Trainwreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too Soon) [Hardcover]

Bill Press (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470182407 | ISBN-13: 978-0470182406 | Publication Date: March 31, 2008 | Edition: 1

One of America’s best-known progressive commentators reveals that, far from betraying conservative ideals, George W. Bush’s administration has behaved exactly as anyone would expect of a group that believes government is evil and always doomed to failure. Bill Press demonstrates that conservative positions have remained consistently wrong, and that, from its inception, the movement was dedicated to tearing things down, not building them up. Trainwreck will convince you that the conservative movement has remained on track for decades—and that, from the beginning, those tracks were headed for disaster.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a domestic cooptation of the neocon End of History thesis, talk radio host Press (Spin This!) argues that conservatism's record of failure should condemn it to a subordinate place in American politics—it can survive to check the excess of the majority, argues Press, but must never again be allowed to govern. For Press (who unfurls a dishonor roll of scandals, policy failures, corporate toadying, double standards and outright criminality), this betrayal of public trust has meant the betrayal of conservatism's own purported principles. Thus, citing the conservative canon of the mid-century right-wing intellectual Russell Kirk, and even Barry Goldwater, Press lambastes Bush, Cheney and other Republicans for turning away from the ideals of small government and limited executive power. Likewise, on the environment, conservatism was formerly synonymous with conservation, notes Press, pointing to early Republican leadership on this score from Teddy Roosevelt to California state senator and environmental pioneer Peter Behr. These contradictions rarely come as revelations—indeed the bulk of this narrative will be familiar to anyone paying even passing attention to the news—but by presenting all this material together, Press creates a serviceable election-year handbook for voters, particularly the Democratic opposition. (Apr.)
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Review

In a domestic cooptation of the neocon “End of History” thesis, talk radio host Press (Spin This!) argues that conservatism's record of failure should condemn it to a subordinate place in American politics—it can survive to check “the excess of the majority,” argues Press, but must never again be allowed to govern. For Press (who unfurls a dishonor roll of scandals, policy failures, corporate toadying, double standards and outright criminality), this betrayal of public trust has meant the betrayal of conservatism's own purported principles. Thus, citing the conservative “canon” of the mid-century right-wing intellectual Russell Kirk, and even Barry Goldwater, Press lambastes Bush, Cheney and other Republicans for turning away from the ideals of small government and limited executive power. Likewise, on the environment, conservatism was formerly synonymous with conservation, notes Press, pointing to early Republican leadership on this score from Teddy Roosevelt to California state senator and “environmental pioneer” Peter Behr. These contradictions rarely come as revelations—indeed the bulk of this narrative will be familiar to anyone paying even passing attention to the news—but by presenting all this material together, Press creates a serviceable election-year handbook for voters, particularly the Democratic opposition. (Apr.) (Publishers Weekly, January 28, 2008)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 31, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470182407
• ISBN-13: 978-0470182406
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,185,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and True, April 18, 2008

By 

KS (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trainwreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too Soon) (Hardcover)

A book that opens with the sentence "The modern conservative movement is dead" is bound to solicit one-star reviews from those who call themselves "proud Republicans." Press goes on "the conservative revolution is finally over--and it was a total bust. If the Republicans were a restaurant, they'd have been closed by the Board of Health. If they were a building, they'd have been condemned. If they were a Hollywood starlet, they'd be in rehab."

He notes an easily overlooked fact: conservatives are better at tearing down than accomplishing things. He notes that none of the ten items in Newt Gingrich's Contract With America is actually law... despite 14 years during which conservatives have vcariously controled of the House, the Senate, the Presidency, the Supreme Court. Not one item accomplished.
Press' funny and insightful new book goes on to reveal the "Ten Things that Republicans Hope You Never Find Out." These are

o Why the conservative movement that spawned Reagan, Gingrich, and Bush is now dead.

o How many core conservative principles the Republicans have betrayed.

o How Republicans have made us less safe, not more.

o How Republicans became the biggest spenders of all time.

o How much bigger the federal government has grown under conservative rule.

o How Republicans got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

o How Republicans went from protecting the environment to plundering it.

o How the party of peacekeepers became the party of perpetual war.

o How Reagan was worse than Nixon-and Bush worse than both.

0 Why conservatives can never again be trusted with power.


The last point is sure to incite some right-wing nutjobs out there... Press' makes the point that people who hate government should never again be allowed to run it (he does state conservatives could be a useful break on too much liberal power).

There are eight chapters

1) "Loving the Great Outdoors" - environment.

2) "Restoring Honor and Dignity to Government" - about unethical conservatives from Bob Ney to Duke Cunningham to Ted Stevens to Tom DeLay to John Doolittle.

3) "Making Americans Safer" - about security issues.

4) "A Safeguard Againast Tyranny" - about how the Bush Administration betrayed conaservative principles to spy on its own citizens and institute torture.

5) "Avoiding Pointless Foreign Adventures" - Iraq and Iran

6) "Cutting Waste, Fraud, and Abuse"- how the GOP policies led to the FEMA's failure, collapsing bridges, unsafe planes, failure to regulate the banking industry and so on.

7) "The Party of Fiscal Responsibility" - how Bush and a GOP Congress turn a surplus into the largest deficit in history

8) "Less power to Washington" - how the GOP uses states' right rhetoric when not in charge, but behave the opposite way (cf Terry Schivo) when they are in charge.

Each chapter concludes with a "Lessons Learned" section.

In his conclusion, Press makes the case that it isn't Bush who failed conservatism (he lists a spate of recent titles), but conservatism's inate principles of disliking government mean they cannot efficiently run a government. "Because, as a governing philosophy grounded in the task of opposition, it is inadequate to the task of leadership... Putting conservatives in charge of government is like trying to build a house with a saw and a sledgehammer. No matter how skilled the carpenter, they're just the wrong tools for the job."

8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, and a "need to read" for all Americans, May 24, 2008

By 

R. McAdams (CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Trainwreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too Soon) (Hardcover)

I first heard of this book as it was plugged on the Stephanie Miller show. That was enough of a recommendation right there. I went ahead and got it last week, and I was not sorry I did. The book is a little bit dry, almost like a text book. But it is full of FACTS, which are not talking points, and which cannot be DISPROVED -- only DISAGREED with. I highly recommend all responsible adult Americans read this book, and decide for themselves if they want to give the Republicans another chance.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Conclusion is a bit skewed, July 18, 2009

By 

J. Waisnor (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trainwreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too Soon) (Hardcover)

Press correctly points out that the modern conservative regime of the past eight years has exhibited behavior contrary to the historical principles of conservativism, limited government, non-intervention, state's rights, moral values, etc. Furthermore, he seems correct in assuming that these behaviors are the inevitable result of conservative dominance over the three branches of the federal government, and to give conservatives that kind of power again would be unwise until they show themselves capable of practicing what they preach- living by the moral standards they proscribe for the rest of America, supporting state's rights even when the states choose policies contrary to their own platform, and actively supporting small government, not a government that is simply a tool of big corporations.
This reader is not wholly convinced, however, that keeping conservatives as a perpetual dissenting minority, the Washington Generals to the Democratic Harlem Globetrotters, is a good thing. Small government conservatives have been successful in many state governments, and by holding power in either the legislature or executive, would counterbalance the modern progressives who seem to run the Democratic Party. Besides, the idea that the American people are ready to completely abandon the George Bush, Ronald Reagan brand of conservativism seems more like a bout of progressive wishful thinking than reasoned political reality. This platform will continue to attract voters for many more election cycles.