politics

About the Book

Americans love to trash their politicians as corrupt and self-interested, but they don’t agree on a solution. How can America attract good leaders to the thousands of elective offices in the land? In Polticians: The worst Kind of People to Run the Government, Except for All the Others, Bruce Chapman lays out a bold plan for the changes we need to make in our public life if we are serious about enable worthy leaders to emerge to and to succeed. Drawing on history as well as his own extensive experience in politics and public policy, Chapman challenges the conventional wisdom about politicians, arguing that their chief rivals — the media, bureaucrats, college professors, and even political “reform” groups — are often sources of further political demoralization rather than renewal. Republicans and Democrats alike, conservatives and liberals, have a stake in responding to the stirring and provocative challenge raised by this book.

When young Josiah Penn Stockbridge accepts the position as aide-de-camp to George Washington at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, he thinks only of the glory and romance of battle. He is unprepared for the reality of America’s bloody fight for independence. The Continental Army is starving, underpaid, and dangerously close to mutiny, and Washington fights not just to defeat Read More ›

Republicans 50 and up watched President Ronald Reagan and Speaker Newt Gingrich deliver national leadership. Today, Republicans of all ages watch “their” House and Senate and see nothing of the kind… A Republican-run legislative branch isn’t supposed to enable Iran Bailouts, rising deficits, the importation of saboteurs, the destruction of private health insurance, wars on entire industries, and IRS corruption. Read More ›

Anyone who has read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings can gather that their author hated tyranny, but few know that the novelist who once described himself as a hobbit “in all but size” was—even by hobbit standards—a zealous proponent of economic freedom and small government. There is a growing concern among many that the West is sliding into political, economic, and Read More ›

Slade Gorton’s half century in politics began in 1956. Together with Dan Evans and Joel Pritchard, he was a key player in generating a new wave of progressive Republican politics in Washington State. He helped elect the youngest governor in state history; argued 14 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court as attorney general; upset a legend to win a seat Read More ›

Today, such issues as abortion, capital punishment, sex education, racism, prayer in public schools, and family values keep religion and politics closely entwined in American public life. This encyclopedia is an A-to-Z listing of a broad range of topics related to religious issues and politics, ranging from the religious freedom sought by the Pilgrims in the 1620s to the rise Read More ›

In a candid, hard-hitting book that will provoke both anger and thoughtful consideration, two young Republicans have written the first thorough study of the real problems that face the party. A lively, inside account of the GOP’s warring factions and contesting personalities, The Party That Lost Its Head also advances a comprehensive program for its revival. George F. Gilder and Read More ›