To read Wayne Allyn Root, one would think his is a household name. After all, according to his bio, Root “is a popular TV and radio host, entrepreneur extraordinaire, and one of America’s leading professional strategists and soothsayers.”
But, if you haven’t heard Root’s name you will. He aspires to be a United States Senator. And when he runs, the manic self-promoter will make sure everyone knows his name and the message laid out in his latest book, Millionaire Republican: Why Rich Republicans Get Rich-And How You Can Too!
Ostensibly, Root makes his living predicting the results of various sporting events. He is the CEO of GWIN Inc., America’s only publicly traded sports handicapping company. But, what really makes “Wayne’s World” go round is round-the-clock self-promotion, something he believes all rich Republicans do, and something he advises his readers to do.
Millionaire Republican is part polemic, part investment guide, part autobiography, and part self-help book. Root frames the book around the bestseller, Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
Root contends that rich dads are Republicans and poor dads are Democrats, painting each group with the broadest of brushes: Republicans being entrepreneurs who own their lives. They think positively, attend church, are married, physically fit, and take risks that earn millions and create jobs. Democrats are renters who play it safe, work 9-to-5 jobs, think negatively, are protesters, join unions, smoke, drink, are overweight and likely to be poor.
Root is at his best with a chapter entitled: “Big Fat Liberal Lies: Taxes and the Wealthy.” He points out that the Founding Fathers led a revolution over tax rates that were miniscule compared to today’s. He goes on to make the case that taxes do not enhance the quality of life in a community. High-tax states and cities are crumbling and offer a worse quality of life unless you are a politician, government employee or on government assistance. Taxes don’t help struggling immigrants because taxes decrease the amount of available capital and decrease the amount of money people keep. Thus, immigrants (and all middle class and poor Americans) are stuck being wage earners, unable to start their own businesses.
Before finally letting the reader in on his “18 Republican Secrets of Mega-Wealth and Unlimited Success,” Root spends a chapter on why Republicans will dominate the country for the next several years. He believes that the demographics and economics of America do not support Democrats. Home ownership levels are nearly 70 percent (and most homeowners vote Republican). More people are now invested in the stock market (and most stockholders vote Republican). Root also makes the laughable contention that young voters were convinced by George Bush that the “GOP is the party of solutions and creative ideas.”
Root argues that people are moving to red states to live more prosperously, enjoying lower taxation and smaller government, using his hometown of Las Vegas as his primary example. But, he should look at the blue-red voting map of the United States by county. He’d see that Clark County is blue along with multiple counties in Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Florida and Colorado. The fact is the high population areas of virtually every state were Kerry country in 2004 and will likely continue that way, as more and more people become tax consumers.
Root then goes on to assess the strengths and weaknesses of presidential candidates for both sides, contending that Republicans have all the great candidates and Democrats have none.
Root’s secrets primarily involve moving to western and southern states that are tax and business friendly, and starting your own business and owning real estate in those states. Gaming stocks are a good bet according to Root, along with Chinese and Indian equities. Root’s wife home-schools their three children and he advises others to do the same. Donate to charity and Republican candidates, take advantage of all breaks in the tax code, and praise God.
Many of Root’s insights and suggestions are valuable. And his call for lower taxes and smaller government is right on. But he requires the reader to just take his word for many of the assertions he makes without providing sources or footnotes. And his low tax, small-government message falls flat when he repeatedly gushes over George Bush when in fact Bush is presiding over the largest expansion of government since LBJ. Root should realize that Bush exemplifies the millionaires born with a silver spoon in their mouths that Root mocks in Chapter 5, subtitled “The Lucky Sperm Club.”
