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What's Right: The New Conservative Majority And The Remaking Of America
David Frum celebrates a conservatism that defends both liberty and morality. Frum dissects such current political figures as Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich, Colin Powell, and Jack Kemp, offering insight into the mechanics of Republican party politics as well. Whether the issue is health care, social programs, supply-side tax cutting, crime, or censorship, Frum cuts to the essential matters of principle with passion and wit. He makes a powerful case for Republicans to reject populism, protectionism, and nationalism and return to their core doctrines: smaller government and American world leadership.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
53 people want to read
About the author
David Frum
26 books163 followersDavid J. Frum is a Canadian American journalist active in both the United States and Canadian political arenas. A former economic speechwriter for President George W. Bush, he is also the author of the first "insider" book about the Bush presidency. His editorial columns have appeared in a variety of Canadian and American magazines and newspapers, including the National Post and The Week. He is also the founder of FrumForum.com (formerly NewMajority.com), a political group blog.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 29, 2024
quote from David Frum
Canada must acquire the means for independent action atomic weapons
[page 163]
I think he's drinking his Manhattan Cocktails with a drop of Adenochrome lately....
I still never stopped smirking when some columnist dubbed dear Davey, as a douche ghoul.
He's like the ideal nemesis to Pee Wee Herman in some future film
or an extremely weasel Bond Villian
actually I think David Frum could have replaced Telly Salvalas in On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Blofeld: Now, if you're very, very nice to me, I could make you my Countess.
Tracy: But, I'm already a Countess.
Blofeld: Whereas, if you displease me, I can promise you a very different estate.
yes, fits him perfectly
/////
the wild Amazone
More Like What's Wrong?
I'm SO disappointed with David Frum's new book, What's Right.
After ten years of faithfully reading his columns and articles and listening to him on the radio every chance I get, I was expecting him to continue targeting Socialist welfare mothers, immigrant parasites and Black opium addicts with his usual brilliance and precision. But what did I get?
All this vague nonsense about 'Fiscal Responsibility' and 'Tomorrow's Children' and 'Coalition Building' - it's as if he's writing political science fiction!
Look, I'm not saying that David's not still clever in his own special little way, but I think he'd better start shaping up and responding to what his readers want before they wake up and realize that he'd rather hear himself blather on about nothing than really fix what's wrong with America today.
Because I can GUARANTEE you that there are at least twenty other conservative writers currently competing for the public's money and attention who aren't afraid to take on the communist media, who aren't hesitant to deliver hard-hitting right commentary, and who don't spend whole books ruminating about these esoteric topics just because they happen to be trendy.
Remember, David: it's a free market. You'd better get your act together before YOU'RE the one begging for change. And that's a fact.
Paul Eberly
/////
Frum completely fails to grasp the tension between a free economy and a militaristic foreign policy. Moreover, the merest mention of anyone to his right excites him to frenzy....
Frum is by no means finished with those who dare to oppose his neoconservative friends
For Frum, intervention in the domestic economy is an unmitigated evil; but once the magic words 'foreign affairs' are mentioned, matters change entirely. Now the government becomes transformed into a Guardian Angel.
[brilliant quotes and review from the nutty ones as Mises Review]
/////
Kirkus
Commentary can best be described as a reflective critique of current events. Which is precisely what Frum (Dead Right, 1994) offers in this impressive medley of previously published essays on various aspects of political conservatism.
Taken from the pages of such periodicals as The American Spectator, Forbes, The National Review, and The Wall Street Journal, the 30-odd pieces collected here are divided into three main groups: politics and politicians; public policy; and the thinkers whose convictions in one way or another helped shape contemporary conservatism.
Although candidly partisan in his perspective, the Canadian-born author casts a clear, cold eye on fellow tories and their office-seeking antics. Cases in point range from unsparing profiles of the latter-day right's saints and sinners—Pat Buchanan (also known as The Conservative Bully Boy), Newt Gingrich, Phil Gramm, Jack Kemp, Colin Powell—through harsh takes on the Christian Coalition (which, for all the fear and loathing it inspires on the left, has a largely unrealized agenda).
He also takes on the ideationally addled Republican lawmakers who support subsidies for Big Business or compound the problem of spiraling health-care costs with other than market solutions.
Included as well are perceptive disquisitions on John Maynard Keynes (the Nietzsche of economics), Russell Kirk (who taught that conservatism was above all a moral cause), and Harry S. Truman (an unfortunate neocon icon in Frum's view).
Throughout, the author is insistent that conservatives and their candidates must value principle over popularity with the electorate, stressing minimal government intervention, individual freedom, self-reliance, personal probity, fiscal responsibility, and actual (as opposed to rhetorical) cuts in federal spending.
Right-minded observations from an intellectual and ideological heir of William Buckley.
Canada must acquire the means for independent action atomic weapons
[page 163]
I think he's drinking his Manhattan Cocktails with a drop of Adenochrome lately....
I still never stopped smirking when some columnist dubbed dear Davey, as a douche ghoul.
He's like the ideal nemesis to Pee Wee Herman in some future film
or an extremely weasel Bond Villian
actually I think David Frum could have replaced Telly Salvalas in On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Blofeld: Now, if you're very, very nice to me, I could make you my Countess.
Tracy: But, I'm already a Countess.
Blofeld: Whereas, if you displease me, I can promise you a very different estate.
yes, fits him perfectly
/////
the wild Amazone
More Like What's Wrong?
I'm SO disappointed with David Frum's new book, What's Right.
After ten years of faithfully reading his columns and articles and listening to him on the radio every chance I get, I was expecting him to continue targeting Socialist welfare mothers, immigrant parasites and Black opium addicts with his usual brilliance and precision. But what did I get?
All this vague nonsense about 'Fiscal Responsibility' and 'Tomorrow's Children' and 'Coalition Building' - it's as if he's writing political science fiction!
Look, I'm not saying that David's not still clever in his own special little way, but I think he'd better start shaping up and responding to what his readers want before they wake up and realize that he'd rather hear himself blather on about nothing than really fix what's wrong with America today.
Because I can GUARANTEE you that there are at least twenty other conservative writers currently competing for the public's money and attention who aren't afraid to take on the communist media, who aren't hesitant to deliver hard-hitting right commentary, and who don't spend whole books ruminating about these esoteric topics just because they happen to be trendy.
Remember, David: it's a free market. You'd better get your act together before YOU'RE the one begging for change. And that's a fact.
Paul Eberly
/////
Frum completely fails to grasp the tension between a free economy and a militaristic foreign policy. Moreover, the merest mention of anyone to his right excites him to frenzy....
Frum is by no means finished with those who dare to oppose his neoconservative friends
For Frum, intervention in the domestic economy is an unmitigated evil; but once the magic words 'foreign affairs' are mentioned, matters change entirely. Now the government becomes transformed into a Guardian Angel.
[brilliant quotes and review from the nutty ones as Mises Review]
/////
Kirkus
Commentary can best be described as a reflective critique of current events. Which is precisely what Frum (Dead Right, 1994) offers in this impressive medley of previously published essays on various aspects of political conservatism.
Taken from the pages of such periodicals as The American Spectator, Forbes, The National Review, and The Wall Street Journal, the 30-odd pieces collected here are divided into three main groups: politics and politicians; public policy; and the thinkers whose convictions in one way or another helped shape contemporary conservatism.
Although candidly partisan in his perspective, the Canadian-born author casts a clear, cold eye on fellow tories and their office-seeking antics. Cases in point range from unsparing profiles of the latter-day right's saints and sinners—Pat Buchanan (also known as The Conservative Bully Boy), Newt Gingrich, Phil Gramm, Jack Kemp, Colin Powell—through harsh takes on the Christian Coalition (which, for all the fear and loathing it inspires on the left, has a largely unrealized agenda).
He also takes on the ideationally addled Republican lawmakers who support subsidies for Big Business or compound the problem of spiraling health-care costs with other than market solutions.
Included as well are perceptive disquisitions on John Maynard Keynes (the Nietzsche of economics), Russell Kirk (who taught that conservatism was above all a moral cause), and Harry S. Truman (an unfortunate neocon icon in Frum's view).
Throughout, the author is insistent that conservatives and their candidates must value principle over popularity with the electorate, stressing minimal government intervention, individual freedom, self-reliance, personal probity, fiscal responsibility, and actual (as opposed to rhetorical) cuts in federal spending.
Right-minded observations from an intellectual and ideological heir of William Buckley.
January 4, 2010
This book is very dated and therefore of limited relevance, but is extremely interesting and insightful on various political issues circa 1995. Written after the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress but before the 1996 presidential election, it discusses, among other issues:
-Why Newt Gingrich came to power and what his goals are (were).
-Problems with the campaign finance laws of the time.
-Pat Buchanan (hint: Frum obviously had a personal quarrel with him)
-Who Phil Gramm is (was) and why he is (was) important in conservative politics.
-How Canada needs to invest more resources in its own national defense and stop relying on the U.S.
-Colin Powell, and what his political strengths and weaknesses (mainly weaknesses) are (were).
-Why Newt Gingrich came to power and what his goals are (were).
-Problems with the campaign finance laws of the time.
-Pat Buchanan (hint: Frum obviously had a personal quarrel with him)
-Who Phil Gramm is (was) and why he is (was) important in conservative politics.
-How Canada needs to invest more resources in its own national defense and stop relying on the U.S.
-Colin Powell, and what his political strengths and weaknesses (mainly weaknesses) are (were).
February 10, 2015
Essays on how things have gone for conservative, late '95 through early '96
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews