Richard Parker’s newest book, Lone Star Nation, is described as a provocative and eye-opening look at the most explosive and controversial state in America, where everything is bigger, bolder—and shaping our nation’s future in surprising ways by Amazon.
Karen Olsson reviewed the book for the New York Times.
She says:
Parker’s short book caters to lighter appetites: It’s a tray of Texas nibbles. Included are a capsule history of the state; personal reminiscence and travels; policy analysis; a look at the 2014 governor’s race; and man-on-the-street (or woman-in-the-Starbucks) interviews, not to mention a list of 300 famous Texans and three pages of Texas-related quotations.
Olson says the book tends to bow under the weight of the author’s impulses, missing the mark recounting a series of six migrations into the state, and overstating the case that until 2000 Texas seemed immutable. She comments the author is on more solid ground when outlining the challenges of the population boom, educating the young, and meeting growing water demands in the midst of drought and climate change.
John Daniel Davidson reviewed the book for The Wall Street Journal.
He says:
When conservatives and liberals talk about Texas, they are talking about two different things. Conservatives think Texas is important because its booming economy shows how limited government, low taxes and light regulation can create prosperity. Liberals, by contrast, see Texas as the poster child for conservatives’ refusal to provide a sufficient safety net for the poor. But Mr. Parker’s account is surely the first to try to argue that the state’s booming economy, the so-called Texas Miracle, is mostly the result of “simple dumb luck” and has almost nothing to do with conservative public policy over the past 20 years.
Davidson goes on to point out the author does not discuss how fracking has flooded swaths of Texas countryside with jobs and transformed sleepy west Texas towns like Midland and Odessa into 21st-century boomtowns.
It’s an astonishing omission and reveals a troubling blindness on Mr. Parker’s part. California hasn’t seen this kind of boom, yet it has the largest shale-oil reserves in America. Instead it is Texas that is now producing 36% of all U.S. oil. Could it have something to do with the role of state government—not in creating jobs outright but in allowing markets to work? The author doesn’t even ask, claiming instead that the narrative of conservative policies creating an economic success story is “entirely false.”
The author also makes no mention of the overall size of Texas’ government, which is paltry compared with New York and California. Indeed, California extracts 42% more in total state income than Texas does. California could abolish its income tax, or its sales tax, and still collect more taxes than Texas.
Mr. Parker has no time for such pernicious details. He is optimistic about Texas’ future—but only if government inserts itself more actively in the lives of Texans. The three major challenges facing Texas, in his view, are “demographic change, climate change, and upward mobility.”
