Deliberation and the Restoration of America's Democratic Potential: A Primer on American Government Book

This book is a complete waste of time. Like Todd's excellent reviews mentions, it's basically a masturbatory exercise for the literary class on one of their favorite topics - how stupid people who disagree with them are.

The basic argument is that Conservatives abandoned Tanenhaus's interpretation of Edmund Burke, and so modern Conservatives aren't really Conservatives. This is because modern Conservatives (i.e. not of the vein Tanenhaus likes) don't believe government should grow and do too much for its citizens. Therefore, since Conservatives don't accept what Liberals and Tanenhaus believe, they're completely detached from reality, only concerned with ideology, and have nothing to offer America.

Seriously. The book is then filled in with cherry picked examples of how Liberals are so pragmatic and intelligent in adapting to the times while conservatives are blabbering racists. The book offers absolutely nothing of substance to the political debate. Tanenhaus doesn't demonstrate even a basic understanding of economic issues or anything except copious quoting and name dropping. It's a one sided rewriting of history, and Tanenhaus should be embarassed by the intellectual immaturity on display.