I've never heard of Publishers Weekly giving a bad review to a book, so I guess Millionaire Republican, written by Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate Wayne Allyn Root, was a real stinker. The review:
"Root, author of The Zen of Gambling, has made millions as a television sports-betting handicapper. This chest-thumping political screed-cum motivational tract systematizes that accomplishment into 'The 18 Republican Secrets of Mega-Wealth and Unlimited Success'-a hodgepodge of self-help nostrums about positive thinking, clean living and the centrality of salesmanship to all human achievement, with a smattering of financial opportunism. (Secret #3 is 'Own Real Estate in International Tax Havens.')
"But Root also aspires to public office, so he devotes most of the book to partisan vitriol. Republicans, he asserts, are 'daring risk-takers' whose 'ambition, drive, vision, courage, confidence and commitment' prompts them to start businesses and enter the 'Investor Class.' Democrats, deluded by 'corrupt, soulless' liberals, prefer a '"safe" (but mediocre) paycheck' to the challenge of entrepreneurship and therefore lead 'lives of despair...working in jobs they hate for bosses they despise...dependent on Big Brother' and are reduced to 'complaining, whining, attending protests' and taxing Republicans.
"Throughout, the author seethes with class resentment against the even wealthier 'spoiled-brat trust-fund crowd,' who supposedly advocate high taxes on the rich to keep others from becoming rich. Root is rarely coherent or engaging; the book feels like an infomercial harangue interspersed with the sort of off-the-wall rant you would expect if you asked your bookie for his political philosophy. In it, one can make out the tenets of contemporary casino capitalism: the risk-taking investor is the hero of the economy, wage labor is a dead-end for suckers and the millionaire is the champion of the little guy against the elitists. Never mind liberal democrats; Republicans themselves may cringe at this ugly, fatuous rendering of their world-view."
Even putting aside Root's comically fanatical devotion to the Republican Party, how many Libertarians would really feel comfortable voting for someone so angry and so obnoxious?
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Wayne Allyn Root's Book: Millionaire Republican
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4 comments:
I've been a bit hard in my last couple of comments, but I'll agree with you on something:
I am very uncomfortable with Wayne Allyn Root, as I said in my blog. He has an atrocious personality, with his used car salesman on crystal meth act perfected. Furthermore, he is a bad balance for Barr on that ticket. Whereas Barr is more of the right federalist libertarian tilt, I think there needed to be someone of the more "radical," "left" tilt to balance it out, rather than another person of the "right." Ruwart would have been fine, although her past statements on child porn would have been a political liability, and I am disappointed that she basically left the convention and said she'd have nothing to do with the Presidential campaign. Steve Kubby is politically ineffective to a horrifying degree and comes across as, quite simply, high. I'm not really sure who I would have liked, but I do not think Root was the best person for the slot.
Gravel!
I think I agree with you, anonymous - if I were a member of the Libertarian Party, I probably would have supported Mike Gravel. Wouldn't that have been an interesting ticket: Bob Barr/Mike Gravel? Two former members of Congress from both major parties who have almost nothing in common beyond their support for liberty (with a few exceptions, in both cases).
Gravel would have been politically damaged. He came off as a joke during the Democratic Primaries, what with his being the butt of jokes on Stephen Colbert and his Warholian... whatever videos.
Interestingly enough, he supported Root and Barr over Ruwart in the final ballots. One would have thought he would be more favorable to the "left-libertarian" variety.
It would have been an interesting ticket. I just worry that Gravel's "kook" image would have hurt the ticket. Barr's strength as a candidate is the fact that he is a very serious, sober, focused man. People like that. I know he has a past, but everyone has warts. If only they could have found someone to be Veep who was similarly serious. Mike Jingozian seemed like someone capable of it, and he could have been really effective on the issue that I think is truly Barr's top issue, which is civil liberties.
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