This former Presidential candidate said that politics kept us from drilling for needed oil in ANWR, that we needed to reduce federal spending, and reform our out of control tax code, and while governor made it easier to fire bad teachers.

The candidate I’m referring to is not Mitt Romney, it’s Mike Huckabee. The degree to which Huckabee has been painted as a liberal by some conservative media outlets is stunning. In his book, “From Hope to Higher Ground,” Huckabee lays out his thoughts on America in an accessible volume.

Huckabee’s book, like his speeches, ads, etc., is written by him. This is a great distinction from most politicians, who usually have a ghost writer do the dirty. He took great pride in this fact that this is his own work. In his twenties, Huckabee did some ghost writing and was in no need of hiring someone to do the dirty work of laying out vision. What we get here is the straight Huck.

From Hope to Higher Ground is also atypical of most political works as Huckabee doesn’t circumscribe a specific government solution to every problem. Huckabee writes that America is a troubled nation, and his book is written almost as a self-help book for American politics and is written with the same 12 Stop Organization as Huckabee’s weight loss book, “Quit Digging Your Grave With Your Knife and Fork.” At the end of each chapter is a list of 12 things you can do to address the issues raised in that chapter. These are not solutions of government force, but of individual citizens changing their own lives and habits to make the country better one person at a time.

Perhaps, Talk Radio’s reaction to Huckabee could be explained by his recommendation at the end of Chapter 1, “Listen to more music and less talk radio.” He also suggested watching more TV Land and Nick at Nite. I have yet to find a big contribution from Viacom, though some may be suspicious.

Which brings us to Huckabee’s first stop, “Stop Being Cynical.” This was apt as public cynicism hurt his campaign more than anything else. His chapter “Stop Thinking Horizontally” makes a good case that it doesn’t just matter what we accomplish in politics, but whether the way we practice politics leads America forward.

In Chapter 3, “Stop Cheating Our Children” lays out Huckabee’s views and record on public education. While, Huckabee garnered the endorsement of the New Hampshire chapter of the NEA, he was never quite as popular with the Arkansas branch. Huckabee supported chartered schools and made it easier to fire incompetent teachers. Huckabee set goals, demanded results, and held schools accountable for achieving them. Huckabee also advocates for art and music education, arguing that it improves overall creativity, which he argues is vital in improving overall academic performance.

Of course, Huckabee’s education record has come under fire for his opposition to vouchers in the state. While Huckabee didn’t address this in the book, in interviews he’s mentioned the fact that many parochial school administrators opposed the plan for fear that vouchers would lead to a government takeover of their school, while other private schools were too expensive for the voucher to cover.

In Chapter 4, “Stop the Culture of Chronic Disease,” Huckabee lays out some stunning statistics on the nation’s state of chronic diseases. Chronic diseases caused by preventable behavior like smoking and poor diet will kill 700,000 Americans this year. Child obesity is leading to expanding childhood diseases and even death at young ages. Yet Huckabee doesn’t prescribe government as the big problem solver, declares his opposition to government as the “Sugar Sheriff” and the “Grease Police” and in fact points out how government action in favor of tobacco, including the distribution of free cigarettes in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as government commodities that “encourage the serving of mass amounts of unhealthy trans fats and high fructose corn syrup” have contributed to the nation’s health problem. Rather Huckabee advocates for changes in the culture and points to small efforts he made at prevention, including giving state employees walking breaks, and eliminating deductibles for certain tests and screenings that could allow diseases to be caught early and addressed in a less expensive way.

While many might expect, “Stop Abusing Our Planet” to be an extreme environmentalist screed, he defines himself as a conservationist. Huckabee writes that drilling in ANWR and on the continental shelf has been held up by politics and complains about the nation not expanding its refining capability, while also urging that we consider nuclear power. While he regrets calling those who think rodents are more important than human beings environmental wackos, he still believes it. The one thing I can fault Huckabee for in this chapter is his support of biofuels, which have not worked well and are driving up food prices.

“Stop the Revenge Based Criminal Justice System” addresses the issue of Huckabee’s pardons and clemencies in Arkansas, and, more importantly, the criminal justice system in general. Huckabee tries to strike a middle ground between the permissive ‘70s and the three strikes and you’re out policies of the ‘90s. He believes in rehabilitation as a goal, particularly with non-violent drug offenders that make up much of the inmate population throughout this country. The financial cost is huge and Huckabee also sees the issue of character in our society as central to the issue of crime, which is quite refreshing as many politicians, including my home state governor, seem to miss the point.

In “Stop Robbing the Taxpayers,” Huckabee lays out a defense of his economic record, pointing to the array of tax cuts he issued during Arkansas’ prosperous years, and explaining the process that led to tax increases towards the end of his tenure with a combination of falling revenues, increasing prison populations, and court rulings requiring more spending on education and Medicaid.

Huckabee points to a fact that many critics seem to miss or ignore and which is critical in evaluating the Arkansas record. Every year, Huckabee was in his office, he faced an overwhelmingly Democratic Arkansas legislature, with 75-90% of the seats held by the other party from session to session, but also his veto could be overridden by a simple majority, thus leaving Huckabee with an almost meaningless heckler’s veto. This often led to confusing situations. For example, Huckabee signed a bill regulating homeschoolers, but the bill came about as a result of a far stricter bill introduced by Democrats. A homeschooling father serving in the legislature wrote the bill Huckabee signed in an attempt to head off the Democrats’ bill.

This is the difficulty of evaluating governors, as the system varies from state to state. Would Arkansas have been better off had Huckabee dug in his heals and become a human veto machine, turning out vetoes as fast as the legislature could override them? Had he taken such a combative stance, would he have gotten pro-life legislation, capital gains tax cuts, and education reform through the legislature? Could someone else have been elected who could have done a better job? These questions are key in evaluating Huckabee’s governance in many areas, not just taxes.

“Stop the Heat and Turn on the Light” focuses on hot button issues. His section in this chapter on illegal immigration is the least comfortable and explains in part why Tom Tancredo (R-CO) dropped out of the race to Stop Huckabee. Despite his signing of anti-Amnesty pledges from Numbers USA and Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and coming forward with a solid no amnesty plan, he’s still tagged as an amnesty supporter, and with the words in Chapter 8, he’ll have a lot of trouble escaping that label. And of course whether his switch was a sincere change of heart, a flip flop, or Huckabee choosing to listen to voters will be a matter of debate. However, Huckabee, to his credit, was able to convince border hawks Jim Gilchrist and Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) of his sincerity on the issue, and that’s good enough for me.

Chapter 8 does, however, include a very strong defense of the second Amendment, which should have gained him the support of gun owners groups, but didn’t. Huckabee, if elected, would probably be the most pro-gun President in office in modern history.

Chapter 9 on Foreign Policy, he defends the Iraq War, but doesn’t lay out a strong policy vision overall.

“Stop Moving the Landmarks of Liberty” may be the most unusual chapter. Huckabee warns America is in a dangerous state, and parallels our current cultural situation with the Five reason for Rome’s Decline that Edward Gibbons noted in his class on the Rise and Fall of Rome. It’s not the usual stuff of Presidential candidates, and it’s worth a read. Some people may no longer view him as simply a nice guy who might make an interesting talk show.

Chapter 11 goes from the rise and fall of Rome to farm and business policy. Huckabee defends the Arkansas-based Wal-Mart with a passion and also argues for farm subsidies, as well as tort reform.

“Stop Being a Selfish Citizen” represents a call to action for people to run for office and support candidates. It ties together nicely the other themes of the book, and for people interested in running for office, it ties together his theme. Huckabee seems to be aware that the nation faces severe problems and that a lot of people need to become involve to solve them.

Huckabee’s book has something for everyone. If you’re looking for quotes to cherry pick for opposition research, you can find them. If you’re looking to find things to disagree with Huckabee on, you’ll find it: from farm subsidies to support for ethanol, I’ll admit that Huckabee is not right on everything.

This book, however, is not for you if you don’t want to be challenged. The people who are seeking an instant fix messiah won’t find one. Rather, Huckabee offers real understanding on a variety of issues. Huckabee sees the root causes of many key problems and is willing to address them. More than that, he sees situations where the government is not the primary problem solver. It comes down to average Americans. The question Huckabee raises is whether we’ll meet the challenge.