From the days of Barry Goldwater through his work for presidential candidate Steve Forbes, Philip Gold was an active and influential conservative. The Great Society of the ‘60s seemed like a scam to this poor Jewish kid from Pittsburgh, so off he went to Yale and thus began a thirty-year crusade for the Right as an Ivy League marine, a cog in the think-tank world, participant in political campaigns, and a Beltway defense intellectual in the ‘80s and ‘90s. But growing disillusionment with the creed and its people provoked his clean break from the Right in 2002. Lithely written yet earnest, peppered with humor and insight, Take Back the Right is an anecdotal tale of a Republican policymaker's breakup with the conservative movement. While regaling readers with personal and political tales, Gold explores the forces that prompted his opposition to the war in Iraq, his first published critiques of Bush and the neo-conservatives around him, and his dismay at the cultural conservatives who have alienated the party from its roots. Gold predicts that our country is facing its greatest crises since the 1850s as his book prepares readers for what lies ahead and how we can avert disaster.

Take Back the Right: How the Neocons and the Religious Right Have Betrayed the Conservative Movement

History

Gold, Philip

Military

Basic Books

A frustrating war and an endless occupation. The very real prospect of more conflict overseas. A military stretched beyond its breaking point. The stage is set for the resumption of the draft. Now, in an explosive and provocative book, Philip Gold, a former Marine and a disaffected conservative, reveals why selective service should never come to pass–but might. In The Coming Draft, Gold charts the path that brought us to this treacherous point and posits an “exit strategy” for America to change its course. In candid language and through authoritative research, he uncovers the flaws of forced enlistment from ancient to recent times and suggests serious and more effective methods to protect the homeland. “Plans/reality mismatch” is how Gold describes the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war. This conflict’s deadly, years-long duration–with overtaxed volunteer troops–has led to the Marines missing their monthly recruitment quotas by up to 25 percent, soldiers over sixty being called out of retirement to serve, and in some cases National Guard tours being extended to 2031. Though the House of Representatives made a show of voting against the draft idea in 2004, Gold believes that a collusion of neoconservatives and liberals could eventually cause conscription to be reinstated. The neocon argument for the return of universal conscription rests in the expectation that American military presence will need to increase in order to combat the spreading threat of terrorism, while the left wing hopes that the revival of the draft will expand the scope of the debate about U.S. military policy, thereby making American involvement in wars an issue that potentially touches every household. Asserting that selective service has been neither effective nor historically validated, The Coming Draft provides evidence that the Founding Fathers’ concept of common defense differed from our own and allowed for “proper refusal” in addition to service. More damning, Gold insists that starting with the Universal Militia Act of 1791, the draft has been rife with demoralizing corruption and bad faith, whether it was exceptions for civilian slave owners in the Civil War or loophole-laden systems from World War I to Vietnam. Gold’s practical and innovative alternatives include the redefinition of service (to include earthquake and weather-related relief work), and a drastic rethinking of the duties of the National Guard. All this, he believes, must begin with setting limits on any president’s ability to launch an undeclared war. Written with an acute awareness and fierce intelligence, The Coming Draft is an indispensable work for anyone who is, or who might have to be, a soldier–and any citizen concerned about the future of our country.

The Coming Draft: The Crisis in Our Military and Why Selective Service Is Wrong for America

Engineering & Transportation

Engineering

Presidio Press

Should Military Service be an Obligation of Citizenship?

Evasions: The American Way of Military Service

Americas

Paragon_House

Advertising, Politics, and American Culture: From Salesmanship to Therapy

Business & Money

President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld want to transform the military. 
The Pentagon, the Congress, and the bureaucrats want to spend money. 
The two are not the same. 
Transformation means dragging America's Defense establishment, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century. Transformation takes money. Transformation is about high technology. But it's also about changing organizations, cultures, ways of doing things, and making those changes relevant to the kinds of wars we have to fight. Transformation means that everything should be on the table.Business as usual is a luxury this country cannot afford, and dare not tolerate. Against All Terrors: This People's Next Defense explains why, and what needs to be done. This book is meant for all Americans who want to understand these new challenges and opportunities.

Against All Terrors: This People's Next Defense

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Discovery Institute

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Books by Gold, Philip