How did the Bush administration squander the political capital that Goldwater-Reagan conservatives took more than three decades to build? How did America go from having the strongest economy in the world to facing our most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression? What became of an American culture that once was guided by the principles of Christianity? Bringing America Home not only explains how we lost our way, but shows how our founding principles can help us find our way back. A native Texan, veteran of the Nixon and Reagan administrations, and former state chairman of the Texas Republican Party, Tom Pauken is the author of The Thirty Years War: The Politics of the Sixties Generation. He holds a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University and a law degree from Southern Methodist University. He currently serves as chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission.
Bringing America Home
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more. |
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
*Starred Review* As a college freshman, Pauken read Barry Goldwater’s Conscience of a Conservative, which he quotes admiringly. His book emulates Goldwater’s in a time in which, as they did then, conservative fortunes ebb low. A successful businessman, former Texas Republican Party chairman, and present state commissioner, he’s a more seasoned person now than Goldwater was then, and he writes more thoughtfully and personably than Goldwater (but then, he does it himself; Conscience was ghosted). He believes current conservative woes stem from Reagan’s trusting placement of Bush I and his faction in powerful positions in his administration, from which they rooted out conservatives and installed the erstwhile left-liberal Democrats who had become neoconservatives. The rest is dismal history. Conservatism’s future lies in a program of shrinking centralized government via constitutional checks and balances as well as drastic foreign and domestic policy change. Specifics include fighting radical Islam through alliances and diplomacy rather than military intervention, shifting the basis of federal taxation from income to imports, reasserting local and state control of education, rebuilding manufacturing and its workforce, preferring small business and entrepreneurship over big business (especially the banking-investment cartel), readmitting religion to the public square, and that old conservative mainstay, reducing government spending. A conservative manifesto of the highest caliber—humane, civilized, expressed by an active, living conscience. --Ray Olson
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By Steve
Format:Hardcover
In the past year friends gave me recent books by Sarah Palin and John McCain. I haven't read them, and I think I will take them to half-price books while they still have some trade-in value. Within three days of purchasing Pauken's new book, I had finished it and purchased three copies for my son and two close friends. I keep going back re-reading portions of it, as it is an extraordinary book from an extraordinary man with great knowledge and insight. I notice Amazon is offering this book as a package purchase with Paul Craig Roberts' new book. If anyone really wants to understand what is going on in America, the serious problems we face, as well as serious solutions from serious men who can be trusted -these are two essential books for any true conservative, or any American who loves his country and who recognizes that America is in great need of immediate change to solve our formidable and frightening problems.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
You can fix the blame, or you can fix the problem - Pauken fixes the Problem - Read It !!!
July 8, 2010
Format:Hardcover
I am a New Yorker who has written quite a few reviews through the years for Amazon and others. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Tom Pauken's book because this man has written what he perceives is the truth, and he gives it to you STRAIGHT. It's not spoon fed, and it's not all pretty, but it is absolutely worth reading, and considering. In 200 plus lightening pages he tells you the things you knew in the back of your mind were true, but no one ever talked about in public. This is the real thing and it's long overdue.
Pauken tells you the truth about George Bush and Karl Rove, and I have never read anybody else in print that had the guts to tell the story. The liberals will love this book because here we find a true conservative giving you an insider's view of what happened over the last ten years, and what we can do to change it.
George Bush was supposed to be a real conservative that would take the country back from the trauma of the Clinton years. Instead he presided over a massive increase in defense expenditures, more than doubling the defense budget without including the expenditures for Iraq and Afghanistan which are special line items in the budget. He starts an unnecessary war against Iraq which sets us back a trillion dollars.
Finally, the most potent military force in 5000 years of history America, can't seem to find one 6 foot 5 inch Saudi Arabian living in the mountains of Pakistan or Afghanistan. You talk about impotency, Bush and his team basically hijacked the conservative movement and fostered a set of ideas that is alien to the conservative way of thinking.
Pauken lays it all out, but what is just as important is that he lays out a plan to bring America back, and whether you agree with him or not, his ideas are refreshing. You want to know how America went from the greatest creditor nation in history to the biggest debtor in just a matter of years; this is the book to read. You want to know why Americans seem to be losing their faith in their elected leaders; Pauken lays the whole deal at your feet.
How is it possible that Ronald Reagan, who Pauken worked for, came into office with so much promise, built an incredible foundation upon which a generation of new conservative leadership could rule effectively, and then it was all squandered under George Bush's leadership? Read the book, and it seems to come together.
Pauken goes after Karl Rove too. In the interest of objectivity, I have met, and I know both Karl Rove and the author Tom Pauken. The press has always portrayed Rove as a genius, and a sinister one at that. My point is how good can a guy be if he wins a Presidential election by 500 votes, and then the re-election four years later is the closest re-election (80,000 votes in Ohio) in a century. Pauken again lays it out for you to think about.
If you love America, you will want to read this book. It doesn't matter what side of the political fence, you find yourself sitting on. We are all in this together, and Pauken provides common sense answers to what America can do keep this country the dominate player on the earth today and tomorrow.
Richard C. Stoyeck
Pauken tells you the truth about George Bush and Karl Rove, and I have never read anybody else in print that had the guts to tell the story. The liberals will love this book because here we find a true conservative giving you an insider's view of what happened over the last ten years, and what we can do to change it.
George Bush was supposed to be a real conservative that would take the country back from the trauma of the Clinton years. Instead he presided over a massive increase in defense expenditures, more than doubling the defense budget without including the expenditures for Iraq and Afghanistan which are special line items in the budget. He starts an unnecessary war against Iraq which sets us back a trillion dollars.
Finally, the most potent military force in 5000 years of history America, can't seem to find one 6 foot 5 inch Saudi Arabian living in the mountains of Pakistan or Afghanistan. You talk about impotency, Bush and his team basically hijacked the conservative movement and fostered a set of ideas that is alien to the conservative way of thinking.
Pauken lays it all out, but what is just as important is that he lays out a plan to bring America back, and whether you agree with him or not, his ideas are refreshing. You want to know how America went from the greatest creditor nation in history to the biggest debtor in just a matter of years; this is the book to read. You want to know why Americans seem to be losing their faith in their elected leaders; Pauken lays the whole deal at your feet.
How is it possible that Ronald Reagan, who Pauken worked for, came into office with so much promise, built an incredible foundation upon which a generation of new conservative leadership could rule effectively, and then it was all squandered under George Bush's leadership? Read the book, and it seems to come together.
Pauken goes after Karl Rove too. In the interest of objectivity, I have met, and I know both Karl Rove and the author Tom Pauken. The press has always portrayed Rove as a genius, and a sinister one at that. My point is how good can a guy be if he wins a Presidential election by 500 votes, and then the re-election four years later is the closest re-election (80,000 votes in Ohio) in a century. Pauken again lays it out for you to think about.
If you love America, you will want to read this book. It doesn't matter what side of the political fence, you find yourself sitting on. We are all in this together, and Pauken provides common sense answers to what America can do keep this country the dominate player on the earth today and tomorrow.
Richard C. Stoyeck
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The most important thing that I can say about Bringing America Home is that I read it in one day and was appalled at what it stirred in me.. I have been silent all to long about my conservative principles... No more! this book is a must read.
Tom Pauken laid it out so anyone can understand what needs to be done for us to get back on track and not be a bankrupt nation with no values.
Tom Pauken laid it out so anyone can understand what needs to be done for us to get back on track and not be a bankrupt nation with no values.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Learned more than I expected
I did not really take the time to understand what the book was about when I bought it. I saw the title and thought it was a book about how the nation has last its way. Read more
Published 29 days ago by Brad
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent solutions
Goes to the heart of conservative thought. Full of good judgement and true compassion. Tom Pauken offers real solutions that will help all Americans understand why the American... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Tom Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unvarnished Truth
Tom Pauken is a true conservative who has been in the trenches for decades and who can help lead us out of the wilderness. Read more
Published on January 24, 2011 by Denise McNamara
5.0 out of 5 stars
A common sense prescription for America's restoration--Buy it now!
This quote caught my attention: "The American people sense the seriousness of this moment in our history. Read more
Published on June 16, 2010 by Robert R. Allen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shift - Orienting Toward the Right Direction
I enjoyed Mr. Pauken's prior book, "The Thirty Years War," which told us where we came from. This new book tells us how get to where we want to be. Read more
Published on June 4, 2010 by E. Adrian Van Zelfden
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Militant Islam" a greater threat than former Soviet Union?
"Bringing America Home" is a message that is long overdue, but Tom Hauken's warning that "Militant Islam is a greater threat to Western civilization than that posed by the Soviet... Read more
Published on June 1, 2010 by Enver Masud
5.0 out of 5 stars
Right On!
I loved the book. This is a valuable and worthwhile read. Mr. Pauken Lays out the unintended consequences of government actions and policy that has caused this terrible loss of... Read more
Published on May 27, 2010 by Thomas J. Moore
