Take Back the Right: How the Neocons and the Religious Right have Betrayed the Conservative Movement

I really enjoyed this book. In the same manner as Christie Todd Whitman's excellent book, "It's My Party Too", Gold makes his points about the state of conservatism through the tale of his personal journey through the GOP and the world of conservative think tanks.

Gold, pining for the traditional conservativism that attracted him as a young man, pronounces conservatism dead. Don't call out the pall bearers yet, though. Gold skewers liberalism (through the lense of his psychology and marketing background -- interesting perspective) and dismisses it as an alternative. He then makes something of a misnomer of his book's title asserting conservatism isn't something to be taken back, but something to be born anew. And yes, Gold offers a conservative philosophy and roadmap for the future of conservatism.

Gold has an interesting take on how the religious right and the neocons -- free-spending, foreign adventurist, frustrated liberals -- gained so much sway with a movement that was previously all about isolationism, individualism and fiscal responsibility: The Republican Party betrayed conservatism in exchange for new voters and new ideas on post-Cold War foreign policy.

And here's where Gold gets really interesting. He says conservatives can't go back to a golden age of conservatism -- there never was one. In fact, he says, conservatism failed. The right lost the culture war (they opted out of the debate by just blindly opposing minority rights, women's rights, etc. instead of participating in the discussion and guiding the outcome). Also, by and large, Americans have accepted big government, and the idea that the normal American is a white Christian male is becoming an anachronism.

So, given the failure of the conservative movement, what should conservatives do? According to Gold, conservatives should accept the fact that America will become "an acentric civilization in which no race, no gender, no social class, no creed, no faith, no way of life dominates." In fact, Gold believes the situation should be celebrated -- that this acentric America will usher in a renaissance unseen in the world for hundreds of years and help us win the war of ideas against violent Islamic extremism.

But without the fast receding traditional white Christian male American role model, how does America remain a coherent, moral state? Gold suggests "virtue ethics"...

Ok, I guess everyone's entitled to a dream. Apparently, Gold's dream is that conservatives will accept the world as it is, renounce politics and embrace common sense. Good luck to him.

If nothing else, Gold's book is a thoughtful critique of the conservative movement. As I said, I enjoyed the read. I'm not sure what, if anything, will ever come of virtue ethics, but the book itself interesting, well-written and even humorous at times. I recommend it if you're really interested in what the heck happened to conservatism.