Author Slams "Failed" Right Wing

Noted political author Thomas C. Frank attacked conservative control of government at a Harvard Book Store lecture last night, calling right-wing governance “failed.”

Frank began his talk by drawing a comparison between American politics today and in the late 19th century, which he called both the “Golden Age of American capitalism” and the “Golden Age of American misery.”

“Democracy cannot work when wealth is distributed as lopsidedly as it was then and it is now,” he concluded.

Frank—best-known for his 2004 best-seller “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”—was promoting his latest book, “The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Govern.” He spoke at the Brattle Street Theatre to a lively audience comprised mostly of community members outside the College.

Frank called the conservative movement’s desire to turn over government operations to private businesses a “rip-off of gigantic proportions.”

He criticized outsourcing as designed to keep business “shielded from oversight and accountability.”

“It’s ingenious,” Frank stated. “Either that or it’s really evil.”

Frank occasionally turned to recent news, noting that Barack Obama was his state senator in Illinois and praising him as appropriate for the current political environment. But he qualified his comment by describing himself as pessimistic about Obama’s ability to change the way Washington works.

Frank described the current financial crisis as being “made unavoidable by a philosophy of government that regards business as its only constituent.” And while he stated that the Bush administration’s $700 billion figure for a bailout came “out of Paulson’s ass,” refering to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, he conceded that the government must still take action.

Frank peppered his talk with wisecracks, joking that he was the “opening act” for “Blood Frenzy”—the horror movie the theater was showing after the talk—and complaining about the malfunctioning microphone’s “liberal electronics.”

He also commented on the recent Interior Department scandal in which department regulators were found to be sexually involved with businesspeople in the industry they regulate. He said, “We joke about administrators being ‘in bed’ with industry—for these guys, that was no metaphor!”

The crowd was responsive to the talk, laughing along and forming a long line for book-signing following the lecture.

“He’s very charismatic and learned,” said Zachary R. Smith, a graduate student at the Divinity School. “I was kind of surprised at how outrageous it got, but it was a good outrageous.”