Reality, A Plain-Talk Guide to Economics, Politics. Government and Culture Monday, January 11, 2016

Wikipedia quotes Mike Rosen describing himself in the Rocky Mountain News as an “advocate for generally right-center, mainstream conservative ideas.” It will be interesting to hear, assuming he feels so inclined, how he unpacks that with reference to the current slate of candidates for the 2016 presidential nomination. His recently published book, Reality, A Plain-Talk Guide to Economics, Politics, Government and Culture (Deer Track Publishing, 2015) starts with a dedication to “Two irreplaceable minds.” It is referring to economist Dr. Milton Friedman, who called himself a Libertarian, and to the conservative publisher, columnist, and writer William F. Buckley, Jr., both of whom died in 2008. Both men were “my intellectual heroes and mentors.” So that tells us the basic mindset from which Mike’s views derive. The views include smaller government, reduced spending, reduced entitlements, less bureaucracy, lower taxes, greater personal freedom and others generally familiar as Republican talking points. The book is a collection of Mike Rosen’s commentary on a wide range of issues dating from the present back to the 1990s. He is an excellent writer and if you want to know what the conservative position is or was on almost anything, Reality is a great resource to have.