Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost--And How It Can Find Its Way Back (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A leading figure in the American conservative movement for over 40 years, Mickey Edwards was a prominent Republican congressman, a former national chairman of the American Conservative Union, and a founding trustee of the Heritage Foundation. When he speaks, conservatives listen. Now, in this highly provocative and frank volume, Edwards argues loud and clear that conservatives today have abandoned their principles and have become champions of that which they once feared most.

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Read a letter from Mickey Edwards, author of Reclaiming Conservatism.

Dear Amazon Reader,

Having been repudiated even in states they had long dominated, Republicans woke up on November 5th faced with the challenge of rebuilding a political party that had been transformed overnight from powerful to pitiful. They should have seen it coming. In my book, Reclaiming Conservatism, I describe precisely how Republicans in the White House and in Congress became the enemies of the principles they once stood for, a threat to constitutional government, and a party thoroughly deserving of the rebuke it has received. I explain specifically how conservatives can again earn the public’s confidence.

Now Republican leaders are trying to find the way back. In the process, they are continuing to look in the wrong direction, unwilling to face the reality of the disastrous choices that led to their defeat. So-called conservatives, they have abandoned true American conservatism--which is properly focused on limited (not small) government, individual liberty, and prudent governance--and have instead become the champions of wiretapping, government secrecy, federal deficits, questionable wars, and a nasty kind of politics that even questions the patriotism of those who disagree with their policies.

The Republican Party long stood for the principles at the heart of the American Constitution, including a belief in the wonderful possibilities of self-government (instead of the anti-government rhetoric it has since embraced). It celebrated ideas instead of the rabid anti-intellectualism it has come to cherish. It celebrated diversity (Barry Goldwater argued that there was no such thing as a merely common man) rather than demanding sameness in religion, values, and beliefs. The Republican Party does not need to re-invent itself--it merely needs to remember what it once was.

Sincerely,

Mickey Edwards

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From Publishers Weekly

This book is a cri de coeur by former Republican congressman Edwards, a veteran conservative founding trustee of the Heritage Foundation who once ranked as the national chairman of the American Conservative Union. Edwards believes that conservatism has abandoned the ideas of limited government that once inspired it. This has been, he argues, the paradoxical price of conservative electoral success, and the process of winning and retaining this power has brought its own temptations. Taking Washington required coalition forming with neoconservatives, the religious right and former supporters of George Wallace who all owed little to the Goldwater-style conservatism in which the thing being 'conserved' was the liberal revolution embodied in the Constitution. According to Edwards, these other views have intensified as the Bush administration presides over an evolving security state, and the movement Edwards once held sacrosanct is now unrecognizable. This is a critique with force and eloquence, but its author is better at defining what has, from his perspective, gone wrong, than providing persuasive suggestions as to how conservatives of his mindset are meant to win elections today. (Mar.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195335589
• ISBN-13: 978-0195335583
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #325,700 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Accessible Insights, April 6, 2008

By	Rick LaRue (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This book is terrific and rare, offering accessible insight into the reasons why what passes for conservative politics and policies today is bad for the country, let alone conservatives. Reclaiming Conservatism is not merely a primer for conservatives to remember their principles and their roots, although Edwards would no doubt welcome such an outcome. It sheds light on how far off the ranch Newt Gingrich and Bush II have taken the conservative movement - you have to read what Edwards has to say about them! - but it also shows liberals the kind of conservative opponents they should welcome battling and, most importantly, getting down to work with again and ironing out compromises.

But Edwards's points go deeper. He draws meaning and relevance from the Constitution and demonstrates how Congress as an institution needs to reassert itself and stop doing the Executive's bidding. His illustrations of how the president may be the head of state but not the head of government are refreshingly clear, and he reminds us again of the beauty of the constitutional system of checks and balances that has been sullied by leading Republicans in this administration and recent Congresses. Even political veterans will be sure to learn something, but you don't need to be an insider to benefit from Edwards's insights. Now we have to find someone to so well write "Reclaiming Liberalism" and urge politicians and citizens alike to read them both!

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A passionate argument..., March 14, 2008

By	Avid Reader (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

Reclaiming Conservatism's strongest message is that America has been led astray in recent years by so-called conservatives to the precarious point at which our system of government neither promotes individual liberty nor protects it citizens from government intrusion. Reclaiming Conservatism doesn't rant -- rather, it informs with a detailed and interesting history of how we got to this point, it carefully and clearly defines what conservative values are, and it concludes with tangible steps Americans can take to get true conservatism back on track. This book proves that Mickey Edwards, who spent sixteen years in Congress (and many since) defining and strengthening the conservative movement, is wholly committed to restoring conservative values. His book might be considered one small step for a conservative man, but it is definitely one giant leap for conservative mankind.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important book for the future of this country, March 13, 2008

By	Charlie Firestone (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The first key point is to recognize that Edwards is referring to American conservatism, by which he means being faithful to the constitution. Accordingly, he finds it conservative to champion individual rights, equal opportunity, separation of church and state, and separation of powers. As a former Congressional leader, Edwards is particularly strong on the last point, unleashing his disdain, indeed fury, at the way the Congressional Republicans have capitulated to the monarchial Bush Administration.

Having been inspired by Barry Goldwater's conservative philosophy in the 1960s, and a Congressional partner to Reagan's reign in the 1980s, this Oklahoma Republican congressman shows how the Republican Party got out of whack under Newt Gingrich's reign in the House. In the book, Edwards also sets forth "conservative" values, which it turns out most liberals would support in principle, and the steps that conservatives need to take to regain their proper place in American politics. One telling step is for conservatives to declare independence from party discipline when it does not serve their principles.

The book is an easy read with a powerful message for liberals as well as conservatives, Democrats as well as Republicans. Highly recommended.