Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservativism Brought Down the Republican Revolution [Hardcover]

Michael D. Tanner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 2007

Despite an ostensibly conservative Republican president and republican control of Congress, government is bigger and more intrusive than ever. That is not by accident; it is the conscious aim of a new brand of conservatism that seeks, not to reduce the size of government, but to use big government for conservative ends. This book shows how the Bush administration, Congress, and large parts of the Republican Party and the conservative movement have abandoned traditional conservative ideals and embraced the idea of big government.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this thorough political analysis, Tanner examines the transformation of conservative doctrine in America, decrying the movement towards big-government spending. Since being elected, George W. Bush has allowed the largest expansion of government spending since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society (when domestic spending increased by 27%). Today, polls report that 55% of the public consider the GOP to be the party of big government. According to Tanner, this shift is not circumstantial, a result of post-9/11 considerations, but rather a fundamental shift in the conservative paradigm. The new Republican Party is unconcerned with traditional conservative thinking-the kind propounded not just by long-standing luminaries as Edmund Burke and John Stuart Mill, but by Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater. Articulate and incisive, Tanner's critique provides a helpful overview of the issues facing conservatives today and an introduction to the myriad facets of contemporary conservative thinking-from national-greatness conservatives to technophiles to compassionate conservatism. Published by the Cato institute, a libertarian think tank, the ideological agenda is obvious-the book is dedicated to exposing the failures of big-government (i.e., anti-libertarian) policies-but Tanner's arguments are considerate and well-researched, and his optimistic belief in a return to small-government conservatism is largely appealing.
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From the Publisher

For conservatives generally and the Republican Party in particular, now is a time of intense soul-searching. For the first time in a dozen years, Republicans have lost control of Congress. As a result, they are being forced to reexamine who they are and what they stand for.

It's about time. After all, more than a decade has passed since President Bill Clinton announced in his State of the Union address that "the era of big gov-ernment is over." Yet, since then, government has grown far bigger and far more intrusive. It spends more, regulates us more, and reaches far more into our daily lives than it did before the Republican Revolution. Behind this alarming trend stands the rise of a new brand of conservatism--one that believes big government can be used for conservative ends. It is a conservatism that ridicules F. A. Hayek and Barry Goldwater while embracing Teddy and even Franklin Roosevelt. It has more in common with Ted Kennedy than with Ronald Reagan.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Cato Institute; First Edition edition (February 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933995009
• ISBN-13: 978-1933995007
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #458,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The looming battle for the soul of the Republican Party, March 9, 2007

By 

R. Alberty (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservativism Brought Down the Republican Revolution (Hardcover)

"Leviathan on The Right" is the opening salvo in the internecine battle within the Republican Party. For believers of limited government who have wondered where the GOP went wrong, Michael D. Tanner chronicles how the vision of the likes of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan have been usurped by segments of the GOP have insisted on expanding government. Why? Tanner outlines the various strains of conservative thought (In perhaps the best way I have ever seen the differences explained by any other author who has touched on this theme) that have influenced the GOP that a small government, budget-cutting agenda is not just politically unpalatable, but counterproductive to cementing political power. Neoconservatives, "national greatness" conservatives, the religious right and others have become the dominant voice during the Bush administration and by doing so have set us on the road to a fiscal nightmare that will leave our country poorer and limit our personal liberties.

Tanner's book does not touch on foreign policy but focuses on the rise in domestic spending on ever expanding entitlement programs (The disgraceful Medicare Prescription Benefit rightfully gets lambasted), educational mandates (No Child Left Behind effectively created a national school board), corporate welfare, farm subsidies and slabs of unnecessary pork. By highlighting the abandonment of federalism and the enumerated powers set in our Constitution, can anyone doubt that the policies best left to state and local governments are sapping our ability to effectively fund the protection of our country from those that mean to do us harm?

As a Cato Institute scholar, you can expect that Tanner's solutions to many problems have a libertarian bent that seeks to maximize personal liberty, employ free market solutions and eventually deregulate, decentralize and put a sizeable dent in the scope of the federal government. Many of Tanner's suggestions, particularly those concerning entitlement programs, are not only good approaches to solving the crisis, but may very well be the only way to solve them. His approach to healthcare, however, is one topic in which his viewpoint I find to be lacking. For example, although individual mandates requiring people to purchase health insurance is nearly impossible to enforce at best and unconstitutional at worst, it may be the only sensible way to start alleviating the cost we are all burdened with as the number of the uninsured creeps ever higher.

Ultimately, the Revolution of 1994 started to collapse as soon as Congressional Republicans started believing big government should suit conservative ends, regardless of how intrusive, expensive or dubious the proposition. If the 2006 election is any indication, the Republican Party severely needs some soul searching. 2008 may not be any better. But as Mr. Tanner reminds us, Barry Goldwater's loss in 1964 was the harbinger of a once great movement. Perhaps a similiar fate will allow for the resurrection of it.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It opened my eyes, March 20, 2007

By 

C. Spector (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservativism Brought Down the Republican Revolution (Hardcover)

Mr. Tanner's book makes so much sense. A lot has changed in our country and it is really refreshing to have writing of this clarity about what has been going on. He was able to identify trends within Republican Party policy that have resulted in some pretty strange legislation. I recommend this book. It helped me understand initiatives that have been put in place that came from the Right while espousing views traditionally held by the Left!

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GOP goes astray, April 17, 2007

By 

William Whipple III (Middletown, Delaware) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservativism Brought Down the Republican Revolution (Hardcover)

Republicans have traditionally favored seeking state, local, or private sector solutions to problems, while Democrats tended to favor a larger role for the federal government. Despite considerable growth in federal programs over time, voters were at least offered a lower taxes/ less government alternative.

In recent years, elements of the Republican Party (neoconservatives, religious right, supply siders, etc.) have adopted a more expansive view of what the federal government should be doing. This goes a long way towards explaining why federal spending has grown faster (real annual growth of 4.9% per year) on George W. Bush's watch than under any president since Lyndon B. Johnson. Tanner decries the emergence of big-government (or compassionate) conservatism from several standpoints.

* However well meaning some of the new initiatives may be, such as a prescription drug benefit for Medicare and the "no child left behind" program, they are also wasteful if not counterproductive. Worse, the government's "entitlement" programs (principally Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) are unsustainable, and no efforts are being made to put these programs on a sounder footing. Some people may find Tanner's proposals for cutting back on the goodies unpalatable, but they are specific, well supported, and deserving of careful consideration.

*The Republican Party lost Congress in 2006 at least partly due to fiscal laxity, and it will not regain traction without returning to its small government principles. "If [the American people] come to believe that the choice is between liberal Democrats who will give them lots of things and big-government conservatives who will give them a little bit less," says Tanner, "they will choose the liberal Democrats."

*Although the banner of fiscal conservatism could be taken up by a third party, Tanner does not see this happening. Even "if the Libertarian Party - or another third party - were to develop a credible small-government platform, campaign finance laws and ballot access barriers make it virtually impossible for a third party to be competitive."

Which leaves us with these questions: Can the Republicans find themselves again? If not, who will speak against the endless and ultimately ruinous growth in government spending?