Horse Sense for the New Millennium: The Conservative Case

The United States today faces unprecedented problems at home and abroad, and numerous commentators have suggested the country shows signs of civilizational decline analogous to the fall of Rome. In Horse Sense for the New Millennium, author Wesley Allen Riddle offers a lens for interpreting modern political events and presents a conservative commentary on American life and politics during the first decade of the 21st Century. The time and events detailed run through George W. Bush’s two administrations and part of Barack Obama’s first term during the Great Recession and covers the rise of the populist Tea Party movement critical of both presidents, as well as their respective establishment neoconservative, and progressive policies. Horse Sense for the New Millennium examines and describes important lineaments of causation from politics, government, history, and the economy, that shaped the first quarter century of American history since 2000. It is the most complete treatment presenting the historical genesis and intellectual origins of what becomes the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) populist brand of conservatism. Horse Sense for the New Millennium takes the reader on a deep dive into the crucible of America’s current challenges, which so far, arguably, have gotten the better of America. It also gives them a front row seat to protracted rightwing hustings for reassessments (and reassurance) based upon the old American constitutional order. Indeed, the author argues the roadmap for success is the US Constitution, and real hope for America’s future lies in returning to the nation’s founding principles and applying them competently to problems facing America today. Heavily indexed and sourced, Horse Sense for the New Millennium is an essential companion for the political scientist, contemporary academic historian, and serious student of American history, politics, and government.