Last night, author and Wall Street Journal columnist Thomas Frank visited Chicago as part of his nationwide book tour.  Frank's most recent book, The Wrecking Crew, examines how "rather than cutting down the big government they claim to hate, conservatives have simply sold it off, deregulating some industries, defunding others, but always turning public policy into a private-sector bidding war."  Frank read from the book and took questions from a packed house at the Experimental Station in Hyde Park.  Progress Illinois filmed the event and has provided some video excerpts below.  

In this first clip, Frank describes how the movement conservatives within the Bush administration have staffed the Labor Department with "anti-labor activists."  He goes on to speak more broadly about the costs of conservatism -- "a philosophy of government that regards business as its only important constituent."  Finally,  Frank describes what he'd like to see on day one of an Obama administration:

In the second clip, Frank touches on the theme of his previous book, What's The Matter With Kansas?  He airs his grievances with the Democratic Party, particularly their failure to effectively fight back against Republicans' "fake class war" (most recently embodied by Sarah Palin's rhetoric on the campaign trail.) 

Noting that the Dow had dropped 500 points earlier in the day, Frank also states that "all the myths and shibboleths of the last 20 years are coming to pieces around us right now" and conservatives' "world is crashing down."  He adds, "The amazing thing would be if you had a Herbert Hoover situation ... and then reelected Herbert Hoover":