The Paradox of the United States - a review of The Right Nation

In "The Right Nation - The Penguin Press, NY, 2004", Mr. Micklethwait and Mr. Wooldridge convincingly make the case that the U.S. political landscape has been steering towards the right for decades since Ronald Reagan, and bowing to the pressures of the well organized and mobilized conservative bloc.  By European standards, even liberals in the U.S. are considered to be the right of center, and America is a conservative nation at its core.  “The paradox of the United States is that it is at once both the most admired country in the world and one of the most reviled; outside its borders, “America” has somehow become a code word for technological sophistication, meritocracy and opportunity as well as for primitive justice, imperialism and inequality.” p. 24

Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and subsequent leftist government laws and social programs served as the impetus to the rise and dominance of the conservatives; a trend that is likely to continue in the foreseeable future.  This book was written on the eve of the 2004 elections that put Mr. George W. Bush in the office for a second term.  The authors state that even a Democratic win wouldn’t deter from the rightist agenda.  Former president Clinton, to a large extent advanced the conservative agenda with NAFTA, welfare reform, reduction of government to its smallest size in 35 years, deficit reduction and not blowing the surplus on new liberal programs.  The Democratic  dominance of the executive and legislative branches, spurred by the debacles in Iraq, Afghanistan and a failing economy in the latter part of Bush’s presidency, was short lived.  Following 2 years of ruling the house, senate and the presidency, the Democratic Party suffered the worst defeat in over 40 years in 2010, losing majorities in the House, governorships and state legislatures.

What is intriguing about the conservative movement is that despite its glaring contradictions in ideology, it continues to march ahead unscathed.  From page 9 of the hardcopy:  “How can you trumpet a strong military and a vigorous foreign policy and then insist on small government?  How can you celebrate individualism but then try to subject those individuals to the rule of God?”  Mr. Bush became the president who fed steroids to the monster.  Under his conservative rule, government size increased and spending spiraled out of control, turning Mr. Clinton’s massive surpluses to colossal deficits on a dime, with no end in sight.

What gets short shrift in the book is the blatantly inconvenient truth that the solutions to America’s seemingly insurmountable fiscal problems can be found in neither the right, nor the left ideology.  Rather, the only obvious choice is to cut spending AND increase taxes, tickling no one’s fancy.  Here's Ben Stein, former President Nixon's speech writer on the subject.  Even after the economic meltdown in 2007, the personal consumption rate remains at persistently high levels around 70% of GDP since 2001.  In a world of scarce resources and the rise of the middle class in two of the world’s most populous nations of China and India, current consumption and savings levels are unsustainable.  America can no longer afford to spend and consume its way out of trouble.  The day of reckoning is upon us, albeit it may take another few years to make very painful choices.