Why I am a Reagan Conservative

May 30, 2005
The Gipper's former deputy chief of staff as well as the author of Nancy
and A Different Drummer: My 30 Years with Ronald Reagan
, the ever-faithful Deaver continues his flame tending with this anthology, which solicits first-person encomiums on the lasting impact of Reaganology. It's a pretty impressive roster: Bill Frist, Bob Dole, Rick Santorum, Henry Hyde, Phil Gramm, Grover Norquist, Orrin Hatch and Chuck Hagel all check in among elected officials; Robert Novak, P.J. O'Rourke, G. Gordon Liddy and Mona Charen among theorists and commentators. Of the 54 contributors, five are women. Very few of the pieces feel fresh; most feel like they've passed through any number of hands before a final vet. The pols write as if on the stump; the wingers as if the fate of the world were hanging in the balance of their every measured phrase: "I am a conservative because all other political philosophies have failed," writes Donald J. Devine, "And the poor, modern world badly needs the vision of a positive future that only conservatism can provide." Progressives will beg to differ, but this book is more about preaching to the choir and rallying the troops than convincing skeptics.