The Conscience of a Liberal

The Conscience of a Liberal, by Paul Krugman, is an analysis of what brought the Republican Right to power and what needs to be done to undo the damage that their anti-government policies have wrecked on the United States. Krugman, a Nobel winning economist, explains that the high quality of life that the middle class of the United States possessed during the fifties and sixties was due to a lack of economic inequality. He also argues that the prosperous era of the mid-twentieth century came to an end because of the policies of the hard right, rather than because of a change of economic circumstance.

Krugman’s analysis of the conservative right was covered more in depth in “The Rise of the Counter-Establishment” and its political machine is made more clear in “Blinded By the Right”. However, Krugman adds more context by explaining how specific conservative policies have led to the wealth of the nation has been shifted to the top 5% by political means and that the middle class has been mugged by those whose money can influence elections. Anti-union policies, as the elimination of many taxes on the wealthiest Americans, are blamed for the United States current circumstances as well as a Republican party willing to use racism, regionalism, and bigotry to win elections.

Krugman wrote the was published in 2007 but manages to explain the problems of creating universal health care and the importance of health care being passed if progressives are to pull the nation from the precipice that the radical right is pushing it towards.

This was a great book, well written, and a surprisingly quick read. I would recommend reading it and rate it a buy.