Thomas Frank’s Wrecking Crew

Thomas Frank wrote a book last year entitled "The Wrecking Crew" which he’s revised and re-published this year to account for developments after the Presidential election. Tonight, he spoke at the Central Library. He entertained a very large crowd downstairs in the main hall with his wit and humor about a topic which can tend not to be so.

The premise of his book proposes that conservatism equates to market-based government, that conservatives believe government should be small and outsource the functions of government, that good public servants are an inherent danger to the conservative cause which seems in his mind to be "to maintain the strength and vitality of free markets." Quite a mouthful there.

Today, I read portions of his book and viewed a book talk online in order to understand his views. What I looked for were possible solutions to his observations about how DC has become a center for government contracting and lobbying. His talent seems to be telling the story in a very witty and entertaining way, with irony, and a matter-of-fact method that engages the reader nicely. I like his writing style.

The Capitol has for a very long time been a lucrative cash cow for contracting agencies, think tanks and lobbyists. It becomes more profitable each year. Talk to people in the area now for instance and they’ll remark…”what recession?”

In all this, I’m not certain if this trend of market based, military industrial complex style government can change. Such is the way it is now.

I think the reality does not fall upon the shoulders of the conservatives only. Government business is the business of politics, really. It appears to me to be the way of both parties. Frank’s observations told a good story, and despite sounding in some instances like a spooky diabolical story, the story described how things operate now in DC. So be it.

My interest is in trying to understand where this trend could lead…for example, I see the possibility that the defense aspects of government could over time be outsourced even more so than now, to the point that the unformed services occupy the Pentagon only…as a contract oversight department. Could West Point become a defense contracting business school someday? I see that we are heading in that direction.