Barn Burning Barn Building covers 46 years of Texas political history, starting with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, a period when Democrats were still considered a respectable party in Texas. Or in Ben Barnes’ own words, "calling yourself a Democrat was like saying you had a pulse. Republicans were so scarce they had to hold a caucus in a telephone booth." In the book, Barnes argues that the Sharpstown Scandal that helped bring down the Democrats in the 1970s was engineered by the Nixon administration, and provides the administration’s own tapes as evidence.
Not merely a memoir, the book also considers the successes and failures of the Democratic Party with a sober, critical eye. The Democrats, Ben Barnes argues, have become a negative, partisan party that relies too heavily on simply opposing the Republicans. A positive campaign, one that emphasizes "barn building" over "barn burning," is what the party needs to reassert itself in Republican strongholds. Ben Barnes asserts that the Democrats should not pander to "single-issue" politics like gun control or abortion, advises Democrats to bring back the culture of bi-partisan pragmatism, emphasizing moderation, and argues for reclaiming religion and morality for the Democratic Party.
Since Ben Barnes’s political career ended over three decades ago, he has been an active lobbyist, businessman, corporate consultant, and philanthropist. But even while pursuing his other interests, he has maintained a strong connection with his political roots. In Barn Burning Barn Building, he draws on his political career to build a powerful and incisive critique of contemporary politics. Not only does Ben Barnes tell the colorful story of his own political rise and fall, he also discusses the lessons learned on the way down.