Summary Of Professor Critchlow's The Conservative Ascendancy

In Professor Critchlow’s book “The Conservative Ascendancy”, we are provided history of the rise of the conservative right in modern America in the latter half of the twentieth century. We are delivered the earliest dilemmas after the crushing Goldwater defeat in 1964, through the rise and fall of the “Rockefeller” brand of Republicanism to Reagan through the Bush era. His history of the rise of conservative ascendancy from the earliest days of Goldwater forward brought back many memories and filled some gaps. Critchlow develops a comprehensive narrative of how the Republican party challenged the established Democratic majority which was still entrenched with a fusion of the last of the “New Dealers” as against the rising strength of the …show more content…
Buckley, Jr.) and a popular grassroots anticommunist movement, and their slow but steady convergence in the next decades, culminating in the heydays of American conservatism: the Reagan “Revolution.” In this process the first generation of neoconservatives played a crucial role, by providing the intellectual power and institutional framework of a kind of “managerial conservatism” that legitimized conservatism at the highest intellectual and policy circles. (Critchow, 105).
There were some critical take-away points that must be realized under this new administration. The first takeaway is that it is always about the economy (along with taxes). Kitchen table economics is of paramount importance to the majority of American families. Renege or fall short in those political promises and you face rejection at the ballot box. The importance of a growing economy; a steady or a decreasing taxes (which also impacts the growth of government) and job security. Bush 41 fell victim to the political manipulations of the budgetary cycle and came to regret his mantra of “no new …show more content…
America values have over the past decades shifted from a more centrist approach to a more conservative makeup (Republican Party). This election year has now 33 Republican governors. Republicans now control 23 legislatures’ compared to the 13 held by Democratic leadership. This trifecta of Republican leadership provides a key indicator in the values of the nation. I believe that these bell weather indicators need to be heeded by the Republican Party. Whether this is a coat tail effect of the Trump election has not been truly revealed in the