As expected, FreedomWorks president and CEO Matt Kibbe continues to rail against the establishment in all parts of government, and especially within both the Republican and Democrat party ranks in his book Hostile Takeover . Regardless of how one feels about the Tea Party and several of its initiatives, this book is very informative and rings painfully true on many if not all the key points: the overall limitations and failures of Obamacare, the US education system, the mainstream media, the Federal Reserve Bank, the tax code, Wall Street bailouts and green energy, Occupy Wall Street, progressive movement led by Van Jones, and Social Security. These subjects are typical talking points of Tea Party conservatives, and this book gives an accurate assessment of America’s current status in the world and at home.
The book’s prevailing themes stress the importance of cutting back on extravagant spending and taking America back to its founding principles of self-reliance and fiscal responsibility, even offering up the typically conservative sacred cow of defense spending for the sake of cutting the budget deficit. Surprisingly, the US is second to Greece in spending as a part of GDP at 103%. The author brings up the repression of normal concerned American citizens in 2009 when his Tea Party Debt Commission was kicked out of the Russell Senate building by security and Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer. The inicdent was erroneously reported as a response to a bomb threat when it was an outright removal of citizens. No incumbents are safe in his book, which is to be expected, as he lashes out mostly at incumbent Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and how Hatch is the epitome of an establishment Republican, eager to compromise but unwilling to bite the bullet and save America’s fiscal future.
Right off the bat Kibbe attacks the media, which he dubs the “truth cartel.” Journalists such as Walter Cronkite would go unchecked if they uttered opinion as fact, and the recent rise of blogs and social media has changed the media landscape for the better. Today, these news outlets are struggling for life, having to compete with truth and not having a monopoly on information. He accurately labeled the mainstream media as an outdated centralized system, which is why they continue to support the liberal concept of top-down government planning. Now facts and opinions can be checked by an informed citizenry as the monopolist grip is loosened. Newspaper circulations have fallen (except for Wall Street Journal, which experienced a small 0.5% increase) and viewership of the mainstream media has fallen precipitously over the years. The launch of Glenn Beck TV, hints Kibbe, could be the future of media as we know it and the demise of the mainstream media.
One interesting part is how he originally sympathized with the Occupy Wall Street movement, since it seemed to be against Wall Street bailouts. Maybe, he wondered, the progressives have finally come to the same conclusion as Tea Party conservatives regarding the bailouts. But, it was soon discovered they were a part of the entitlement crowd, upset at the injustice of the Wall Street bailouts when they themselves wanted a bailout from the government for their debt woes. He also distinguishes the peaceful nature of Tea Party rallies compared to OWS, where the Tea Party had little if any arrests or unrest while hundreds were arrested and incurred $13 million in damages due to OWS. Yet, this is unreported by the media, who continues to support anti-capitalist sentiment and top-down planning.
Kibbe, a trained economist, explains the complexity of economics as best as he could and admirably breaks down the 2008 financial crisis into layman’s terms. Instead of pushing for more economic stimulus as Obama has, or bailing out Wall Street, American citizens should be concerned with the unelected and powerful nature of the Federal Reserve headed by Ben Bernanke. Though this author disagrees with some of his railings against the Federal Reserve, Kibbe presents a compelling argument about their unchecked power in managing the US economy. He laments the mistake of the US going to a fiat money system, where paper money is the mode of transaction and not the gold standard. However, he does not address how the Federal Reserve would be checked through reforms and does not outline a solution to fixing the Federal Reserve.
Kibbe’s book is a clarion call, of sorts, about the founding principles of America and the importance of limited government. It attacks the criticism of the Tea Party and its principles at the core, defending each major talking point of the Tea Party with stories, anecdotes and data as well as political and economic theory. It is a well-researched informative book that all Americans should read; not solely conservatives or Tea Party sympathizers.
Spencer Irvine is a research assistant at Accuracy in Academia.
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