Made in Texas: Geogre W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics

A very reassuring book, this. But the relief took a while to sink in. Michael Lind meticulously traces George W. Bush's world view to his Texas upbringing and disappointing experiences outside the Lone Star State. And, Voilá, we find a president entirely, and predictably, consistent with his roots. Now, if Texan ways grate with your sense of what America the Liberal is all about, this book may upset you more than reassure. But to the extent you see Texas as an example of what all America should become, you'll be encouraged. Regardless, the insularity of our southern border state and its sense of great superiority toward its southern neighbor does seem to be reflected in Bush's sense of how the world ought to be. As a book of anthropology, sociology, and politics, this is a most insightful book. It provides the most coherent explanation of where Bush is coming from, and where he's taking America. He may not succeed, but at least we know he has a goal. And that's reassuring. Scarily reassuring.

Michael Lind, like David Brock, understands the inner workings of the American right as one who formerly camped under that tent. A protege of William F. Buckley Jr., Lind, like Brock, was horrified by the perpetual vitrol extending from rightist circles masquerading as policy, along with the capitulation to the most egregious elements of corporate greed. Lind's thought provoking work "Up From Conservatism" provided valuable insight into why Lind left the movement. In this current work he provides a working political philosophical genesis of George W. Bush's underpinnings. Lind sees Bush as a product of the most archaic West Texas thought. The most reactionary of this sagebrush breed feels comfortable with laws such as the Patriot Act and sees subversives uncomfortably lurking from beyond every corral. This is the mindset that affected Bush when, after a black man was dragged to his death from a car in a hate crime occurring in Texas which shocked people of conscience throughout the world, Bush as governor did not even ask the victim's grief-filled daughter to sit down when she visited him in his office and sought to implore him to support hate crime legislation then being considered. This West Texas twisted brand of machismo was what prompted Bush to spend an average of 15 minutes considering final death penalty reprieve pleas. In the case of one woman, for whom conservative televangelist Pat Robertson and others of his persuasion sought clemency, a prisoner who wanted to stay alive to continue working with female drug users behind prison walls, in a widely reported television interview then Governor Bush made fun of her by imitating her voice in a high-pitched falsetto. This attitude also exclaims why, as commander-in-chief, when he learned that the first bombs had fallen on Baghdad, Bush reportedly thrust his fist into the air and exclaimed, "Feels good!" Unlike Clinton and Gore, who included many public policy books in their reading, Bush prefers biographies of baseball players. Once more, this is a macho good old West Texas boy at work!Lind's finely reasoned work explains how this type of macho anti-intellectualism which Bush espouses works against America and its relations with the world. The West Texas rhetoric sadly oversimplifies, leading to the conclusion that America must be right and any nation choosing to disagree with our policies must be wrong. This leads to ridiculous responses, such as the renaming of French to Freedom Fries by the proprietor of a Beaufort, South Carolina restaurant. Once more, the good old boy network was at work, substituting runaway male hormones for reflective thought. This is the segment which loves the neocon preventive war concepts of Cheney-Rumsfeld-Perle-Wolfowitz.

Author Michael Lind, a 5th generation Texan, provides a dual biography of a President and the state of Texas. This is what makes it so interesting. Many authors have recently published books regarding Bush 43's personality and policies, specifically, in response to September, 2001. In this book however, Lind analyses and examines George W. Bush's policies and links them to the influential continuum of the cultural and political forces of Texas: the Deep South, Southern Protestants, and the Neo-conservative foundations that were solidified by his father's, administration. In short, what he's doing today according to Lind is not solely or even significantly as a result of September '01. Obviously as for any policy-maker, Bush 43's current policy-making in general is derived from himself, and his convictions are the result of his primary influences, past and present. Therefore the question is, what is this spectrum that influences him the most? TexasLind expands more on his home-state of Texas. The state of Texas is often seen misappropriately, as culturally Western, but in fact it's clearly Southern, and Deeply Southern. This has always been apparent to those who've lived in and/or studied the South and Texas. There are two camps in Texas: One is the "Texas modernists," of which Bush 43 is not. Lind categorizes Bush 43 as one of the "Texas traditionalists." These are proponents of militarism and an economic base focusing on commodity exports and oil exploration. This southern economic model which George W. advocates, Lind claims, will continue to push for free-trade agreements which send U.S. jobs oversees, and entice out-of-state companies to move to southern states because of lower wages.These are but a few examples and insights Lind provides. He's not a fan of George W. but this isn't over-bearing in the book. If one wants to understand the rational and philosophy behind Bush's domestic and foreign economic, military, and diplomatic policies this book provides a wealth of information. It also explains the interests, cultural, sociological, and political forces of Texas, and its' major components. Those interested in national electoral politics such as the next Presidential election for example, can take much of this information and ask them self: who in 2004 can appeal to the southern block, which still is obviously instrumental in winning a Presidential election.

Cultural factors do not explain everything about the policies of the George W. Bush administration, but it is uncanny how the ways and mores of the Old South (crony capitalism, Protestant fundamentalism, a primitive extractive economy with a tiny oligarchy riding on the backs of an impoverished populace) shed light on otherwise incomprehensible follies. Mr. Lind's thesis is plainly informed by the work of historians and cultural geographers such as David Hackett Fischer and Joel Garreau. The genius of his book lies in the author's ability to use this background to help explain the here-and-now.For example, how is it that the Republican Party-once the stronghold of Taft/Eisenhower-style fiscal discipline-now thumps wholeheartedly for "supply-side" quackery that may end up making the U.S. economy as debt-ridden and broken-down as Argentina's? The answer is that with the "southernization" of the GOP, Old South habits of wildcat financial schemes and scams are back in vogue again. (Even supposedly wealthy southern planters usually barely staved off bankruptcy by borrowing year after year against crop liens on tobacco or cotton.) This carefree approach to debt has the added attraction for some supporters of hamstringing government so that it is unable to perform pesky functions such as civil rights law enforcement or occupational safety and health inspections. Equally striking is the disproportionately strong influence in first the Texas, and then the federal government of Protestant fundamentalism, especially its' apocalyptic and authoritarian strains. Oddly enough, while agitating against the menace of evolution or the Teletubbies, our modern Pharisees seem blind to the weakest in our society judging from the snake-pit conditions in the Texas state mental health system. (Along with Mississippi's the worst in the nation.) What Would Jesus Do?However well-meaning he may be, for George W. Bush to continue in office for another term would probably shove the United States into the widespread poverty and social strife of such large, potentially rich and misruled countries as Russia, Nigeria, or Brazil. Hopefully, this trenchant book will be the occasion for a widespread reappraisal of the man and his policies.

First, to be honest, I did not vote for George W. Bush. Probably like many people I viewed him as well-meaning but under-informed, an underachiever in life who was handed the reins of power through pure luck and powerful connections. I was sure, with the help of his father and the elders in the Republican Party, he would surround himself with competent advisors and ultimately pursue a course of moderation and good sense in both domestic and foreign affairs. Therefore, when some of the early initiatives out of the White House seemed counter to earlier expectations (abrogation of important treaties, anti-environmental positions, unilateralist and militaristic approaches to complex world problems, a dangerous and unbalanced approach to the Middle Eastern crisis) my visceral discomfort with this man has evolved into alarm. This book by Michael Lind confirms my worst fears. It is a scholarly and objective survey of the culture from which our president arose. As Lind points out, we have had southerner presidents who were liberals and northerner presidents who were conservatives, but never since Andrew Jackson have we had a southern conservative holding the most powerful office in the land. Lind does a thorough job of analyzing the state of Texas from the demographic standpoint, pointing out that the majority of the population reside in East Texas which is intrinsically part of the deep south. These people largely originated in Scotland and Northern Ireland (Scots-Irish) and brought with them to this country a 17th and 18th century British outlook on class and empire, typified by the attitudes of a land-holding aristocracy. In an economic sense their ancestral model is Thomas Jefferson. In a chapter entitled "Southernomics" he describes how this region evolved on the plantation model of extraction of raw materials (oil, cotton, minerals, etc) and the exploitation first of slaves and more recently of low wage and undereducated menial workers (modern day "serfs"). This model favors "free trade" and opposes tariffs in order to maximize profit in the exportation of commodities. It places low value on preservation of natural resources while promoting their extraction and utilization. Lind contends that this model has shaped our 43rd president's thinking about economics. He contrasts an "old boy network" style of management and connections peculiar to the deep South with the traditional culture that shaped most of the rest of the country, one that is based on an economic model of meritocracy, emphasis on the creation of ideas, the valuing of higher education as the key to economic development. Lind is careful to avoid over-generalization as he points out that Texas is a diverse state, and that these two economic models both exist in the state and are in fundamental conflict. For example, he points to many Texas leaders who typify modern liberal enlightenment attitudes, people like Lyndon Johnson, Sam Rayburn, Wright Patman, and Ross Perot. T