Customer Reviews

The Freshmen : What Happened to the Republican Revolution?

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I found this book extremely well written, insightful, and fair, as best I could tell. I had no sense of a polemical viewpoint clouding Ms. Killian's view of this special and timely group of politicians. Ms. Killian also helped me to be clearer about what I had wanted and did not want to have happen politically when the freshmen were brought to Washington. I agree with her that these young, arrogant politicians were not given a mandate to foment a true revolution and destroy government as we knew it. But they were asked to challenge old ways of getting things done. Misunderstanding this has been the historical fate of many a self-appointed revolutionary. This book is a very important piece of writing for Americans of any party or persuasion to understand our modern political, economic, and social dilemmas.

This will, in fact, be a very short review. But, I wanted to write it for one reason. This book has been very interesting for me on a different level. I actually currently work for one of the political figures in the book. However, I am on board following the "Class of 94". To read the excerpts from the book about the election and first year in congress and now looking at my "boss" now, it's an interesting and unique view inside Washington and the process. Always remember these men and women are just like you and me and are trying to do the best they can for our country. Pick this one out for your own VIP pass.

Killian's book only comes alive when she discusses the dirty laundry of the 104th Congress: the finacial infidelities of Enid and Joe Waldholtz, Mark Neumann's self-destructive persuit of a balanced budget (the man was a born accountant, not a politico), Wes Cooley (the Rep who flipped off Sierra Club photographers), and Helen Chenowith of Montana, pro-John Birch Society and a firm believer in the "black helicopters" of militia and UFO lore.
Unfortunately, Killian buys into their talk of being "revolutionaries", a claim supported by the conservative media. In truth, they were all elected on the slimmest margins...and what revolutionaries are elected? The Founding Fathers were not elected, Mao ZeDong wasn't elected; they seized power through armed struggle and built their states accorting to their pet ideologies. The GOP ideology was to make government as pro-corporate and anti-poor as possible and it worked, thanks to the codewords "personal responsability" and "family values." But then conservativism in America has always been "less for thee, more for me." I think a major failing of the book was it's inabiltiy to place the freshmen in a historical context; they are the children of Harry Brown and Ronald Reagan, talking tough to people below Bill Gates' income bracket while lavishing cash at the Pentagon and big business. In the aftermath of Enron, Arthur Anderson, and WorldCom, we need to know how things got so fouled up. Killian's book is a footnote to that story.