Hillary Clinton's Village: Why Big Government is Broken, and How to Fix It

by Michael Stumborg

Hillary Clinton's Village is unlike any other book about Hillary Clinton, because it's not about Hillary Clinton. It's about her social policies. There is not a whiff of scandal in this book and it casts no aspersions on Mrs. Clinton's character. It assumes that she is well-intentioned, but ultimately finds that her well-intentioned policies are largely ineffective, and sometimes downright detrimental to the people they were intended to help. Think of Hillary Clinton's Village as "debate prep for the 2016 election." Candidates for the House, the Senate, and the Presidency will all have to be prepared to answer one Does Big Government Work? In her 1996 book It Takes a Village, Mrs. Clinton advocated thirty-seven federal government programs that she claims will solve the problems previously addressed by our local institutions, or by our families. Thirty-five of them did not. Some federal government programs do work, but most of them usually fall short, or fail outright. We can fix our failures if we understand how they differ from our successes. In Hillary Clinton's Village, Dr. Michael Stumborg identifies how they differ, and why successful local programs "fail-to-scale" to the federal level. He combines insightful analyses of both successful and failed federal programs, to include Mrs. Clinton's favorites, with personal anecdotes, current events, and observations from philosophers as varied as Saul Alinsky and Jesus Christ, to show how Big Government programs are destined to fail if we continue to ignore why they fail-to-scale. Hillary Clinton's Village is a must read if you want to win the debate about the role of Big Government in American family life.

298 pages, Paperback

First published May 29, 2015

About the author

Dr. Michael Stumborg is a defense analyst and a physicist with over twenty-five years of public and private sector experience working to transform government organizations that face emerging and novel problems.

He has advised senior military officers and federal government Senior Executives from the military, law enforcement, and intelligence communities.

Reviews

[Doris Raines · Rating 3 out of 5]

HOW CAN WE REALLY FIX IT BY IM——— PEACHING DONALD TRUMP. IM——PEACH. —- IM PEACH. YESSSSSSS?...

[Jerome Jewell · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a manner that is much-too-rare these days, Dr. Stumborg offers a thorough, balanced and compelling dissection of the shortcomings of Big Government. He constructs his assertions through a detailed examination of history and then subjects the facts to rigorous analysis. Most notably, he articulates his points with an absence of rhetoric, personal attack or exaggeration, offering instead an abundance of logic.

His methodical approach is both useful and enlightening to anyone intent upon enduring the current Presidential campaign cycle while maintaining a modicum of sanity. In other words, for the informed voter, this is essential and refreshing reading, regardless of one's political views. Dr. Stumborg makes his intentions and his political leanings clear from the start, so there's no attempt to feign neutrality. Thankfully, he manages to stick to razor-sharp presentation without compromising objectivity.

Very early in the book, I found myself less focused on whether I agreed with Dr. Stumborg or not, as his writing style invited me to abandon my often-argumentative posture and simply listen. In return he afforded me the courtesy of presenting facts to support his opinions and conclusions. As a result, I was able to learn from his book. Objective discussion tends to have that impact on a reader. I can ask no more of a memorable reading experience.

Therefore, I highly recommend this book.