Working Class Republican, Henry Olsen
Working Class Republican, Henry Olsen
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Working Class Republican
Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism

Author: Henry Olsen

Narrator: Derek Shetterly

Unabridged: 10 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 06/27/2017


Synopsis

In this sure to be controversial book in the vein of The Forgotten Man, a political analyst argues that conservative icon Ronald Reagan was not an enemy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal, but his true heir and the popular program’s ultimate savior.Conventional political wisdom views the two most consequential presidents of the twentieth-century—FDR and Ronald Reagan—as ideological opposites. FDR is hailed as the champion of big-government progressivism manifested in the New Deal. Reagan is seen as the crusader for conservatism dedicated to small government and free markets. But Henry Olsen argues that this assumption is wrong.In Ronald Reagan: New Deal Republican, Olsen contends that the historical record clearly shows that Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal itself were more conservative than either Democrats or Republicans believe, and that Ronald Reagan was more progressive than most contemporary Republicans understand. Olsen cuts through political mythology to set the record straight, revealing how Reagan—a longtime Democrat until FDR’s successors lost his vision in the 1960s—saw himself as FDR’s natural heir, carrying forward the basic promises of the New Deal: that every American deserves comfort, dignity, and respect provided they work to the best of their ability. Olsen corrects faulty assumptions driving today’s politics. Conservative Republican political victories over the last thirty years have not been a rejection of the New Deal’s promises, he demonstrates, but rather a representation of the electorate’s desire for their success—which Americans see as fulfilling the vision of the nation’s founding. For the good of all citizens and the GOP, he implores Republicans to once again become a party of ""FDR Conservatives""—to rediscover and support the basic elements of FDR (and Reagan’s) vision.

About Henry Olsen

Henry Olsen is an incisive political analyst and a senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a Washington, DC, think tank. He is a regular contributor to such leading publications as The National Review, The Weekly Standard, National Affairs, Commentary, The National Interest, The American Interest, and The Claremont Review of Books. He has also published op-eds and book reviews in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and The Washington Examiner.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kate

I came to the Right from the Left and Ronald Reagan helped me get there. I had thought the Left was all about individual rights for ordinary people. Then I found it was about conformity through government control, and not prosperity, but a confining security through government largesse. I didn't wan......more

Goodreads review by Kevin

A thought provoking but problematic look at Reagan through the lens of the Trump phenomenon. Olsen in essence argues that Reagan was a principled but pragmatic politician who eschewed ideology and dogma and instead sought the betterment of average Americans by supporting the basic idea of FDR's New......more

Goodreads review by Jake

Henry Olsen makes a compelling case that too many read a libertarian-dominant conservatism back into Reagan. As a result, the GOP has failed to produce winning coalitions that win a majority of the nation. In this book, Olsen contrasts on how Reagan’s conservative philosophy was neither cookie-cutte......more

Goodreads review by Tony

Good stuff. Olsen has some insights into Reagan that I've read no where else, particularly Reagan's commitment to New Deal social programs.......more