Conservatives Without Conscience

By: John W. Dean

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

John Dean's last New York Times best seller, Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush, offered the former White House insider's unique and telling perspective on George W. Bush's presidency. Once again, Dean employs his distinctive knowledge and understanding of Washington politics and process to examine the conservative movement's current inner circle of radical Republican leaders, from Capitol Hill to Pennsylvania Avenue to K Street and beyond.

In Conservatives Without Conscience, Dean not only highlights specific right-wing-driven GOP policies but also probes the conservative mind-set, identifying recurring qualities such as the unbridled viciousness toward those daring to disagree with them, as well as the big business favoritism that costs taxpayers billions. Dean identifies specific examples of how court packing is seeking to form a judiciary that is activist by its very nature, how religious piety is producing politics run amok, and how concealed indifference to the founding principles of liberty and equality is pushing America further and further from its constitutional foundations.

By the end, Dean paints a vivid picture of what's happening at the top levels of the Republican Party, a noble political party corrupted by its current leaders who cloak their actions in moral superiority while packaging their programs as blatant propaganda. Dean, certainly no alarmist, finds disturbing signs that current right-wing authoritarian thinking, when conflated with the dominating personalities of the conservative leadership could take the United States toward its own version of fascism.

©2006 John W. Dean (P)2006 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A penetrating and highly disturbing portrait of many of the major players in Republican politics and power...riveting." (Booklist, starred review)

"A fierce indictment of Republican politicians...the sheer outrage in Dean's book has power of its own." (Chicago Tribune)

Not Dean's Strongest Book

John Dean's biggest strength as a writer is to share history, in particular events that he personally saw and experienced. He has done that quite well in some of his other works. This book veers into social and political commentary that, while interesting, could have been written by almost any professional writer. He quotes and recounts so much of other people's work in the areas of psychology and sociology that it is, at times, hard to distinguish his own unique thinking from that of whom he quotes.

Overall I did find the material interesting, but not balanced in any way. There were few weighty comparisons to people on the opposite side of the political spectrum. I was disappointed by that fact. I wanted to better understand why people on the left think the way they do as much as those on the right. That probably was not the mission of this book but I wished it had been.

Pertinent reading in July 2017

Valuable observatioms, written about 10 years ago, and almost more important reading now than it was then.

Starts out strong

Any additional comments?

John Dean is uniquely qualified to write this book. The first chapter really says it all as he describes how the his own party came after him well after he had retired from politics. It is really on the strength of this chapter, or more to the point Dean's inside knowledge, that I can give this book 4 stars. Beyond this the insights of the book are an attempt to explain the character of the those individuals that came after him as well as many more in the current GOP leadership. Deans leans heavily on Bob Altemeyer's research on RWA and SDO personalities described in his book "Authoritarians", to provide a basis to explain the behavior of the present GOP.

I have read so many books regarding the present republican party ("Twilight of the Elites" by Christopher Hayes, "It's Even Worse Than it Looks" Norman Ornstein, "Authoritarians" by Bob Altemeyer, in addition to Dean's book), and including many written from their own perspectives (e.g., "The Visions of the Anointed" by Thomas Sowell, "The Road to Freedom" by Brooks, and the short lecture "What's the Matter with Kansas" by Thomas Frank). I long for the days when you could have a serious political discussion with your republican friends and walk away feeling like I both gained something. The feeling that you were both working from the same facts, just slightly different perhaps in the degree to which you could have faith in the free market to raise all boats. If you share this feeling, regardless of which side of the political spectrum, then you know the obsession with trying to understand what changed.

Dean's answer to what has changed is helpful, if not entirely original. He provides a perspective that is informed by his conservative roots and shares some personal discussions between Barry Goldwater and himself on the topic of the changes in the GOP.

The definitive work on R.W. Authoritarianism

What did you love best about Conservatives Without Conscience?

Very thorough, and very clear. I only wish he would do an updated version since the advent of the Tea Party during the Obama years.

Bad boys

John Dean's very fine book on the authoritarian conservative tradition is, despite its title, an excellent primer on contemporary American politics in general. Other writers, whose books are available from Audible, have noted that, at one time or another, both Democrats and Republicans have been the bad boys of Congress. LBJ stole, among other things, the 1948 Texas Senate election from Coke Stevenson (LBJ: Master of the Senate by Robert Caro). JFK was a randy, immoral, secretive executive willing to use the Mafia to topple Fidel Castro (Robert Kennedy: His Life by Evan Thomas). Nixon used the CIA to oust Salvador Allende from his elected presidency of Chile (Nixon and Kissinger by Robert Dallek) . It goes on and on. Amoral authoritarian behavior is not just Republican. It's the core of a life of political power.

Highly Perceptive

What made the experience of listening to Conservatives Without Conscience the most enjoyable?

The narration is excellent.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

Dean has an intelligent and perceptive understanding of the motivations and subsequent actions of a group of Americans who stop at nothing to get what they want.

Fantastic, clearly researched, smart

Dovetail this with ‘How Democracies Die’ and you will scare yourself to death.
So well done, except that detailed cryptic “Personalities” section in Chapters 2 & 3 do not lend well to this audio format.
For me, this is the kind of well researched, fact packed, yet still ‘story interesting’ book I love.
Obviously extensively researched.

Very informative!

This book will help introduce the reader to the nature of new age conservative thought.

Constitutional Democracy is at stake

John Dean, as a former Goldwater Republican, cannot be easily dismissed as a "loon" or "Republican hating". What he describes in this interesting, well written and researched book is the far right wing of conservatism that has taken over most of the power of all branches of the United States government at this time. These people are not "conservatives" as they have been known in the past.

Dean's book also explains how in a democracy a tiny minority can amass enormous power one would expect would arise from a super majority of the people. Dean alerts the reader to the true danger that lurks in the current regime's psychological and philosophical makeup. Nothing less than Constitutional Democracy is at stake.

When Personality and Power Collide

Dean's thesis is that many of the Republicans currently in power are authoritarian personalities with a lust for power. The former concept needs some explanation; an authoritarian personality (Adorno, et. al. 1950) is one who is enamored with convention and the authority, questioning neither and relying on punitive controls during times of crisis. Authoritarians reject the unusual and believe that difficult times support the suspension of rights. They are especially susceptible to rigid thinking in their concern with appearing powerful.

Dean pretty much gets it, spot on. He argues convincingly that Bush's great flaw is his personality characterized by a rigid world view and unthinking hubris leads him to impulsive decisions. More compelling than his analysis of Bush is his critique of Cheney's influence and how he would rather direct events from behind the scenes because this secrecy is instrumental in maintaining power. Such intellectual rigidity, sold to the public as necessities during a time of fear-sustaining national crisis, has lead the Cheney/Bush team to such intellectually bankrupt positions as threatening a veto of a defense appropriations measure because it carried McCain's anti-torture resolution, an action that would have denied the Defense Department without the funds needed for the war in Afghanistan. For Bush/Cheney, winning is more important that defending the laws of the United States, a conclusion well-supported by the 800 or so signing statements that collectively declare “We reserve the right to disregard legislative intent.”

Rest assured, this is a frightening read for those who are concerned about the direction the United States' executive branch, aided by a complicit Congress, has gone the past six years. Dean's book should stir those on the left and right to wrest back their government from those for whom power is more critical than principle or conscience. Highly recommended.