Asymmetric Books and Literature

I could have written Crazies to the Left of me, Wimps to the Right: How One Side Lost Its Mind and the Other Lost Its Nerve (CLMWR) instead of Bernard Goldberg and I don’t say that to compliment myself. I’m just pointing out that CLMWR reads more like a series of good blog posts than a cohesive book let alone one with any kind of depth or originality. Indeed, if you’re a conservative who listens to talk radio or reads the occasional blog, you’ve heard it all before. Raise your hand if you’re unaware that:

1. Liberals patronize minorities and come down with a case of the self-righteous vapors when they broach the topic of race.

2. Liberals are elitists.

3. Affirmative action is hypocritical.

4. Liberals blindly deemphasize the war on terror while foolishly worry about the non-problem of global warming.

5. Not profiling Muslims at the airport is dangerous PC-nonsense.

6. The liberal media is biased.

7. College professors are biased.

8. Actors are nutty, biased liberals.

9. Liberals have embraced Antisemitism.
10. Liberals don’t respect established religion but act as though liberalism is one itself.

11. The liberal med…oh wait, I already said that one.

12. Oh, and the Republicans spend too much money.

Unless you’ve been living a Unabomber existence, I can’t believe that any conservative isn’t sick to death of the themes above.

To illustrate the extent of the problem, let me just say that when making the case against affirmative action, Goldberg suggests “To make college and pro teams more diverse, let’s reject some really talented black players in favor of white guys, who might not be as good but bring something important to the table…” stop snoring! The funny part is that I imagine Goldberg wrote it expecting his readers to have never heard that exact same rhetorical flourish 432 times around their office water coolers.

And, it wouldn’t even be that bad if Bernard Goldberg wrote in any kind of entertaining prose or had more than a couple of jokes. Instead, we get “I’ve been contemplating some very weighty matters of late. Is there a God? What is the meaning of life? Why do liberals have Fox News?”

It’s not all bad. His liberal to conservative journey isn’t bad as far as those things go, but better left to right journey stories exist. Michael Medved's Right Turns is not only more interesting, it's better written. His point about Bush foolishly pandering to Mexican racial groups and the NAACP instead of standing up for himself is a good one.

If you’re familiar with the subjects above, you can skip to the next book. If not, you may want to pick up CLMWR and acquaint yourself with conservative political thought circa 2005.

Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right: How One Side Lost Its Mind and the Other Lost Its Nerve by Bernard Goldberg

Right Turns: From Liberal Activist to Conservative Champion in 35 Unconventional Lessons by Michael Medved