"Rome Wasn’t Burnt in a Day" by Joe Scarborough: a Review

As the cover states, this is, “The Real Deal on How Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Other Washington Barbarians Are Bankrupting America.

“For readers seeking partisan insults instead of political insights, I can assure you that your local bookstore will provide scores of titles guaranteed to reinforce any preexisting prejudices one might harbor against a wide array of political enemies. But this is not such a book. The goal here is to show you how Washington truly functions by taking you behind the closed doors of Congress, into Oval Office meetings, onto Air Force One, and deep inside the corridors of power to which few Americans are granted access,” (pg. 6). So begins Joe Scarborough’s new book “Rome Wasn’t Burnt in a Day”.

Scarborough’s book deals simultaneously with three subjects. The first is a memoir of his time as a Congressman from Pensacola, Fl circa 1994 – 2001. The second theme is a tell-all about the scandalous waste and corruption that steers that the federal government and makes short work of those like him or John McCain whom would seek to reform the government. The third theme offers suggestions on how to heal the sickness within Washington DC, presumably without having your life and/or livelihood snuffed out like a mafia snitch.

“Rome etc.” is a pretty concise book that gets right to the point about government waste and spending. One of the major topics covered is a subject near and dear to my heart, the absolutely absurd amount of money spent on farm subsidies. Anyone that follows this should know that farm subsidies are one of the biggest bones of the contention against the US in terms of the global free market economy. We pay farmers unseemly amounts of tax dollars not to grow crops in order to inflate prices and create demand. Then on top of that, we don’t buy cheap (FDA approved) food from “third world” countries, which would prime the pump of international economies. Essentially the message we are sending the world is, “Open up your markets to us, but for your market’s, go scratch!” While Scarborough doesn’t go into nearly this much detail about the international offense of the US farm subsidies, he does mention the domestic waste and corruption it portends. So much so that while I was reading about it, I nearly cheered that someone other than Bill Maher and I have noticed the damage farm subsidies or welfare if you will have caused.

A great deal of the book also deals with the Newt Gingrich saga and the Contract With America. I wasn’t following politics at the time so this was new to me. Scarborough also deals with Bill Clinton, the budget battles and the government shutdown. There’s also a great deal of time spent on Gingrich’s removal as Speaker of the House due to his duplicity on said Contract With America and those whom supported him. Along the way he speaks of how the establishment is run on the iron law of party loyalty. He regales tales of how and some other bright eyed freshmen Congressmen of 1994 came to DC seeking real reform and were shown in short order that the ruling elite are not to be trifled with.

Finally, Scarborough ends the book with the real reasons he left public office and deals with some of the rumors that circulated after he retired back to Pensacola.

Scarborough treats the subject material fair as he skewers both the Democrat and Republican parties equally for being irresponsible with the public treasury. He admits at the end of the book that it was one thing to battle liberals such as Bill Clinton on spending but he did not want to have the same exact fight with President Bush, as most he assuredly would have.