AMERICAN DREAMS

Florida senator and conservative hero Rubio (An American Son, 2012) hits the hustings to proclaim a—surprise—right-wing economic platform.

It’s families that make us the best nation of all time. So what to do when, laments the author, we live in a time of “the easy acceptance of unwed motherhood and absent fathers, the ‘just do it if it feels good’ ethos”—and even gay marriage? If homosexuals are going to advocate for marriage equality, Rubio writes, then they’re going to have to listen to the moralizing of those “who continue to support traditional marriage.” Most of Rubio’s social proscriptions and prescriptions are war-on-Christmas stuff, with the usual tropes: Americans are exceptional; government is bad; Ronald Reagan was a saint; if there’s ever an issue that can be raised, it must be done against the background of all these tenets. Thus, for instance, the problem that faces retirees is not, say, the specter of outliving their money but instead the out-of-control government spending on such things as Social Security, Medicare and “Obamacare”—but not fighting undeclared wars half a world away. Some of Rubio’s proposed reforms are mild enough to be palatable, like a slice of American cheese. He even notes, with a finger to the populist wind, that “in a time when corporate profits are reaching record highs and wages are stagnating,” now might not be the best time to impose a flat tax or tinker with marginal rates. Ultimately, it never seems to occur to Rubio that his party’s fiscal policies have contributed to some of the miseries he enumerates (student debt, for one) or that the other guys might have an idea or two worth discussing.

Readers will know what’s coming before they turn the first page—no better or worse than the average politico prose; as to the contents, all will depend on point of view.