Buck Wild: How Republicans Broke the Bank And Became the Party of Big Government

by Stephen A. Slivinski

"If you fell into a coma in November of 1994 and woke up yesterday, a lot of things might surprise you. But nothing would baffle you more than what has happened to the Republican Party. Stephen Slivinski can explain. Buck Wild tells a painful story, but it's honest and true and well worth reading."

-TUCKER CARLSON, host of MSNBC's The Situation with Tucker Carlson and author of Politicians, Partisans and Parasites



"Buck Wild does more than reveal what's wrong with the Republicans. It reveals what's wrong with us, the voters who put them in office. Politicians are foxes. But we insist on believing that some are guard dogs. We elect them to watch the hen house, and on the first Wednesday in November there's nothing left but feathers."

-P. J. O'ROURKE, author of Parliament of Whores and Peace Kills



"During the course of Stephen Slivinski's superbly researched chronicle, we meet some true conservative heroes from whom we can draw inspiration for the future. Their constant courage, punctuated by occasional success, tells us that the fight against the Leviathan state might yet be won."

-JAMES P. PINKERTON, White House domestic policy aide under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush
A scathing look at how the Republican Party, once the paragon of fiscal conservativism, has embraced Big Government and become even more irresponsible with taxpayer money than the Democrats.

Genres: Politics, History

227 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 2006

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a history of the small government movement in the last 30 years. It exposes all the problems with the GOP and offers some helpful corrections.

Sadly, he discusses corrections for the symptoms and not the disease, but it is a great read and important background as we enter the new Congress and 2012 elections.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Republicans have "smelled the marble." A great look at how recent political success has utterly transformed the Republican Party to the party of big government and overspending. Further evidence that power corrupts.

[Tommy · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of a number of anti-Bush screeds by "fiscal conservatives" worrying about government "insolvency" (the idea they're gonna run out of dollars really keeps a lot of people up at night sweating but a federal government with their own monopoly money printing press shouldn't be as worried).

...[Tom DeLay] called the postponement of the Medicare benefit a "non-starter." He even defended his own $114 million in pork projects from the highway bill. "My earmarks are pretty important to building an economy in that region," said DeLay.
Such was the standard defense of the highway bill that the leadership and every defender of the highway projects used all year, but it was built on a fallacy. Government spending, even on highways, won't actually create any new economic growth or private-sector jobs in the aggregate. To spend money on anything, the government has to first tax that money out of the economy or borrow it from the capital markets. While supporters of a government project will argue that it creates employment for some, they fail to mention that the taxes or debt—a form of future taxes—will inhibit employment of others.
Experts within the federal government understand this. A 1993 study from the Congressional Research Service notes that employment gains from increased transportation spending would likely be offset by losses in other parts of the economy due to the increased taxes or debt to finance the spending. The authors of a 1992 Congressional Budget Office study even went so far as to ask an important question: "If [these proposals really create jobs], why not just keep adding new programs until full employment is achieved?"

Clearly to conservative to understand the real costs/trade-offs/constraints involved in spending so they end up believing in operationally incorrect terms. Sure how things are budgeted is dumb and non-democratic but get your priorities straight. Why not have a policy of full employment? The author fully has faith in a divided dysfunctional government as the best bet at unleashing private sector spending and increasing overall welfare while ignoring entrepreneurs can't ever profitably employ everyone and unemployment is a real social cost nonetheless that needs to be dealt with smartly.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephen's book is insightful and well researched. I'm also a bit biased seeing as he introduced me to my husband and acknowledged me at the back of the book. It's still a good read, even with my biases, though :)