ABOUT THE BOOK
"So inevitable and yet so completely unforeseen" was Alexis de Tocqueville's verdict on the French revolution. Much the same can be said of the conservative revolution that has changed America over the past half century. "The Right Nation" is not "for" liberals, and it's not "for" conservatives: it's for anybody who wants to understand one of the most important forces shaping American life.
"The Right Nation" is both a portrait and an argument. The portrait is an objective picture of Conservative America – The Right Nation. The coming election will be a referendum on George W. Bush – a president who epitomises this movement. "The Right Nation" explains how a creed which only 50 years ago was regarded as an eccentric sect has now become a dominant ideology. It goes inside the Bush administration, and introduces the strategists and intellectuals in Washington, DC; but it also describes the footsoldiers out in the country – gun enthusiasts in Seattle, home schoolers in Virginia, black voucher advocates in Milwaukee.
The argument is that this conservatism explains why America is so different from other rich countries. Not only has America produced a far more potent conservative movement from anything available in other rich countries; it is also on balance a more conservative place -- with different values and different priorities to Europe. And it will remain so, even if Americans decide to elect John Kerry this November.