John Micklethwait

I read this book in 2023, so my impressions are through that prism.
'The Right Nation', published in 2004, in the middle of the George W.Bush presidency, concludes by suggesting that the Republican Party will be in control for the foreseeable future, as the American left has capitulated to the better organised right. Remembering when this was published (so, excuses), none of the following are mentioned in this book: Obama, Biden, Trump, Palin, Pence. Nor of course is there any discussion of QAnon, or insurrections, or the power of Twitter (X). Curiously, post Bush, Democrats have been in the White House for 12 of the next 16 years.
As an outsider who has only become interested in US politics in recent years, it was interesting to learn that the distrust, and at times hatred, between the two major parties has been around for a long time; political rhetoric has been toxic for ever - it's not a modern phenomenon.
The book made for interesting reading, as it provides an excellent discussion of post-Cold War politics in the USA.
It does reinforce the fact that for all the surface similarities, the USA is definitely different to the rest of the "western" world.… (altro)

Someone needs to tell the authors that Reagan isn’t gonna f*ck them. This book is 80% shitting on big government and 80% fawning over Reagan and his eponymous economic policy Reaganomics. Yes, there is 160% of book crammed in here and it is not good.

I cannot overstate how hyperfocused on “big government” this book is. Early in the book they nickname it Leviathan like its some sort of eldritch beast to be slayed and they are so proud of themselves for coming up with this analogy they use it for the rest of the book. There is certainly a discussion to be had about the inefficiencies of our governments as well their purpose but the authors are mostly focused on how economically inefficient it is to *checks notes* tax the rich to support basic needs of the poor. Which is what this entire book comes down to – they want to pare down the state significantly and all that it does for it’s citizens in some trickle-down effort to get the rich richer (this is obviously not how they would phrase it but I can read between the lines)

Now this book is ostensibly about Covid, right? They are pursuing an East v. West comparison wherein “Asia” (the monolith) has done better than Europe America in dealing with Covid. Well, no. That takes up so little of the book it’s embarrassing they sold the book this way (it was clearly a book they were already writing and they just shoved a chapter about Covid into it and changed the title). This book is first and foremost, about the best states, the west states, and how to Make Them Great Again*
*the authors do look down on Donald Trump and populists of his ilk while simultaneously spouting very similar rhetoric… (altro)