Hello all:

After this latest drubbing at the polls, it's obvious that the Republican Party is going to have to re-think its organization over the next couple of years and place an emphasis on new candidate recruitment and education at all levels.

What books would you recommend to people seeking political office, perhaps for the first time, which would inform them toward an inspired new way of communicating the timeless principles of conservative thought?

If a

Hello Ann,

I had an identical reaction to the election results so I did some research. I'm a fan of NR's Jonah Goldberg, so I when I did a Google search for books about conservative thougt and philosophy, I found that Jonah had written a column about this very topic:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTQ1NDI5NzQ5NmQ5Nm...MjVlNmYxYzJlNDc5Zjg=

Critics of Ronald Reagan focus on his acting career when discussing his impact on modern politics. What they don't know, (or at least acknowledge), was his knowledge of the conservative philisopht of Hayek and Von Mises and his long friendship with William F Buckley.

There is no doubt that he had a gift for stagecraft and it helped him in his political career, but there is a difference between just delivering lines and believing them. I'm pretty sure he believed them. You only get that kind of belief through study, (sort of like Christianity).

I don't know if I'm, "the guy", who can start a wholesale conservative resurgence. I can, however, guarantee that I won't even be any help if I don't know the product I'm selling at least as well or better than the guy selling from the left.

My $.02 anyway. Happy Thanksgiving.