The Party Is Over
How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The New York Times bestselling exposé of what passes for business as usual in Washington today
There was a time, not so very long ago, when perfectly rational people ran the Republican Party. So how did the party of Lincoln become the party of lunatics? That is what this book aims to answer. Fear not, the Dems come in for their share of tough talk— they are zombies, a party of the living dead.
Mike Lofgren came to Washington in the early eighties—those halcyon, post–Nixonian glory days—for what he imagined would be a short stint on Capitol Hill. He has witnessed quite a few low points in his twenty-eight years on the Hill—but none quite so pitiful as the antics of the current crop of legislators whom we appear to have elected.
Based on the explosive article Lofgren wrote when he resigned in disgust after the debt ceiling crisis, The Party Is Over is a funny and impassioned exposé of everything that is wrong with Washington. Obama and his tired cohorts are no angels but they have nothing on the Republicans, whose wily strategists are bankrupting the country one craven vote at a time. Be prepared for some fireworks.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lofgren expands his much-read article, "Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult" (originally published on the site Truthout) into a book-length scrupulously bipartisan diagnosis of the sick state of American politics and governance. The former congressional staffer saves the greater part of his bile for his former party, which he sees as having become inflexibly ideological and devoted to its richest contributors' interests. Lofgren makes sure, however, to blast President Obama and his fellow Democrats for the same bad habits, primarily belligerence, disregard for privacy, and compliance with lobbyists. The general points are familiar, but Lofgren offers ideas drawn from a career in government dating back to the early 1980s. Nostalgic memories of now-striking examples of bipartisan cooperation join damning moments, like a Republican policymaker's admission that the party aimed to obstruct the Senate for political gain. Lofgren offsets occasional cheap shots, such as against "Gucci-shod" lobbyists, by devoting close attention to budget issues rarely accorded so much detail in garden-variety op-ed warfare. Sustaining his original thesis well beyond Internet-browsing attention spans, Lofgren has crafted an angry but clear-sighted argument that may not sit well at family reunions or dinner parties, but deserves attention.
Customer Reviews
Refreshingly Pragmatic
Sooooo refreshing to read a book authored by a self described conservative, that does not believe in the hocus/pocus rhetoric that took a nasty hold on too many souls of the American public following the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. In this book you will find no celebration of the following:
American Exceptionalism
Originalism
Tax cuts stimulating economic growth
Trickle Down Economics
Wars bringing peace and prosperity
Peace through Military Super Power
Magic of Free Markets and Deregulation
Prosperity Gospel
Instead, the author goes against the current conservative propaganda fashions of “small deregulated government” and “magic of private enterprise” and looks at the actual actions and amounts being spent at home and abroad by various administrations and the actual outcomes of countless government policies; an honest examination and analysis of history . Most conservative writers ironically are either “know nothing’s “ or “pretentious ideologues”; Mike Lofgren is neither. He has the rare gift of being able to analyze succinctly while still being very entertaining. Great read for all political junkies be you a liberal, conservative or god forbid.... a socialist!!! 😄