Shortly after the general election Huckabee inked a deal with Fox News to host a weekend television show and wrote Do the Right Thing, a book centered on Huckabee’s own conservative political beliefs interspersed with folksy stories from the campaign trail. 

 

Huckabee begins the book by explaining why he became a Republican at a young age, even though both his parents were Democrats. He states as a teenager he went to work for a local radio station owner who took him under his wing and showed him the ropes of the business world. As this relationship grew, Huckabee began to realize the differences between the two political parties. He writes:

 

Even as a young man, I realized that the Democrats and Republicans view the world through different lenses. Democrats focus on government, and we focus on the individual. Democrats put their faith in government, and we put our faith in people. Democrats give government more control over our lives, and we give individuals more control over their own destinies.

 

 In the book Huckabee visits familiar territory for his supporters, including dedicating chapters to the Fair Tax, the sanctity of life and health care reform, as well as opining on more random topics like Cher concerts. These quirky observations, along with Huckabee’s natural storytelling style, keep the tone of his writing light, even as he discusses serious topics.

 

Early in the book, Huckabee visits the topic of abortion, an issue particularly close to his heart. He writes, “All other issues pale in comparison to whether we respect and honor others in the same way we want to be treated.” Many conservatives find this approach refreshing among Republican politicians who often get more worked up about errant earmarks than sanctity of life issues.

 

While arguing that life begins at conception, Huckabee smartly points out that abortion rights activists have had to “completely sacrifice science for their own selfish stand.” He reasons that “as medical science continued to advance, the point of viability continued to move earlier and earlier” making obsolete the old argument abortion advocates frequently use concerning the baby’s viability outside of the mother’s womb. After giving his reasons for being pro-life, Huckabee uses the rest of the chapter to share inspiring stories he encountered on the campaign trail, including meeting a small girl who was a frozen embryo for four years before being implanted in her eventual mother. Huckabee writes that most of these embryos are usually destroyed during research and are never given the chance to live. 

 

Another topic important to Huckabee is the Fair Tax. He states he has always believed our tax system was “badly broken.” In fact, he writes that it’s so broken it can’t even be fixed “with duct tape and WD-40.”

 

Huckabee explains that when the campaign began he was a proponent of the flat tax – a fixed rate that is consistent or “flat” regardless of the income level. After rallies he was approached a number of times where many would ask him what he thought of the Fair Tax. He replied that he thought our tax system should be fair only to be greeted by puzzled looks and expressions. It was only after a number of these encounters that he realized what the Fair Tax actually was. As he began studying the Fair tax, the more he realized how much he liked it. Huckabee writes:

 

Under the Fair Tax, no one would be taxed – that is, penalized – for their work, investments, savings or earnings. After all, we want people to work, save, invest, and create capital, so we should cease to penalize it at all. Income tax rates would be zero. Corporate tax would be zero. Payroll taxes would disappear. Savings and investments would no longer be subject to complicated to the complicated tax codes. The tax rate on capital gains would be zero. There would be no paycheck deductions. 

 

He continues:

 

So how would the government generate revenue? The Fair Tax would shift taxes from what we earn to what we buy – to a consumption tax. We would pay taxes not when we earned something but when we bought something at the retail level that was new and therefore had not already been subject to the tax. By taxing consumption instead of production, we encourage earning, work, risk taking in the marketplace, investment, saving, selling for a profit, and entrepreneurial activity. No one will have to try to find a way of hiding his or her efforts because we will finally reward people for their output.

 

Huckabee believes the Fair Tax would also help eliminate the underground economy as criminals and illegal aliens would pay the same taxes as everyone else. 

 

Yet, while Huckabee goes into detail to discuss these issues and more, the overriding theme of the book is to call citizens to “do the right thing.” It is this message, and not Huckabee’s stances on various other topics, that make this book so valuable to the ongoing “What does it mean to be a conservative?” conversation today. Huckabee understands, like few modern conservatives do, that limited government and freedom-embracing democracy can only work when a populace possesses virtue.  This truth is vastly forgotten in most conservative circles today, even though Edmund Burke and John Adams, in many respects the fathers of American conservatism, harped that virtue was necessary for a free society.  Huckabee explains:

 

This ideal is simple to understand and pretty uncontroversial. It’s common sense but uncommonly difficult to find. Each individual would govern himself or herself by a moral code of respect and honor essentially based on the premise of the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This isn’t just a Christian principle, but a universal one. A free people desiring intense personal liberty can obtain that only in the presence of ethical behavior toward one another, their environment, and themselves. It is sheer folly to separate personal liberty from personal responsibility. Period. 

 

As sophisticated and enlightened as it may sound to say, “Government shouldn’t tell people what they can do,” government is forced into that position when people fail to govern themselves.

 

This is what many conservatives and libertarians touting limited government and personal freedom often miss. Huckabee continues:

 

Those on the Left don’t want to accept that morality is the defining issue in our society, and conservatives don’t want to accept that lower taxes and less civil government is not a cause but an effect of moral behavior…Both sides miss the real issue – if we want less civil government (as conservatives desire) or more civil liberties (as liberals desire), the answer is having more civil people who govern themselves by living their lives according to the moral code of behavior that asserts it is unacceptable to lie, cheat, hurt, disrespect, or murder another person. 

 

It is ultimately this theme that makes this book a valuable addition to a conservative’s library. By reintroducing virtue as a vital feature of a free society, Huckabee does conservatives a favor by explaining why morality is still a relevant topic in a postmodern and pluralistic society. 

 

As good as the book is, there are still a few things I wish Huckabee had thought twice about before inclusion. Near the end of the book he encourages young people to volunteer but only mentions federal government programs like the Peace Corps and fails to mention volunteering for private religious or charitable organizations, a puzzling omission from someone of Huckabee’s background. In the same chapter he advocates the idea of a National Service Academy, which would train young people “to be civilian leaders at the federal, state and local level.” In return for a four year college education these students would agree to serve for five years in public service after graduation. This only sounds like an expensive way to train government bureaucrats. 

 

Huckabee also reserves some harsh criticism for his former political rival Mitt Romney. While I believe Huckabee would have made a better president than Romney, some of his criticism seemed overboard for a fellow Republican – at the end of the day they’re both on the same team.  A few editing mistakes were also peppered throughout the book, distracting from the book’s message and reflecting poorly on the editor

 

Overall, Mike Huckabee proves he was not merely a flash-in-the-pan presidential candidate and still has a lot to offer in terms of leadership and ideas for the Republican Party.   For those who followed and voted for Huckabee, the campaign trail stories are worth the price of the book alone. Conservatives could read this book to gain valuable insight into several issues our country is facing today and why limited government only works when it’s accompanied by self-government.