the Democrats.

I strikes me as odd that as you criticize me for criticizing Democrats, you seem incapable of doing anything but not criticizing Republicans. Even though I didn't even do it in this post, I can't criticize Democrats, but you can continually criticize Republicans. How does that work?

[Louis]

How about this? A pox on both their houses.

[Aaron]

As far as spending you may be right Louis. But I can point to a group of fiscally conservative Republicans that have worked to eliminate pork spending, earmarks, etc. I can point to past party leaders who worked to make the government smaller. The Democrats have nothing of that to point to, which is why I think it is silly to think they will do anything about deficit spending.