Arthur
Brooks is an author I really admire. Mr.
Brooks is an economist that has studied the junction where social systems, and
politics meet with economics.
Brooks is a
born again conservative, a true believer in the Capitalist system. While he is a numbers guy, through his study
of the nexus of politics, people and money he has solidified a conservative
approach that before he came was only vaguely hinted at.
George W.
mentioned Compassionate Conservatism and because of his vagueness and lack of
factual knowledge not to mention lack of ability to articulate his message was
roundly criticized by the left and the right.
Arthur
Brooks has worked his way around from a Democrat to an Independent and if you
read his works you would say a libertarian or a Republican. He is very passionate about Capitalism. He also has a lot of advice for Republicans
on how to sell the Free Market position.
Mr. Brooks
has given us a path that unites the arguments of the fiscal and moral
conservatives and shows how both together and the synergy they create can be a
potent force.
Simply put he thinks the Democrats win because they make
their argument in moral terms whereas the Republicans end up talking about
money.
Early on Brooks saw the moral superiority in Free
Enterprise. Through his books you can
see how he has evolved his ideas from merely studying the facts and data from countless
reports and making academic style reports to making something grander.
His book "Who Really Cares"
And his next book “Gross National Happiness” http://www.aei.org/book/society-and-culture/gross-national-happiness-book/ progresses us through his thought process during his
political shift. The prodigious amount
of facts and figures he has analyzed staggers the mind; however the way he writes about them will
eases the mind and his conclusions he reaches will soothe it. He writes in other words for the laymen, his
conclusions while dealing with complicated and other times ill articulated
maters become easily understood.
His next book “The Battle” is a short book.
It is easy to read and brings together Arthur C.
Brooks’ ideas into a cohesive vision of what’s happening and what the battle
for this country is about.
His last book, “The Road to Freedom” is a blueprint
for how to get out of the mess we are in and off the path to European
Socialism.
Or as Frederick Hayek would say off of “The Road to
Serfdom”.
This is where he comes up with the idea that this
battle has to be fought on moral grounds, as he says in a speech (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_ryet5IUow) our immigrant parents didn't come over here
for a better welfare state. They came
over here for the freedom to live off of their work. To start a farm and live off of that
labor. He then jokes, they didn't come
here because we have a cash for clunkers program.
In this
lecture and his books he talks about how we need to talk about fairness and how
our conservative programs help the individual because they are fair and the
right thing to do. He also quotes Jesus Christ
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one
of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Jesus Christ
Mathew 25:31-40.
The lynch pin to truly
helping people is through showing at a personal level how a government that
creates opportunity for entrepreneurs is a benefit to individuals. Again the biblical idea of teaching a person
to fish rather than giving them fish. I
might add not regulating and taxing a fisherman out of business too.
He
better than I writes of how Republicans and those battling for Free Enterprise if
they do it in terms of moral high ground will win. In other words, in a political setting people
will be persuaded not through facts alone but facts that point to a moral
conclusion, that also points to a choice that is best made not by the
government but by the individual. He
talks of Earned success as the definition of Happiness and backs it up with
reams of facts.
Few
Republicans have been able to do that with any success in the modern age. Ronald Reagan comes to mind.
George
Will also has this quote about how big government has rigged society for big
business. “But,
then, big government always is most caring about the strong, the articulate and
the organized.” http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/will060813.php3#.Ubx7dfnryHs
But
even Mr. Will only hints at the moral justification of smaller government.
Republicans have to learn to be more
articulate about how our programs affect people on a fiscal level and how that
is morally superior to what the Left has been giving them.
Clever
subtleties may win the argument but will lose the war.
I think Mr. Will would read Mr.
Brooks with relish.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Liberal Conservative
