Getting America Right: The True Conservative Values Our Nation Needs Today

"Getting America Right" is a political, not a partisan, book. It sets forth the vision of its authors for a six-point plan that they believe would put America back on course. Of course, what America's course should be is a legitimate topic of debate. All too often, though, that debate degenerates into noisy, angry diatribes in which both facts and logic are quickly lost in a cloud of name-calling. Here, without a partisan tone, the authors lay out what they clearly label conservative views of what the nation --- more appropriately, the citizens of the nation --- need to do in order to alter the course of the United States. Each of their six points is set forth in essentially neutral terms. They give profuse examples of what they think is wrong and then propose remedies. No partisan sniping. No name-calling. Exposition and argument (in the classic sense) to make their point. I wish every book on political issues took the approaches of these authors. Political discourse would be greatly improved and we all might become more civil as we address the problems our nation faces. The authors pose six questions: 1. Is it the government's business? 2. Does the measure promote self-reliance? 3. Is it responsible? 4. Does it make us more prosperous? 5. Does it make us safer? 6. Does it unify us? Each question is addressed by first setting out problems perceived by the authors (i.e., the waste engendered by a 60,000 page tax code; the inequity of a woman with a $5 million annual income paying less in taxes than people earning $50,000). They then set forth their proposed solution. And finally, they set forth the counter-arguments raised by opponents of their views and explain themselves. It's a terrific approach, clearly Socratic and not given to ad hominem. I would hope that Americans of all political persuasions, but who are motivated by their concern for the future of this nation not only read this book but discuss it as well. Jerry

If education is about learning to think (as opposed to fact-gathering), then this book is a crucial educational component for anyone--conservative, liberal, libertarian, etc.--wanting to understand what has gone awry in our country. The authors present a framework of six questions: "Is it the government's business?"; "Does it promote self-reliance?"; "Is it responsible?"; "Does it make us more prosperous?"; "Does it make us safer?"; and "Does it unify us?" Answering these questions honestly--without reference to a particular agenda--suggests that many of the policies undertaken by government today are ineffectual, divisive, and wasteful. Look at the headlines of any newspaper and follow this framework through on only ONE issue; you'll see the usefulness of this work. My only quibble with this work is that I would like to see it more carefully documented -- but it's a small complaint compared to the service that it provides by teaching us to ask the important questions that our political leaders often seem unable, or unwilling, to ask themselves.

GETTING AMERICA RIGHT is a most useful book when considering what it is to be a conservative, and how that ideology is releant in governing America today. By posing six, thoughtful and thought-provoking questions, the authors' are able to succesfuly probe the activities of our government of late, shwoing them as clearly out of tuch with true conservative values. The six questions: (1) Is it the government's business? (2) Does it promote self-reliance? (3) Is it responsible? (4) Does it make us more prosperous? (5) Does it make us safer? (6) Does it unify us? These questions sare especially relevant as the nature of politics in the nation changes, with "big-government" becoming ever more popular. Feulner and Wilson do a great job in showing that if our nation is to be as succesful as it can be, we cannot lose sight of what it means to be a conservative, and what government can do to be a little more true to those principles.

This book, moreso than any other book of the past few years, is utterly effective in showing not just what the basic tenets of conservatism are in this country, but also how politicians are so egregiously straying from those principles. By carefully citing a multitude of expenditures, like bridges to nowhere, that clearly show a government which is simply out of control, the book is a great read for people of any political persuasion. It would be a shame not to read this book before the next election, as many of the issue the book touches upon will be the most important issues in forthcoming elections, both this year and in all other years.

There is no group of Americans so perplexing and exasperating as those holdouts who continue to view giving money to the government as a form of charity. They wrongly regard their contributions as dollars spent towards saving lives and promoting virtue. The real story of government, indeed, the real story behind any socialist enterprise, is that the power given to the state is always power wrenched away from the people. Where Leviathan reigns supreme the rights of the citizenry are irrelevant and dismissed for the "good" of the whole as disinterested clerks and functionaries determine the fates of millions. Regardless of this historically evident truth, for a public nurtured on sound bytes rather than study, many are in no position to recognize how pernicious the lumbering, corrosive micromanagement of our lives actually is. Yet, awareness could quickly be gathered upon reading the recently released, Getting America Right: The True Conservative Values Our Nation Needs Today by Edwin Feulner and Doug Wilson. It is a muscular condemnation of Big Government while also being concise enough to ensure the focus of those with television attention spans. In these pages, the authors do not propose an end of government, but they do offer up a six prong test to be used in regards to the efficacy of state action. These tests take the form of questions and are explored within individual chapters. Citizens are encouraged to make sure that federal "help" promotes self-reliance, is responsible, makes us more prosperous, makes us safer, and in some way enhances national unity before they should consent to its implementation-so perhaps my analysis was a tad bit premature as, were we to utilize their template in relation to current and proposed federal programs, it would mean the end of government as practiced today. One of strongest features of Getting America Right is that it cannot be pushed aside as a polemic as its narration is calm, objective, and avuncular. The body of the book is dedicated to reviewing the numerous, yet characteristic, failures of government as our Fedrocracy promises everything but delivers precious little. I suppose there are those who will greet such a work with the statement, "We've heard it all before." Well, if they did then they should have started to hold their Representatives accountable immediately. The financing of Ponzi schemes because "I deeply care" does not mitigate the felonious nature of them. Ignorance is not an excuse. The entity that is supposedly to be watching out for us must in turn be watched.