Where the Right Went Wrong: How Neoconservatives Subverted the Reagan Revolution and Hijacked the Bush Presidency

by Patrick J. Buchanan (Published 2004, ISBN 0312341156)

Buchanan lambastes the Bush administration and the Republican party, which he believes has abandoned its conservative roots in favor of expanding empire and increasing spending in order to buy votes. He advocates a rejection of the "neoconservative" philosophy of free trade, open borders, and American hegemony in favor of a return to the Republican principles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and, to a lesser degree, the policies of Ronald Reagan. He relates how the neoconservatives have taken over the think tanks and are now influencing a once conservative party. He proposes his own solutions to what he perceives to be the biggest problems facing America:

• Restrict illegal immigration, rather than offering amnesty
• Restore American sovereignty by retreating from economic and political globalism; cease trying to be a policeman of the world
• Stop inciting the hatred of the Arab world by ceasing to provide strong support to the current regime in Israel and by withdrawing all troops from bases in the Middle East where they are not wanted and where we do not have a vital, immediate national interest
• Continue to hunt down and destroy Al Qaeda, but no more fight an abstract war on "terrorism" than on "blitzkrieg"
• Insist that Congress reclaim its central, constitutional role as the primary lawmaking body, a role that it has abdicated to federal courts and the bureaucracy. This would require passing laws (or if necessary, an amendment) that would remove laws passed by Congress from court review. It would require downsizing the bureaucracy and returning these lawmaking powers to state legislatures and Congress.
• Return to the projectionist policies of the old Republican party, using tariffs to encourage the production and consumption of American made goods. While Buchanan acknowledges that this would increase the price of consumption, he thinks this is a price worth paying in order to wean Americans off of dependence on foreign nations, restore self-sufficiency, and reduce the trade deficit that threatens the value of the dollar. He believes the free trade mantra, now adopted and recited by both parties, is inherently flawed, because America is at a disadvantage when competing with third world countries unhampered by environmental controls or minimum wage laws.

While many conservatives will disagree with Buchanan's assessments and opinions, and most particularly with his rejection of free trade, they will at least find his arguments to be well written and occasionally persuasive.