It's My Party Too
The Battle for the Heart of the GOP and the Future of America
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Christine Whitman offers an insider’s view of the corrosive effects—on the party and the country as a whole—of the rise of zealous conservatism. She tells many stories from the front lines of her battles with conservatives, as well as those of other moderate Republicans, and argues that the rise of this bullying faction—as opposed to being the voting juggernaut party leaders have considered it—has kept the Republican party from building a true voting majority. It has also, she argues, pushed the polarization of the electorate to an appalling extreme.
Each chapter focuses on the key hot-button issues that were the most contentious battlegrounds between moderates and conservatives in 2005, and the areas where she thinks the conservatives took the party in the wrong direction: race relations, abortion rights, the environment, taxes, and international affairs. In each of these areas, Whitman tells stories about how in her own career she has been able to make great progress by taking a moderate approach—by finding what she calls “the productive middle,” such as in her unprecedented admission that racial profiling was indeed happening on New Jersey’s highways.
This is a fascinating insider’s account of how politics happens on the ground and behind the closed doors, with a message that will speak powerfully to an all too silent moderate Republican majority.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to. Former EPA Chief and New Jersey governor Whitman laments the rightward shift in the Republican party, concerned that it "will now move so far to the right that it ends up alienating centrist voters and marginalizing itself." In her view, the aggressive tactics of the "social fundamentalists," to whom "the concept of choice...is anathema," are to blame. Only if centrists transform themselves into "radical moderates-people ready to fight for what they believe even if it makes waves in the party," can the party restore its equilibrium. Whitman explores her own GOP heritage and her adventures and misadventures with hot button issues like abortion, stem cell research, race, the environment and women's rights, reinforcing the party's distinguished record. For example, she points out that Republicans ensured passage of the Civil Rights Act and created the Clean Air Act. If moderates would only stand up for themselves, she contends, the party platform could return to the essential issues-"fiscal restraint, reasonable and open discussion of social issues, environmental policies that promote a balanced approach to environmental protection, and a foreign policy that is engaged with the rest of the world." While the writing is straightforward and the anecdotes interesting, the account drifts from its core theme, culminating in a plea to visit a grassroots Web site and a generic suggestion for "issues-oriented campaigns." Nowhere does Whitman identify who these social fundamentalists are, what they want or why they have proven so powerful in today's electoral environment despite being outnumbered. Though this book succeeds as an overview of the Republican party's accomplishments, it's a less than adequate battle plan for moderate Republications looking to attain their past glory.
