E.J. Dionne, Washington Post Columnist & Author of "Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism From Goldwater to the Tea Party"

From one of our most engaging political reporters and the author of Why Americans Hate Politics comes the story of conservatism from the Goldwater 1960s to the present-day tea party.

Dionne argues that American conservatism and the Republican Party took a wrong turn when they adopted Barry Goldwater’s worldview during and after the 1964 campaign. Since 1968, no conservative administration could live up to the rhetoric rooted in the Goldwater movement that began to reshape American politics fifty years ago. The radicalism of today’s conservatism is not the product of the Tea Party; Dionne says but the Tea Party is the true heir to Goldwater ideology.

Dionne explains why the Republican party must rebuild¬ – for its own health and the health of the country.