"The creed of Edmund Burke," John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge explain in The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America (buy it here), "might be crudely reduced to six principles: a deep suspicion of the power of the state; a preference for liberty over equality; patriotism; a belief in established institutions and hierarchies; skepticism about the idea of progress; and elitism."
"To simplify a little," the British duo assert, "the exceptionalism of modern American conservatism lies in its exaggeration of the first three of Burke's principles and contradiction of the last three." This sounds about right, both the description of traditional conservatism and the unfortunate rejection of many of Burke's principles by American conservatives. While The Right Nation gets many of these theoretical questions right, it fails miserably in getting many of the facts right.
The reader strangely learns that Sam Rayburn "held the speakership of the U.S. Congress" and that "Bill Clinton oversaw the most dramatic increase in killing of any president." As if the factual inaccuracy of the latter statement weren't bad enough, its ignorance of federalism--governors, not presidents, oversee most executions--causes the reader to question the authors' expertise in their subject matter, America.
On less black-and-white questions, Micklethwait and Wooldridge put their judgment into question. In the bizarro universe of the authors, John Kerry becomes a "moderate," "All of the biggest women's organizations [in America] are left-of-center," and former California Governor Pete Wilson committed a "colossal political blunder in supporting Proposition 187." Wilson, of course, was dead in the polls until he hitched his wagon to the proposal forbidding certain state services to illegal aliens. The "colossal political blunder" almost single-handedly reelected Wilson.
Writing for a European audience, the authors play to Continental stereotypes about Americans. "In most of the civilized world," sniff the authors, "support for the death penalty is the prerogative of the lunatic fringe." They lament how Bush administration programs "refuse to promote comdom use." The Republican "party platform goes out of its way to define marriage in a way that rules out gay unions," The Right Nation argues, ignoring the obvious reality that until very recently 100 percent of the human race would have defined marriage in the exact same manner.
You learn little about American conservatism reading The Right Nation. You learn a lot about why Americans aren't impressed by Europeans who look down at us from below.
Ill definitly buy it, it sounds like a fun read. European political thought is already pathetic to the extent that there is no real reason to pay attention to it for anything other than a good chuckle. BTW, where can I get a copy of "Why the Left Hates America" ? I have only been able to find "Intellectual Morons" at most bookstores. I would prefer to buy it at a bookstore rather than pay/wait for shipping from the internet.
The paperback of WTLHA is available in most Borders, Barnes & Noble, Walden Books, etc. The hardback has been out for more than two years and is a little more difficult to find in stores at this point. If you go through the WTLHA link on the post below, you can buy the hardback at Amazon. You can buy the paperback through the cover graphic on the right side of the page. In both cases, even with the shipping, it's likely to be cheaper through Amazon than in an actual bookstore.
While Anti-Americanism is now strong in Europe and anti-Europeanism strong in the US, mutual respect and cooperation is in the long-term interest of both the United States and the member states of the EU.
Those are odd factual errors considering that two guys wrote the book. How does that work anyway? I am not sure I could ever coauthor a book (co-edit sure).
