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Why the Right Went Wrong
Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism--From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond | E.J. Dionne
7 posts | 5 read | 5 to read
“Dionne's expertise is evident in this finely crafted and convincing work.” —The Los Angeles Times From one of our most engaging political reporters and the author of Why Americans Hate Politics; the story of conservatism from the Goldwater 1960s to the present day Tea Party that has resulted in broken promises and an ideological purity that drives moderate Republicans away. Why the Right Went Wrong offers a historical view of the right since the 1960s. Its core contention is that American conservatism and the Republican Party took a wrong turn when they adopted Barry Goldwater’s worldview during and after the 1964 campaign. The radicalism of today’s conservatism is not the product of the Tea Party, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne writes. The Tea Partiers are the true heirs to Goldwater ideology. The purity movement did more than drive moderates out of the Republican Party—it beat back alternative definitions of conservatism. Since 1968, no conservative administration—not Nixon not Reagan not two Bushes—could live up to the rhetoric rooted in the Goldwater movement that began to reshape American politics fifty years ago. The collapse of the Nixon presidency led to the rise of Ronald Reagan, the defeat of George H.W. Bush, to Newt Gingrich’s revolution. Bush initially undertook a partial modernization, preaching “compassionate conservatism” and a “Fourth Way” to Clinton’s “Third Way.” Conservatives quickly defined him as an advocate of “big government” and not conservative enough on spending, immigration, education, and Medicare. A return to the true faith was the only prescription on order. The result was the Tea Party, which Dionne says, was as much a reaction to Bush as to Obama. The state of the Republican party, controlled by the strictest base, is diminished, Dionne writes. It has become white and older in a country that is no longer that. It needs to come back to life for its own health and that of the country’s, and in Why the Right Went Wrong, he explains how.
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keithlafo
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Pickpick

Equal parts informative and bittersweet. Dionne, Jr. details how far the Republican Party has strayed from Eisenhower‘s moderate ideals and illustrates how radical many in the party have become (and this was published before 2020).

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GregoryCass
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Pickpick

I took a long strange journey through this book, having read about half before the election and then putting it down in the wake of Trumpism. I picked it up again this week to avoid a #DNF. Although even Dionne would admit he got a few of his projections wrong, this is still an interesting and detailed read that can help liberals, conservatives, and independents all a lesson on how we got where we are.

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Mariliel
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Another busy day of trying to save democracy, clearly.

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GregoryCass
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George Bailey and Rachel Maddow on the same page! Mr. Dionne, you know the way into this liberal heart!

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GregoryCass
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Excited to get started on this! EJ Dionne is always insightful and clear.

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Looks interesting! 8y
12 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Kat.Kao
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Pickpick

Very readable look of the Republican party's evolution from Eisenhower to Trump. Written by a liberal, but very respectful of conservatives. (From my super-liberal POV, though.) I only started being aware of politics during the Clinton administration, and I don't feel like I was fully up on politics until this election, so this book has been very illuminating. Great way to put this election in context for the Republicans.

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Kat.Kao
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Visiting my parents the next few days--surviving New England with seasonally inappropriate coffee, a book about politics, and the Olympics.