The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul
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Book Reviews of The Revolution: A Manifesto
Book Review: Let's Get Americans to Think Like Americans Again
Summary: 5 Stars
I've bopped around libertarian and conservative circles since 1994, and to be honest, my enthusiasm for the whole ball of wax has been pretty much tapped out for the past few years. Even last year, when I first heard legendary libertarian congressman Ron Paul was running for president as a Republican, I wasn't much interested. He'll just be marginalized and ignored, if he's not outright ridiculed, I thought.
Then a wonderful thing happened. Oh, Ron Paul has been alternately marginalized, ignored, and ridiculed by the usual suspects in government and the media. But thanks to the magic of the Internet, his message has nevertheless spread far and wide among a new generation of what Albert Jay Nock called the Remnant. He's set fundraising records and ignited a bona fide political movement for liberty. I guess I'm not the only one nauseated by the grim prospect of fascist warmonger John McCain facing off against socialist warmonger Hillary Clinton for the prize of becoming Emperor of the Dolts.
And here we have Ron Paul's campaign book. Campaign books by their nature have a very short shelf life and perform no useful task (for the reader); they're written only to make the candidate sound like a normal, warm human being with ordinary goals and values instead of a creepy, reptilian politician who gets sexually aroused only by the prospect of power and money.
Needless to say, The Revolution: A Manifesto is different. Anyone who has met Ron Paul -- or even just watched him on TV -- has already figured out that he is a normal, warm human being. He has nothing to prove in that arena. Instead, he has laid out, in simple and easy-to-understand terms, the case for freedom. Not freedom in that corrupted sense that pretends this or that government program will "help" us be happy -- but real, honest-to-God, traditional American freedom FROM government, just as our Founders intended.
Away with the tax collectors. Away with the bureaucrats. Away with the regulators. Away with the babysitters and busybodies. Away with every manner of petty tax-eating loser who would presume to tell us what to do with our lives and how to do it. Ron Paul represents what I hope is not the last of a long line of Americans who know what real freedom is and embrace it. To that end, this book should help ensure others will take up the cause -- before we are all really, really sorry.
In just 167 pages, Dr. Paul lucidly expounds matters of foreign policy, economics, civil liberties, monetary policy, the Constitution, and more. He provides plenty of quotations and other support to ground what he is saying firmly in authentic American tradition. He shows how appealing and even simple the message of freedom is, even in an age like ours, where it has again become "radical" to insist on strict boundaries for government, an entity that should properly be thought of as nightsticks and jackboots, not Christmas presents and candy.
For confirmed advocates of liberty, The Revolution will not offer much they don't already know. What the book does offer is a great introduction for the average American who has become accustomed to thinking that getting permission from the government is the same thing as freedom. The Revolution has the potential to re-orient Joe Sixpack's point of view back toward American ideals and away from the statist brainwashing he received in government school. To that end, you should get as many of your friends, neighbors, and family members as possible to read this book. It really can make a difference.
Let the revolution continue!
Book Review: A book from the man who should be the next President.
Summary: 5 Stars
After the "Super Tuesday" results came in and I was disappointed with how Ron Paul did in those primaries, I reverted to my characteristic cynicism and bitterness with the political process and decided that I no longer had a desire to support ANY politician, regardless of political philosophy and legislative history. I removed Ron Paul from my page, left the "Veterans for Ron Paul" facebook group that a fellow IVAW member started, and thought about removing my formal endorsement from the Congressman.
Since Barack Obama is going to be the next President, I decided to read his book in order to get to know the man who will be leading our country for the next four years. Silently, I had a desire to be swayed by his eloquent arguments. In the end, I was not swayed towards his policy or a decision to vote for him. He believes what he says, is well read in American history and political philosophy, but he's dead wrong and represents the "false choice politics" that Ron Paul opens his book discussing.
The reason I have given that information is to give myself a reminder of where I was mentally when I read "The Revolution." Completely disgusted with the political process, I was content with my cynicism. I was contemplating whether or not I was even going to vote. Then one Saturday after lunch with my parents, we strolled through the local book store and I picked up Ron Paul's latest book. Since "A Foreign Policy of Freedom" was such a letdown for me (I think it does a superb job of showing his historically consistent stance, but is horrible at articulating that stance if you are not already familiar with it.) I wanted to see if "The Revolution" would do a better job of explaining his policy beliefs and why he ran for office.
Having just finished this book, I can say that I have not been let down. Paul does a fantastic job of explaining his positions on the issues and why he decided to run in the first place. Although, it is depressing to realize that if Paul were allowed to participate in a substantive debate on issues, as opposed to the sound byte assembly line we saw in the run up to the primaries, he would have defeated the field of both parties' candidates and may have succeeded in winning a few states.
And that is where I think this book does the best. A few years into the Obama administration, when we're still in Iraq, our economy remains in recession or has collapsed, and the middle class is taxed into poverty, Republicans are going to look back and wonder why they nominated a flip-flopping senior citizen with anger management problems. When they are caught in this desire to look back and see where they went wrong, they are going to look into this Congressman from Texas who had a huge following of "Paul-tards" that they never took seriously. Hopefully, after reading Paul's first chapter concerning "The False Choices of American Politics," these people will have an epiphany. (I anticipate a few heads exploding as in the "Black White Supremacist" Dave Chappelle episode. When your entire world view collapses in the face of reality, it can have devastating consequences. I speak from first hand experience.) Hopefully, by then it will not be too late to do something and return our nation to its guiding principles of liberty.
Book Review: Let's Get Started!
Summary: 5 Stars
In "The Revolution: A Manifesto" Dr. Ron Paul, Congressman from Texas, presents a lucid and concise argument for a return to the principals upon which this nation was founded, Liberty and Freedom. This book will help to further explain his principals and ideas to a wider audience, although he was able to attract a wide range of followers during the campaign (even with the media blackout).
Containing only 7 chapters, this tome is still able to cover such topics as "The False Choices of American Politics", "The Constitution", "Civil Liberties and Personal Freedom", and "Money: The Forbidden Issue in American Politics" (just to name a few). In Chapter 1 Dr. Paul discusses the False choices we are presented with by the two major parties. When you sit down and read/listen to what they are truly presenting to us, there is little substantive differences between the two on a national level. Here is a quote "Even war doesn't really distinguish the two parties from each other. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry voted for the Iraq war. With the exception of Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel, even the Democrats who postured as antiwar candidates for the 2008 primary elections are not especially opposed to needless wars. They typically have a laundry list of other military interventions they would support..." ( page 2 ) This is what most American's have a hard time understanding, but many are slowly coming to realize. There is about a nickel's worth of difference between the two on a national level.
In Chapter 3 Paul discusses at great length the Constitution and, if you read no other chapter in this book, please read chapter 3. "Americans must remember that the Constitution was designed not merely to prevent the federal government from violating the rights that later appeared in the Bill of Rights. It was also intended to limit the federal government's overall scope." If only more people understood this idea. Most of my students in Government class will tell you (at least early on) that the Constitution gives us our rights. Not only is this false, it is dangerous!
Chapter 5 discusses Civil Liberties and Personal Freedoms, topics of great interest in this day and age. I could go on and on about how great this chapter is, but a few lines from the second paragraph will do much more than I ever could. "Government should respect our right to privacy rather than invading it on phony pretenses... And instead of trying to correct our bad habits at the point of a gun, it should defer to families and the normal channels of civil society to instruct people in moral conduct." (109) Dr. Paul hits the nail on the head. It is not the job of the government to correct our bad habits. It is here simply to protect our rights, as the Declaration of Independence says "To Secure our rights". As Paul says later on in the chapter, the Constitution was written to restrain government, not the people.
I could go on and break down each chapter, but I just wanted to give you a brief overview of the book. Believe me, this book is well worth the few hours it'll take for you to sit down and read it. By the time it is over you too will be a member of the Ron Paul Revolution!
Book Review: Georgia Washington
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm just an old lady who is now basically "just a homemaker"; I have no degrees in political science, etc. I'm a very ordinary person but I do believe I have an adequate amount of common sense. I love my country (with it's many imperfections). It is my home, I was born here. But, I sense my home needs to be protected and I need the help of my fellow countrymen who want to step up to the plate.
To begin with, I would give this book (REVOLUTION: A Manifesto) 5 stars because it is information that we critically need at this point in time in our nation (U.S.) In my opinion, the current status quo, politically speaking, is not up to par. We are too often settling for second-rate politicians who go into politics as a good "career" move and who covet the prestige, power and the "perks that come with the job."
Another good book I would suggest to all citizens of our country is:
"The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot" by Namomi Wolf. It is a small book - but it is packed with information that we should be aware of.
When I think of America, I see it is like a person who didn't have a home and that person worked hard and his neighbors united to help him build a house. This house was built very strong because the builders had a sincere desire to build a quality (strong) house that would be able to stand up to the storms they knew would come.
[Fast forward] Time passed and the owner of this fine house became lazy and didn't want to take the effort and time involved in the maintenance of his home. He became unhappy with the house and started adding many fancy and unnecessary additions to it without thoughtful planning - it became like a maze and people could actually got lost in it!
After the house became unmanageable for the owner, he realized he had a big problem. He reached out to his neighbors who had helped him build the original house and asked for their help. Alas, they gave all kinds of excuses about why they didn't have the time, etc. to help him.
You know without my telling you what can happens to such a house when the winds start blowing, and the storms get worse and worse.
Moral of the story: We have to 1) build a simple but strong house, and 2) when we realize that the house is falling apart because of poor decisions and lack of maintenance, we need to unite with those who have the skills and good character to help repair it.
For those who see the imperfections in our country: Instead of complaining, why don't you unite with others to do something to make things better. It's easy to just sit around and talk about all of the problems - that takes no effort on the individual's part. Get involved. Personally, I recommend Ron Paul Meetup groups. If there isn't one near where you live, you could start one of your own.
Or, you could participate by running for any political postion that you feel like you are qualified for. Talk with your friends and family and get their input. Not to sound "too patriotic", but I will leave you with this quote: "Now is the time for all good men [and women] to come to the aid of their country."
Book Review: The First Empire to Cheat Death
Summary: 5 Stars
It is becoming evident to most people that America is on the brink of a disaster. FDR is portrayed as a legend in America schools, while in reality he has probably done more harm, both economically, politically and morally, to the country than any other president. The Fed is portrayed (especially in K12 government schools) as some great mechanism that helps stem off financial bubbles that it in fact helps cause (I know, I have been to classrooms in which the teacher says this while proclaiming that the free market inherently has bubbles and that Jackson was a horrible man for opposing a central bank). And the government is portrayed as saving everyone from themselves and from the horrible conditions that existed before government intervention (I can remember a pointed lecture about the benefits of and justifications for child labour legislation that I latter found to be utterly false).
Some may accuse Ron Paul of voting in opposition to the moral principles he espouses. Yet he explains why not all his votes are 'beneficial' to the working man. Many of the legislative acts would actually hurt the 'working man', but they are postured to help the 'working man' by well place politicians. Take the various farm subsidy bills floating around, many are pitched as 'helping' to 'the poor middle America farmer' who is usually not poor and does not need the subsidies, which in either case the subsidies actually go to the rich, well-connected farmers that those who might actually need it. There are many other issues - such as free trade agreements (i.e. NAFTA) which he might vote against, not because he dislikes free trade, but because this particular implementation of it is actually harmful to freedom because it is not true free trade - where he votes in this manner because the law in question does much more harm than good. Lastly, why bring into question a man's voting record when he is spreading the ideas which a later generation with more political momentum can change?
I only wish the major networks (CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc.) would actually report the news correctly and hire news anchors and reporters who had some economic or political teaching. The more I watch the news, the more I am sickened daily by their outright lies and deceit. It is time to do something about this, and Ron Paul is a true representative. Let us hope we will soon discover more House members being elected who share his sentiments.
This is an amazing piece of work, happy to say I have already read some of his suggested reads, but will continue to read through the rest. I will surely borrow this book out to friends until it is worn, it is well worth the price of admission to be able to hopefully change at least one mind.
As Dr. Benjamin Carson recently said in a speech, "America can become the first empire to reach the brink of collapse, but by the strength of its institutions, stave off and finally reverse that collapse and return to prosperity." And to do that, we need to revert back to what the Founding Fathers envisioned, a free America.