Rule and Ruin:The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Government, Political Parties, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book Rule and Ruin:The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party by Geoffrey Kabaservice, Oxford University Press, USA
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Geoffrey Kabaservice ISBN: 9780199912902
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Publication: December 5, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Geoffrey Kabaservice
ISBN: 9780199912902
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication: December 5, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

As the 2012 elections approach, the Republican Party is rocketing rightward away from the center of public opinion. Republicans in Congress threaten to shut down the government and force a U.S. debt default. Tea Party activists mount primary challenges against Republican officeholders who appear to exhibit too much pragmatism or independence. Moderation and compromise are dirty words in the Republican presidential debates. The GOP, it seems, has suddenly become a party of ideological purity. Except this development is not new at all. In Rule and Ruin, Geoffrey Kabaservice reveals that the moderate Republicans' downfall began not with the rise of the Tea Party but about the time of President Dwight Eisenhower's farewell address. Even in the 1960s, when left-wing radicalism and right-wing backlash commanded headlines, Republican moderates and progressives formed a powerful movement, supporting pro-civil rights politicians like Nelson Rockefeller and William Scranton, battling big-government liberals and conservative extremists alike. But the Republican civil war ended with the overthrow of the moderate ideas, heroes, and causes that had comprised the core of the GOP since its formation. In hindsight, it is today's conservatives who are "Republicans in Name Only." Writing with passionate sympathy for a bygone tradition of moderation, Kabaservice recaptures a time when fiscal restraint was matched with social engagement; when a cohort of leading Republicans opposed the Vietnam war; when George Romney--father of Mitt Romney--conducted a nationwide tour of American poverty, from Appalachia to Watts, calling on society to "listen to the voices from the ghetto." Rule and Ruin is an epic, deeply researched history that reorients our understanding of our political past and present. Today, moderates are marginalized in the GOP and progressives are all but nonexistent. In this insightful and elegantly argued book, Kabaservice contends that their decline has left Republicans less capable of governing responsibly, with dire consequences for all Americans.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

As the 2012 elections approach, the Republican Party is rocketing rightward away from the center of public opinion. Republicans in Congress threaten to shut down the government and force a U.S. debt default. Tea Party activists mount primary challenges against Republican officeholders who appear to exhibit too much pragmatism or independence. Moderation and compromise are dirty words in the Republican presidential debates. The GOP, it seems, has suddenly become a party of ideological purity. Except this development is not new at all. In Rule and Ruin, Geoffrey Kabaservice reveals that the moderate Republicans' downfall began not with the rise of the Tea Party but about the time of President Dwight Eisenhower's farewell address. Even in the 1960s, when left-wing radicalism and right-wing backlash commanded headlines, Republican moderates and progressives formed a powerful movement, supporting pro-civil rights politicians like Nelson Rockefeller and William Scranton, battling big-government liberals and conservative extremists alike. But the Republican civil war ended with the overthrow of the moderate ideas, heroes, and causes that had comprised the core of the GOP since its formation. In hindsight, it is today's conservatives who are "Republicans in Name Only." Writing with passionate sympathy for a bygone tradition of moderation, Kabaservice recaptures a time when fiscal restraint was matched with social engagement; when a cohort of leading Republicans opposed the Vietnam war; when George Romney--father of Mitt Romney--conducted a nationwide tour of American poverty, from Appalachia to Watts, calling on society to "listen to the voices from the ghetto." Rule and Ruin is an epic, deeply researched history that reorients our understanding of our political past and present. Today, moderates are marginalized in the GOP and progressives are all but nonexistent. In this insightful and elegantly argued book, Kabaservice contends that their decline has left Republicans less capable of governing responsibly, with dire consequences for all Americans.

More books from Oxford University Press, USA

Cover of the book Save the World on Your Own Time by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book The Mechanisms of Governance by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book Visions of Jazz : The First Century by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book Breaking Robert's Rules : The New Way to Run Your Meeting Build Consensus and Get Results by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book Sudan, South Sudan, and Darfur:What Everyone Needs to Know by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book The Great War And Modern Memory by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book Supernatural Selection : How Religion Evolved by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book The Classical Tradition : Greek and Roman Influences on Western Literature by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book Almost a Miracle:The American Victory in the War of Independence by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book Why Capitalism? by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book Slapped by the Invisible Hand : The Panic of 2007 by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book American History:A Very Short Introduction by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book A River Running West : The Life of John Wesley Powell by Geoffrey Kabaservice
Cover of the book Antarctica: A Biography by Geoffrey Kabaservice
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy