Made in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics [Hardcover]

Michael Lind (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 2002

Everyone knows that President George W. Bush is from Texas. But few of us know the role his home state plays in his presidency, and in our country. In this dual biography of man and state, Michael Lind confronts the chief crises of Bush's presidency--the economy, the Middle East, and religious fundamentalism--and traces their roots back to Texas, a state, Lind argues, that yields salient clues to the future course of our country.Widely praised as an iconoclastic and brilliant political observer, Lind, a fifth generation Texan, chronicles the ethnic clash that produced modern Texas, the well-known plundering of the state's natural resources at the hands of its elites, and finally the deep strain of "Old Testament religiosity" which, having originated in Texas, now reaches all over the globe in the form of Bush's foreign policy.In the tradition of Gary Wills's Reagan's America, Made in Texas provides a wholly original cultural history that should change the way we understand not just our president, but our country.

Editorial Reviews

From 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.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A starting point for future debate about the economic, political and social origins of the Bush presidency." -- - New York Times Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (December 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465041213
• ISBN-13: 978-0465041213
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #317,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #26 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( B ) > Bush, George

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Deep Insight Into Bush 43 April 4, 2003

By K. Johnson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Author Michael Lind, a 5th generation Texan, provides a dual biography of a President and the state of Texas. This is what makes it so interesting. Many authors have recently published books regarding Bush 43's personality and policies, specifically, in response to September, 2001. In this book however, Lind analyses and examines George W. Bush's policies and links them to the influential continuum of the cultural and political forces of Texas: the Deep South, Southern Protestants, and the Neo-conservative foundations that were solidified by his father's, administration. In short, what he's doing today according to Lind is not solely or even significantly as a result of September '01. Obviously as for any policy-maker, Bush 43's current policy-making in general is derived from himself, and his convictions are the result of his primary influences, past and present. Therefore the question is, what is this spectrum that influences him the most?

Texas
Lind expands more on his home-state of Texas. The state of Texas is often seen misappropriately, as culturally Western, but in fact it's clearly Southern, and Deeply Southern. This has always been apparent to those who've lived in and/or studied the South and Texas.

There are two camps in Texas: One is the "Texas modernists," of which Bush 43 is not. Lind categorizes Bush 43 as one of the "Texas traditionalists." These are proponents of militarism and an economic base focusing on commodity exports and oil exploration. This southern economic model which George W. advocates, Lind claims, will continue to push for free-trade agreements which send U.S. jobs oversees, and entice out-of-state companies to move to southern states because of lower wages.

These are but a few examples and insights Lind provides. He's not a fan of George W. but this isn't over-bearing in the book. If one wants to understand the rational and philosophy behind Bush's domestic and foreign economic, military, and diplomatic policies this book provides a wealth of information. It also explains the interests, cultural, sociological, and political forces of Texas, and its' major components. Those interested in national electoral politics such as the next Presidential election for example, can take much of this information and ask them self: who in 2004 can appeal to the southern block, which still is obviously instrumental in winning a Presidential election.

169 of 215 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A sobering view of our 43rd. president. December 28, 2002

By Richard Hodgman

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

First, to be honest, I did not vote for George W. Bush. Probably like many people I viewed him as well-meaning but under-informed, an underachiever in life who was handed the reins of power through pure luck and powerful connections. I was sure, with the help of his father and the elders in the Republican Party, he would surround himself with competent advisors and ultimately pursue a course of moderation and good sense in both domestic and foreign affairs. Therefore, when some of the early initiatives out of the White House seemed counter to earlier expectations (abrogation of important treaties, anti-environmental positions, unilateralist and militaristic approaches to complex world problems, a dangerous and unbalanced approach to the Middle Eastern crisis) my visceral discomfort with this man has evolved into alarm. This book by Michael Lind confirms my worst fears. It is a scholarly and objective survey of the culture from which our president arose. As Lind points out, we have had southerner presidents who were liberals and northerner presidents who were conservatives, but never since Andrew Jackson have we had a southern conservative holding the most powerful office in the land. Lind does a thorough job of analyzing the state of Texas from the demographic standpoint, pointing out that the majority of the population reside in East Texas which is intrinsically part of the deep south. These people largely originated in Scotland and Northern Ireland (Scots-Irish) and brought with them to this country a 17th and 18th century British outlook on class and empire, typified by the attitudes of a land-holding aristocracy. In an economic sense their ancestral model is Thomas Jefferson. In a chapter entitled "Southernomics" he describes how this region evolved on the plantation model of extraction of raw materials (oil, cotton, minerals, etc) and the exploitation first of slaves and more recently of low wage and undereducated menial workers (modern day "serfs"). This model favors "free trade" and opposes tariffs in order to maximize profit in the exportation of commodities. It places low value on preservation of natural resources while promoting their extraction and utilization. Lind contends that this model has shaped our 43rd president's thinking about economics. He contrasts an "old boy network" style of management and connections peculiar to the deep South with the traditional culture that shaped most of the rest of the country, one that is based on an economic model of meritocracy, emphasis on the creation of ideas, the valuing of higher education as the key to economic development. Lind is careful to avoid over-generalization as he points out that Texas is a diverse state, and that these two economic models both exist in the state and are in fundamental conflict. For example, he points to many Texas leaders who typify modern liberal enlightenment attitudes, people like Lyndon Johnson, Sam Rayburn, Wright Patman, and Ross Perot.

The most disturbing aspect of this book for me begins with a chapter entitled "That Old Time Religion" which exposes the influence of the southern Protestant fundamentalist religious culture on George W. Bush, and how this in turn has become a driving force in the almost messianic identification of this president with the right wing in Israel and Mr. Sharon. This plays into fundamentalist dispensationalist dogma about the End-times, Armageddon, and The Second Coming. It further sheds light on the peculiar alliance of these mostly southern Protestant militaristic and fundamentalist masses (who provide the electoral clout) with a powerful intellectual neoconservative elite (who provide the brains) and who now control our defense department. These people hold a radical and fundamentally new view of American foreign policy, one that promotes a doctrine of preemption and the aggressive exercise of American military power. They are tightly allied with the Zionist movement both here and in Israel.

This is a powerful and very disturbing book. Michael Lind has tried not to over-emotionalize this information but he obviously feels passionately about these issues. He has given us a well-researched and thoughtful expose' of the real forces that are driving this president. Everybody should read it!

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Banana Republican October 10, 2004

By the dirty mac

Format:Hardcover

Michael Lind is a native Texan who loves his state, but pulls no punches about the destructive path its recent leaders (George W. Bush, Tom DeLay, etc.) are taking the nation. He is also one of the more original and unpredictable pundits around. Just when you think you have him pegged ideologically, he throws you a curve. Although a fierce critic of today's Republican right, he also opposes affirmative action and property taxes, and he is no apologist for today's Democratic Party either. The constants in his writing are populism and contempt for conventional wisdom. Check your preconceptions at the door before reading him.

The book's central focus is how Texas as a state and the South as a region have impacted, in both positive and negative ways, American political ecomomy. As Lind sees it, the two dominant political factions in Texas have been the "traditionalists" and the "modernists." He stresses that these labels do not necessarily coincide with "liberal" and "conservative." Today the traditionalists are represented by the Bush family and other Texas Republicans (although Lind also places Lloyd Bentsen in this camp). They are more or less the successors to the 19th century Confederates and the segregationist Democrats who ran the state in the first half of the 20th century. This group, he writes, "is content for Texas to have a low-wage, commodity exporting economy, even if the result is a society with enormous inequalities of wealth and opportunity."

The "modernists" have been more eclectic politically. They have included John Connally on the right, H. Ross Perot in the center and Barbara Jordan on the moderate left. Lind defines their vision as "a high-tech economy with a meritocratic society. If traditionalist Texas is symbolized by oil companies, ranches and farms, modernist Texas is symbolized by the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the computer industry that grew up in Austin's silicon hills." The modernists combined "populism and a military ethic in a synthesis that, although not unique to Texas, was particularly pronounced in the Lone Star State."

The traditionalists have generally held the upper hand. In the 19th century the Confederates envisioned America as 1) the British Empire's junior partner in the realm of international politics and as 2) a low-wage exporter of raw materials to industrialized Britain under the banner of free trade. This is what Lind derisively calls "Southernomics" -- a banana republic or Third World style of political economy in which it is taboo to use tariffs and high wages to foster domestic industry and technology. In 2004 George W. Bush's vision was remarkably similar. But this time Britain is America's junior partner in a self-defeating policy of military overextension, and this time America does the importing from low-wage countries in a system sacrificing the middle class on the altars of free trade and cheap labor.

The era in which Texas modernism rode high was when the New Deal brought the Industrial Revolution, rural electrification, and middle class prosperity to the South by way of "state capitalist" projects such as the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). This era peaked in the 1950s and '60s when Sam Rayburn (of Texas) was Speaker of the House and Lyndon Johnson (of Texas) was Senate Majority Leader and then President of the United States.

Back in the Goldwater, Nixon and early Reagan years, the Southwest (Arizona/Southern California) was the GOP's geographic homeland. That is no longer the case. The geographic core of the Republican coalition is now in the South. Lind writes: "Conservative thinkers and politicians rooted in the old Texan commodity-exporting oligarchy have redefined what conservatism means in the United States. Even in the Northeast and Midwest, older, rival conservative traditions...have been replaced by a recognizably Texan (and broadly Southern) conservatism uniting belief in minimal government [in theory, but not in practice] at home and a bellicose foreign policy abroad with [Protestant] fundamentalism." There was ample evidence of this at the 2004 GOP convention. Witness Rudolph Giuliani shilling for the Bush Doctrine in all its bankrupting glory and Governor Ah-noldt mocking the manhood of anyone dissatisfied with the consequences of Southernomics.

Lind devotes the final chapters to the growing nexus between the New York neoconservatives and the Southern right. It is the neocons, mostly ex-socialists or ex-liberals and their progeny, who give today's GOP whatever intellectual credibility it has. However, it is precisely because of the neocons that most of what is today labeled "conservativism," in both foreign and domestic policy, bears no philosphical connection to the true conservatism of Edmund Burke and George Washingtion. It is basically Marxism turned inside-out. (Lind developed this rather amusing point at greater length in his 1996 book UP FROM CONSERVATISM.) Try this at home if you can. Throw together an outline of Maoist and Marxist-Leninist propaganda. Then substitute "permanent war" for "permanent revolution" and "culture" for "class." Presto! You have the 2004 Republican platform.

Lind makes a couple of factual errors. Ross Perot and Al Gore debated the NAFTA treaty on the Larry King Show in 1993, not 1992. He also misidentifies the date of a Weekly Standard editorial ("Axis of Appeasement") which was printed in 2002, not 2000 (it's listed correctly in the index). Also, in discussing the Middle East, the dissing reviewers have a point when they complain that he goes too easy on the terrorist/mass murderer Yasser Arafat. I would also deduct one star for style. Lind has a habit of overstating his case and making the same point in ten different ways. Nonetheless, his brand of iconoclasm is needed now more than ever.