Barn Burning Barn Building: Tales of a Political Life, from LBJ Through George W. Bush and Beyond

Ben Barnes, together with Lisa Dickey, produces a whirlwind political autobiography covering Barnes’s twelve years in elected office. In a quick, engaging style Barnes tells of the events that inspired him to contemplate the political life, and how he, an unknown 21-year-old, defeated a popular local war hero to win a seat in the Texas house. The narrative flows in a modest, vernacular style, providing an insider’s account into some of the most pivotal moments of the twentieth century. Barnes, through his roles as associate to Jim Connolly, governor of Texas, and leading member of the planning committee, reveals details of the incidents that led up to President Kennedy’s tragic trip to Dallas. The only other person in the room when Gov. Connolly let loose on Hubert Humphrey, he provides an inside account of the dramatic Democratic convention of 1968. Later, Barnes witnesses Connolly browbeat Pres. Nixon into resurrecting the political career of George H.W. Bush. And finally Barnes provides a first-hand account of the dirty politics of Nixon, who used all the power at his command to end his political career, defeating LBJs confident predictions that Barnes would become President. Among these historical events, Barnes provides an entertaining and eye-opening account of his political life as member of the Texas house, then Speaker, and finally as lieutenant governor. Through it all, he emphasizes his observations of what works in politics, and what doesn’t. He shares his wisdom about the need of Democrats to engage business leaders to join in the efforts of creating progressive policy in response to social needs. Barnes stresses the necessity that politicians think not just of their immediate needs and projects, but to think of the people’s long-term needs and goals, and what must be done to reach them. His prime example of this is LBJ, who wounded his own Democratic party for the greater good of advancing civil rights. Finally, Barnes laments today’s incivility and breakdown in communication between parties, a hostility which results in policies detrimental to our long-term, and even short-term, interest.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book by Ben Barnes, even as a diehard Republican and former Republican congressional aide. It is well written, concise, and tells a story that moves along quickly and keeps the reader's attention since there are no extraneous details to bog one down. The story is one of Barnes's meteoric rise through the ranks of Texas Democrat politics, after graduating fron the University of Texas, as state house member, Lieutenant Governor, and candidate for Governor - all the while serving as a sounding board and kitchen cabinet member for President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Governor John Connally. It is also the story of how the LBJ and Connally Democrat machine in Texas ultimately gave way to the John Tower/George H.W. Bush/George W. Bush/Karl Rove Republican machine. Barnes also tells the interesting story of his part in the controversial placement of George W. Bush in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. There is very little Democrat partisan posturing, and such occurs only at the very end of the book, where I think Barnes could do a better job of admitting, reporting, and codemning (despite his experience as a target of the Richard Nixon enemies list) the politics of personal destruction that both parties have practiced. I would have also liked to see Barnes report more about the conversion of John Connally from LBJ Democrat to Richard Nixon Republican given how much time he spent with Connally as a political crony and business partner. It seems to me that Barnes tells some wise political lessons that national politicians of all stripes can learn from - keeping discourse and debate civil, reaching out to those on both flanks, building individual relationships, establishing personal trust and integrity, and choosing policies from both conservative and progressive spectrums in order to attract the broadest possible coalition - especially in an era where an undeclared war (in Iraq) threatens to undermine current Republicans much as it did the Democrats and LBJ in the 1960s. I can understand why LBJ thought and spoke so highly of Barnes, who clearly has a gift and passion for politics. His stories are fascinating and include many sagacious political observations that those interested in history and public policy can learn a lot from.

Why would anyone read a book about a Texas politician whose political career, which never reached higher than lieutenant governor, spanned a total of twelve years from 1960 to 1972? First, Ben Barnes is a Texan, which means he can spin a hell of a good yarn. Second, his friendships with national political leaders during one of the most dramatic periods of political change in the nation's history put him at the center of the controversy. Third, he continues to be active in the political arena--former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle once called him the "51st Democratic Senator." And, finally, in a manner similar to that described in J. Brian Smith's John Rhodes, Man of the House, Barnes practiced the true spirit of the bipartisanship before it became just another rhetorical tool to undermine one's opponents. This is a tale of the fall of the Texas Democrats from almost complete control of the state to the status of a minor party and links that to the fall of the national Democratic party. "Where once the names Johnson, Rayburn, and Connally were synonymous with political power, the 21st century brought us Bush, Rove, and DeLay." Democrats are still asking, "'How did we get to this point?' and "Where do we go from here'?" In response, Barnes begins when Democrats ruled the roost and shows how events, large and small, created cracks in what was once thought an unshakable foundation. The value of the book is that he largely succeeds. (Ironically, many of the cracks in the Democrat's apparently invulnerable foundation seem to be appearing today in the Republican Party.) The Democratic rise to power began with Franklin Roosevelt's first presidential victory in 1932, and Texans were in power virtually everywhere--including getting one of their own, John Nance "Cactus Jack" garner, elected VP. It also didn't hurt that Texans headed eight of the major House Committees. Sam Rayburn emerged as one of the most powerful Democrats in the country, starting his run as the longest-serving Speaker of the House in 1940. When Lyndon Johnson took over the leadership of the Senate in the 1950s, it was hard to imagine how the Texas or national Republicans could ever recover. Barnes came somewhat late to the game in 1959, at 22 winning a seat in the Texas State Legislature. Born on a central Texas farm in Comanche county, he grew up thinking long hours and hard work were simply the way everyone lived. His first experience with the power of government came during the depression, when Roosevelt forced through the Rural Electrification Administration which brought electricity to the farms in rural Texas. "From then on," he writes, "I thought of government as something that helped make people's lives better." He also cites Sam Rayburn who said, "Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one....These days there's a lot more barn burning in politics than barn building." Barnes was determined to be a barn builder. He was bri

Just finished reading Ben Barnes' new book, "Barn Burning, Barn Building." For those of you who aren't familiar with Ben Barnes; he was a political prodigy in Texas in the 1960s. He was elected to the Texas House of Representatives when he was only 21-years-old! He canoodled with Texas big wigs like LBJ, Governor John Connally, and Sam Rayburn and rubbed shoulders with leaders across the country. Enough of the history lesson. "Barn Burning, Barn Building" is written in Barnes' folksy, down-home voice. For those of you familiar with Ben's voice you can almost hear him speaking as he opens: "You're probably thinking that these childhood details sound like the worst kind of Texas cliché, and that you really ought to have picked up another book to read." The "aw shucks" tone and anecdotes are prevalent throughout the book, but do not impede on Barnes' message. Displaying an insight that very few people have, Ben Barnes discusses how Texas Democrats rose through the ranks of local and national politics and eventually held the strongest offices in the country. Barnes had a front row seat for over ten years. One of the more interesting stories he tells is his own, personal recounting of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. Ben Barnes represented Governor Connally for Kennedy's trip to Texas and his perspective is intriguing. The minutest details are magnified in a tragedy as large in scope as a Presidential assassination and Barnes' ability to recall and retell details is uncanny. Initially, Barnes says, he and Cliff Carter (fellow Connally rep) were opposed to Ralph Yarborough's (Democratic Senator) decision to have President Kennedy attend a motorcade through Dallas, but after Yarborough's insistence Barnes and Carter gave in. Barnes' writes, "...I wish to God we'd have found a way to talk him (Yarborough) out of it. It makes me sick to think about it, even more than 40 years later." The result of the motorcade was President Kennedy's tragic assassination. The book is filled with similar insights and remarkable details from Barnes' political past and includes ideas on how to change the country's current political course. For those of you who wondered where Ben Barnes disappeared to, he never did; he's just been behind the scenes. Read this book and you'll see for yourself.

Anyone with an interest in promoting a better America, and electing better leaders for America, will find this book to be an instructive read. Mr. Barnes was destined to be President, in the view of Lyndon Johnson. His insight on politics, as it was once practiced and is now practiced, is fascinating. It is too bad that many of the current leaders of America make decisions only based on what is politically expedient to themselves. As a country, we can and must do better in electing bipartisan leaders to do more "barn building", rather than "barn burning".