The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians, and the Battle to Control the Republican Party

By Ryan Sager

Praise for The Elephant in the Room

"This funny, sobering, smart book reminds Republicans that having beliefs isn't good enough. You have to act on them. Winning isn't enough; you have to win with a purpose in mind. Ryan Sager sounds a real call to arms. The party would be wise to hear it." -Peggy Noonan, columnist, The Wall Street Journal

"An insightful and eminently readable account of the current conservative crackup. Anyone who wants to understand American politics today needs to read Sager's chronicle of the ongoing civil war in the conservative ranks." --Paul Begala, coauthor of Take It Back

"Two feisty American factions are at daggers drawn. No, the fight is not conservatives versus liberals. Rather, it is libertarian conservatives versus 'social issues' conservatives. In this illuminating examination of the changing ideological geography of American politics, Ryan Sager suggests that the conservatives must choose between Southern and Western flavors of conservatism. He prefers the latter." --George F. Will, syndicated columnist

"Sager picks up where Bruce Bartlett left off with Impostor. The Elephant in the Room tells us how libertarians and the Christian conservatives are at swords' point over Bush's 'big government conservatism.' Anyone who wants to understand this important debate should get a copy of Sager's book." --John B. Judis, coauthor of The Emerging Democratic Majority

"Ryan Sager offers an eloquent, elegant argument that the GOP has lost its way--an argument that even those of us who disagree with many of his criticisms and object passionately to many of his characterizations must take with the utmost seriousness." --John Podhoretz, author of Can She Be Stopped?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471793329
• ISBN13: 9780471793328
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.6" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Superb!

Before coming across this book, I had never heard of Ryan Sager. What a pleasant surprise when I began reading! I will definitely keep my eyes out for anything else published by him. Mr. Sager has written -- excellently, by the way, and often with laugh-out-loud humor -- all the things that I'd been thinking (and often getting frustrated & angry about) politically for the last 6+ years. It was like reading my own nebulous thoughts and feelings on the hijacking of conservatism by big-government Evangelicals, only done in a much more articulate and well-researched way than my own ramblings could ever have managed. His primary thesis is that the alliance between 'social conservatives' (those concerned primarily with 'values' issues rather than individual rights or small gov't, and who are often Southern & evangelical) with 'libertarian' or 'fiscal conservatives' (those focused more on small gov't and individual rights, more likely to be from the interior West), is in danger, primarily as a result of the Bush Administration and the 2000-06 Congresses, combined with historical changes. According to Sager, this alliance, first begun in the 1950s, first brought to national prominence in the Goldwater campaign ('64), and brought to electoral victory by Reagan in the '80s and Gingrich in the mid-90s, was a marriage of convenience. The two strands of 'conservatism,' which in fact seem contradictory when you think about it, allied first against communism (and the aftertaste of the New Deal), and then, in the '90s, against the Clinton administration. Now, however, without a foe both strands recognize (libertarian conservatives tend to be less hysterical about the Islamic threat than social conservatives), the marriage is on the rocks. As a former registered Republican, turned off from the Party by the Bush Administration's and the Hastert/Lott/Frist Congresses' big spending (they made Clinton look like a fiscal conservative!), religious pandering, government enlargement(NCLB, Prescription Drug entitlements, anyone???) and Wilsonian interventionism (make the world safe for democracy!), I have now been a proudly registered Libertarian for several years. It is here that I differ with Mr. Sager (and agree with several other reviews of this book) because I don't share the author's optimism that the alliance between libertarian and social conservatives can (or, even moreso, should) be fixed. Instead, I think the Republican party may well be on its last legs if it continues to pander to Southern Evangelicals at the expense of the rest of the party. Many people like myself don't like the fact that the two options in major parties today are a big government party that takes the Bible literally (GOP) and a big government party that doesn't (Dems). If these trends continue, I think we can expect more Democratic electoral victories. Whether the Libertarian Party or some other option will take the place of the GOP if it does indeed disintegrate(like

Illuminating

Wow, it's so clear to me now! An unpopular war wasn't the half of how the Republican leadership self-destructed. This book presents a stunningly eloquent exposition of the current state of the Republican Party, from the perspective of 'before the fall'. Essential information for voters on the motivating ideas of US federal leadership. This book will make the Republican half of the story strikingly clear. The writing is entertaining and an 'easy read' while covering what could be a dry subject. The book is of modest length but impressive depth. It reads like a conversation with a master of the subject conveying a rich scope in a terse 250 pages. I can understand Kristen's review below but it hardly seems fair to criticize a book for doing what it promises, explaining the battle for control, so well that the reader wishes there was an easy answer. Sager could have given us one, as we are so accustomed to hearing from political candidates. I'm glad he did not. It would have encouraged readers to consider the `problem solved' and slip back into our daily complacency. Having seen and understood the Republican dilemma I feel motivated to address it and armed with the clarity to push through pat answers for real actions. Now where's the book that will explain the Democrat malaise, including why their leadership seems to hate the central values of the American Experiment?

Can the marriage be saved?

The modern conservative movement is really a fusion of several desperate strands of political thought, most prominently the libertarians and the traditional conservatives. The unifying principle was that government was not the be all and end all of human endeavor. Reaching a high point following 1994 midterm elections, that fusion is in danger of cracking. Iraq is only one part of it - the fractures were growing for years. When George Bush began to talk of "compassionate conservatism" and earmarks replaced principles for Republican officeholders, it was only a matter of time before the break. Under George Bush, "conservatism" has become a mere brand label. He has increased government programs in an effort to further a very socially conservative agenda. Federalism has been thrown out the window as Congress tried to turn marriage and other traditionally state issues into federal affairs. Tax cuts are coupled with increased spending. Sager explores these issues and tries to find a way to say the old fusionist coalition. Convincingly, he argues that the marriage can be saved through federalism, cultural tolerance among conservatives, and a return to principles of limited government and fiscal responsibility. Additionally, the book provides a good overview of the history of the conservative movement in America. As a child of the Reagan years, it is easy to forget conservatism's irrelevance following the death of Robert Taft. Sager in a brief though well written overview, described how through networking, think tanks and magazines, conservative and libertarian intellectuals together founded the modern conservative movement. For all conservatives, this book should be required reading, on how to shake up the movement.

New Wedding Vows for the GOP

Sager makes a clear and easy-to-follow argument for how to keep the GOP coalition together in the years ahead. As a Republican who has no memory of conservative icons like Barry Goldwater, I appreciate Sager's summary of the history of the modern conservative movement. From this historical perspective, he argues that the GOP has veered away from its previous commitment to small government and liberty. At its core, the book primarily seems to address the question of how the GOP can retain social conservatives without alienating voters in the more libertarian regions of the country. He suggests that a consensual return to 'liberty' and 'federalism' as the GOP's core values can allow social conservatives and libertarians to get what they want out of the party. This would involve asking social conservatives to focus their attention on state-level politics rather than on national politics (judicial nominations excepted...maybe). This would position the GOP to strengthen its hold on the libertarian Intermountain West. This approach seems reasonable. But the chapters on anti-Communism and anti-Clintonism left me with a nagging question: Had social conservatives and economic conservatives only been bound together by common enemies? After Communism and Clintonism both vanished, the two groups have awakened and realized that neither has much to gain from the marriage anymore. Those of us economic conservatives generally expect social consevatives to conduct themselves in a pragmatic manner. We want them to barter their 'values' in the way that we make financial decisions. But I just don't think that the Religious Right operates in that way. And their fundraising efforts largely depend on having nationl visibility. Therefore, they may just view Sager's approach as a clever way of trying to get them to turn down the volume on the values rhetoric. Hence, maybe George W. Bush was just the accidental deliverer of our divorce papers. Besides, I think many economic conservatives are starting to find that we have a lot in common with the Clintonite wing of the Democratic party. If this trend continues, the GOP may find itself asking how it can avoid becoming isolated to the South.

For those of us who miss Reagan

Great, funny, informative, witty book on what has happened to the Republican party since 1995. This book describes the history of conservatism since 1945, and how there used to be balance between the libertarians (who value individual freedom and limited government), and the social conservatives (who value tradition and religion). These two groups complemented each other and were like the yin and yang of the GOP: they kept the party in balance. Since 1995 (roughly), the libertarians have lost power in the GOP, and the GOP is increasingly a party of: massive governmental spending (spending under Bush has mushroomed and is the worst since LBJ in the 1960s), southern Christian fundamentalism, and unlimited government that we all are supposed to "trust" (the Patriot Act, etc.). Bush, DeLay and company have basically wielded power the way that liberals traditionally have (meaning: not trying to limit it, but trying to maximize the power of the federal government over society). Government spending and debt is out of control, and the government is increasingly playing "nanny" to us all (the Terry Schiavo case is a good example). Things like mandatory governmental counselling for any married couple with minor kids wanting a divorce shows the degree to which the GOP wants to use the federal government to intrude on all of our lives and play "nanny" to us all. As a former Republican who voted for Reagan and who values individual initiative and choice, I am appalled by what the GOP has become. People like Tom DeLay cast aside 50 years of conservative distrust of government to declare that he was in essence put in power to enact the will of God. If that is not scary, I don't know what is. Unlike Ronald Reagan, who always tried to unite America and who had no mean words for others, and who did not believe in division, the new breed of GOP leaders are mean-spiritied partisans who believe in dividing the naition: on issues of gay marriage, abortion, and prayer in school. In Texas, where I live, the current GOP governor, Rick Perry, is contend to hold the 35 % of the Christian fundamentalist vote he knows he "has" and which he knows can get him re-elected (instead of trying to represent all Texans). The GOP in Texas is willing to represent this minority, and willing to pander to some really idiotic ideas of this group, such as removing the U.S. from the United Nations, and going back to the gold standard (if you doubt that, read the 2004 Texas GOP platform, which looks like it was written by fanatical morons). From forced marriage counselling by federal bureaucrats, to intruding on intimite family decisions on life and death (the Schiavo case), to tampering with the constitution (gay marriage bans), to out of control spending and "faith-based prisons", the GOP is clearly a party that has lost all grip on common sense. Thereby the notion of individualism and choice has gone out the window. Texas (Reaganite) Republican ex-congressman Dick Armey is quoted in