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If the Republican Party is no longer the party of Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, small government, or fiscal restraint, then what is it? And what’s a self-respecting, less-government, fiscally conservative voter supposed to do? Has the GOP lost its mind?
Yes, says author and rising star New York Post columnist Ryan Sager in the surprising new book, The Elephant in the Room. Outspoken and fed up, Sager, a conservative and a libertarian, foresees major upheaval ahead for the Republican Party. As the long marriage of convenience between the social conservatives (a.k.a., the Religious Right), primarily in the South, and the small-government conservatives (a.k.a., libertarians), primarily in the West, is unraveling and the coalition that has put and kept the Republican Party in power faces disaster, the possibility of a Democratic resurgence is on the horizon.
Not only would infighting cripple the GOP, but the people ready to jump ship control much of the campaign cash (on Wall Street and elsewhere) and crucial swing votes (in “leave us alone” states such as Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Montana). As the nation’s population and electoral map shift South and West, the current Republican Party increasingly favors Southern values (religion, morality, tradition) over Western ones (freedom, independence, privacy). The result? The party is in danger of losing its Western base.
Provocative, and by turns hilarious and sobering, the book deftly traces the rocky and colorful path the Republican Party has taken to bring it to its present, precarious position. Sager saves his sharpest arrows for the current administration—flag bearers of “big-government conservatism,” which Sager interprets to mean that free-spending big government is not so bad, so long as it’s Republicans doing the spending and intruding into the lives of Americans, instead of Democrats. In short, Sager says the GOP has adopted the political philosophy that anything goes so long as we stay.
All hope is not lost, however, and in The Elephant in the Room Sager offers a way out of the mangled mess. He calls it a renewal of fusionism, a better blend between liberty and tradition, freedom and responsibility; one that emphasizes small government instead of Republican-controlled government, morality instead of moralism, and principles instead of politics.
"This funny, sobering, smart book reminds Republicans that having beliefs isn't good enough. You have to act on them. Winning isn't enough; you have to win with a purpose in mind. Ryan Sager sounds a real call to arms. The party would be wise to hear it." —Peggy Noonan, columnist, The Wall Street Journal
"An insightful and eminently readable account of the current conservative crackup. Anyone who wants to understand American politics today needs to read Sager's chronicle of the ongoing civil war in the conservative ranks." —Paul Begala, coauthor of Take It Back
"Two feisty American factions are at daggers drawn. No, the fight is not conservatives versus liberals. Rather, it is libertarian conservatives versus 'social issues' conservatives. In this illuminating examination of the changing ideological geography of American politics, Ryan Sager suggests that the conservatives must choose between Southern and Western flavors of conservatism. He prefers the latter." —George F. Will, syndicated columnist
"Sager picks up where Bruce Bartlett left off with Impostor. The Elephant in the Room tells us how libertarians and the Christian conservatives are at swords' point over Bush's 'big government conservatism.' Anyone who wants to understand this important debate should get a copy of Sager's book." —John B. Judis, coauthor of The Emerging Democratic Majority
"Ryan Sager offers an eloquent, elegant argument that the GOP has lost its way—an argument that even those of us who disagree with many of his criticisms and object passionately to many of his characterizations must take with the utmost seriousness." —John Podhoretz, author of Can She Be Stopped?