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“West's Encyclopedia of American Law” is 13 volumes and 5,000 entries of comprehensive information on the fascinating American Legal System and its components. Covering historical and current terms, concepts, events, movements, cases, and persons significant to U.S law, West’s has been written, updated, and reviewed by lawyers and professors with the everyday user in mind.Everyone from the layperson hooked on the weekly TV courtroom procedural to the serious student can find such valuable information as brief definitions of legal jargon, exhaustive examinations of courtroom procedure, explanations of complex topics such as civil rights, biographies of standout attorneys, analyses of controversial issues, and transcripts of crucial Supreme Court decisions.

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Wayne Allyn Root (born July 20, 1961) is an American politician, entrepreneur, television and radio personality, best-selling author and political commentator. He was the 2008 Libertarian Party vice-presidential nominee. He is currently considered the frontrunner for the 2012 Libertarian Presidential nomination. Root began his career as a professional sports handicapper, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. His political talk radio show,W.A.R: The Wayne Allyn Root Showis broadcast in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Root is a frequent guest on several nationally syndicated radio shows such as Savage Nation, The Jerry Doyle Show, and Mancow's Morning Madhouse. He has also made made numerous appearances on various programs on the Fox News Channel. He is a frequent speaker at Tea Party events across the United States. Root's political columns appear in the Las Vegas Review Journal and at Newsmax.com. He is a Senior Economic Advisor to Wealth Masters International, a global financial services and education company based in Houston, Texas. At the 2008 Libertarian National Convention, Root was eliminated on the fifth ballot in a bid for the presidential nomination, and subsequently became the vice presidential candidate alongside Libertarian nominee Bob Barr. Root was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of the late David and Stella Root. His father was a butcher from Brownsville, Brooklyn, who dabbled in third party politics as one of the original founders of the New York State Conservative Party. Root graduated as Valedictorian from his high school, Thornton-Donovan School, then graduated from Columbia University in 1983 as a Political Science major (in the same class as President Barack Obama) He has been married to Debra Root for over 17 year... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=8896161 ... Read more

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Chapters: Stanisław Tymiński, George Dance, Jean-Serge Brisson, Neil Reynolds, Alex Eaglesham. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 24. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Stanisaw "Stan" Tymiski (Polish pronunciation: ; born January 27, 1948 in Pruszków) is a Canadian businessman of Polish origin, dealing in electronics and computers, and a sometime-politician in both Poland and Canada. Despite being completely unknown in his native Poland until shortly before the 1990 presidential election, and making bold political statements, he surprisingly emerged from the first ballot as the second strongest candidate, defeating liberal prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki and forcing Solidarity leader Lech Wasa to stand a second ballot. After Wasa defeated him by a wide margin, Tymiski was a leader of Party X in Poland (19901995) and finally returned to Canada to resume his business activities. In 2005, he surprisingly announced he would stand in that year's presidential election. In 1990/1991, Tymiski led the Libertarian Party of Canada, a minor party which never received more than 0.25% of the vote. At the same time, however, he started a spectacular but short-lived political career in his native Poland, where democracy had just been reestablished. In the first free presidential elections on November 25, 1990, the two most promising candidates were Solidarity leader Lech Wasa and prime minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki. Wasa, the electrician, union leader and people's tribune, had the image of an emotional, shirtsleeves populist, while lawyer and former Solidarity legal advisor Mazowiecki appeared as a more respectable and intellectual, but also more formal compromiser. Tymiski, initially completely unknown in Poland, ran as a maverick candidate. Against all expectations he overtook Mazowiecki (18.1%) w...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1620685 ... Read more

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New York Election Law - Libertarian Party: Supreme Court of New York Appellate Division First Department Record on AppealWarren Redlich has run for something or another every year for at least the last seven years since 2003 doing the same thing, registering a domain name in the name of his opponent. This is or should be a violation of law. There are already proceedings against him before the New York state bar for doing much the same thing. This case involves a scam by Warren Redlich and other defendants named herein essentially to hijack and steal the name of the Libertarian Party for the nefarious purposes of Warren Redlich. The purpose of this scheme is by fraudulent means to deprive the members of the Libertarian Party the opportunity to run their own candidate for Governor of New York State and thereby to deprive the Voters of New York State the opportunity to chose their governor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Wither the Fusionists?
This little gem of a book adequately describes the tension inherent in the conservative and libertarian camps that were once a cohesive movement.That glue that holds (With less efficacy, it seems) these two divergent ideologies together is what Frank S. Meyer called "fusionism."Meyer plays a central role throughout the book because his advocacy of conservative and libertarian union eventually did translate into electoral success.

That success bore with it a willingness by both sides to compromise some of their principles.The essays comprising this book focus on those differences in a manner that seeks to challenge the preconceived notions of the reader, while emphasizing in some why the debate betwixt the two need not tear the fusion apart.

Although this is an excellent primer for anyone interested in the history of the last 60 years of conservative intellectual debate, it is a bit dated.For more discussion of the friction that, to me, is growing considerably more tense these days, I would suggest Ryan Sager's "Elephant in the Room." ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Reason, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2006. The length of the article is 5810 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Butch Otter rides again: Idaho's next governor demonstrates the possibilities--and limits--of libertarian politics in the Republican Party.
Author: David Weigel
Publication: Reason (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 38Issue: 6Page: 32(10)

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This digital document is an article from Reason, published by Reason Foundation on January 1, 2009. The length of the article is 1385 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Beat the new boss: D.C. libertarians plot their Obama administration strategies.(Barack Obama)(Column)
Author: David Weigel
Publication: Reason (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2009
Publisher: Reason Foundation
Volume: 40Issue: 8Page: 18(2)

Article Type: Column

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This digital document is an article from Reason, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2007. The length of the article is 1368 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: The myth of the 'values voters': the Republicans hand libertarian votes--and the elections--over to the Democrats.(Columns)
Author: David Weigel
Publication: Reason (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 38Issue: 8Page: 14(2)

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This digital document is an article from Reason, published by Reason Foundation on August 1, 2010. The length of the article is 2898 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Right is wrong: Libertarians need to disengage from Republicans and conservatives once and for all.(Viewpoint essay)
Author: Brink Lindsey
Publication: Reason (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2010
Publisher: Reason Foundation
Volume: 42Issue: 4Page: 24(5)

Article Type: Viewpoint essay

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This digital document is an article from Reason, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2007. The length of the article is 5509 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: The minority leader: is Sen. Tom Coburn an extreme social conservative, a libertarian hero--or both?
Author: David Weigel
Publication: Reason (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 39Issue: 3Page: 44(10)

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The Third Revolution follows plain-talking Montana Governor Benjamin Kane as he walks a harrowing tightrope between his conscience and the law. The federal government has just passed the One Nation Act, federalizing all teachers, day-care workers, police and prosecutors, as so-called national agents of social enforcement.

In Montana, statewide outrage at the measure results in the election of a radical legislature that passes a bill nullifying the federal law. This blatantly unconstitutional action precipitates a major confrontation between federal officials and Governor Kane. The popular owner of a local boutique brewpub and a former state legislator, Governor Kane reluctantly signs the nullification bill into law, hoping to shock the federal government into a more reasonable posture. But escalating pressure from Washington, followed by a tragic accident involving American troops at the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, make it clear that nothing about this episode is going to end reasonably.

Ben Kane and his close-knit group of political cohorts risk all as they attempt to rein in the reactionary legislature, hold the federal government at bay, and maintain the sovereignty of their state. Governor Kane is forced to choose between the country he loves...and his commitment to the founding principles of the country he loves. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Great book
Few books made me smile like this one. The characters were realistic.. the bad guys werent all bad.. the good guys were just down to Earth people. In spite of a few unanswered references, the story more than made up for it. The only bad thing about this book is that its fiction :-) His arguements ring so true, its amazing these events havnt come to pass already.

Big Sky
The Third Revolution was a spectacular work of fiction. I have always been fascinated with the State of Montana and the picture Mr. Lewis painted of the landscape and the people of the state motivated myself to book tickets to go visit. Since then I have even purchased some property in the state and look forward to moving to the state soon. From what I have read in the travel guides since reading The Third Revolution and the people I have met while visiting the State it is going to be far more freedom and independent minded then in my current state of Kalifornia just as the picture in the book painted. Granted this was a work of fiction but since visiting the book became all the more believable in my mind.

I really enjoyed the story of Ben Kane and his duel with the Federal Government. It was great to see events that are happening all around us woven into a fictionalized story of a group of Citizen's who use the ballot box to stand up and demand their freedom. The character detail is built so strong within the book I walked away from it believing that Ben Kane really could exist. I don't want to ruin the story but if you enjoy Libertarian minded fiction and want to sit back and experience some great political maneuvering I highly recommend this book it had me anxiously awaiting the second book!

only so-so
Ever since The Moon is A Harsh Mistress, I have enjoyed reading libertarian novels. The Third Revolution does not work for me, for several reasons. President Henderson - who just passed the "One Nation" bill - asks how America can possibly sustain the continued growth in government spending. That's totally out of character, and the conflict is never addressed later in the book. Better if the Montana Senator had asked that question.

Near the end, I don't have a clue why the Montana governor would play the nuclear card without some serious provocation ( such as a military attack ).

This book never shows that a bunch of libertarian legislators would find ways to reduce taxes and reduce government - they sound like your average GOP wannabe, talking the libertarian talk but walking the Democrat-lite walk. ( Early in the book, the governor asks about homeschooling and education, but the matter is dropped. ) Molon Labe did a better job of showing what might happen when Libertarians take the reins.

Some of the legislative speeches are great, but I wonder why nobody mentions that federalization is so enormously wasteful that, if Montana keeps and spends their own money, they're likely to get more value for their dollars, enough to compensate for losing federal revenues. To cite an example: a bridge suitable for a rural road costs about $30,000 if built by a private contractor. To build to State standards costs about $100,000. To build to federal standards costs $300,000. The bridge built with "federal" dollars is overbuilt, and appears cheaper to the municipal or state government only because of federal subsidies. If you keep the federal taxes and build to suit local needs, you'll save money. If your schools focus on teaching, instead of adding in umpty-seven federal objectives, they'll become both better and cheaper. Some of these ideas are hinted at in this book, but the implementations drop through the cracks.

I wanted this to be a good book, but sign me
Frustrated

Good message, BORING and poorly written book
I wanted to love this book, but found it an unsatisfying read.I enjoy and respect libertarian fiction, and respect the author's ideals.

Unfortunately, the book was drawn out and uninvolving.Far too much time was spent with the author showing off arcane and irrelevant expertise, whether on motorcycles or wine or how to professionally light a video shoot (seriously!)Yes, people make the same complaint about the focus on guns in the outstanding Unintended Consequences (John Ross) and Patriots (Jim Rawles), but in those books, there is some pertinence of the technology to the plot.And besides, guns are much more interesting and worth learning about than which wine glass to use.

The first 100 pages were like eating sawdust, without butter.Slow and dull, wondering when we're going to get some PLOT.

If you're looking for a book that provides a fascinating and well-written scenario where a craggy single governor in a mountain west state goes toe-to-toe with the fedgov, employing nukes, then I highly recommend Molon Labe (Boston T. Party).

Authors with libertarian values deserve our support and encouragement, but readers deserve far better than this book, I'm sorry to say.

Belongs on every patriots bookshelf
Great read. I could not put it down......so I read it on one day (speed reader, heh,heh).
If one parallels the story with the actual stranglehold that the Fedgov is imposing on the citizens of our country, you can see the possibility's that can exist if and when people wake up and do something about it.
We can say, "hell no, I am not taking it any more", and work at changing the system. Make the suckers answerable to the people and not to the lobbyists and power brokers in Washington, District of Criminals.
... Read more

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Understand political philosophy without help from a pundit

Teach Yourself Political Philosophy is a fascinating guide to the principles upon which our legal and political systems are founded. It explores the key political concepts that underpin our society and unravels fundamental political and economic theories such as capitalism, Marxism, conservatism and anarchism. Each of these concepts and theories are put into context by looking at the key figures in political thought from Aristotle and Hobbes to Rawls and Wollstonecraft. Political philosophy need not be confined to the past or the realms of academia--this book brings the issues to life and discusses the questions raised daily by our politicians, their critics, and the media.

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This digital document is an article from Reason, published by Reason Foundation on February 1, 2009. The length of the article is 2220 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Where did it all go wrong? A thrilling and dispiriting year for libertarian politics.(Column)
Author: David Weigel
Publication: Reason (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2009
Publisher: Reason Foundation
Volume: 40Issue: 9Page: 13(3)

Article Type: Column

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This digital document is an article from Reason, published by Thomson Gale on August 1, 2007. The length of the article is 1319 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The real Bill Richardson: is the presidential contender a libertarian Democrat?(Columns)
Author: David Weigel
Publication: Reason (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 39Issue: 4Page: 16(3)

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This is the first biography of one of the most interesting and controversial social theorists of our time. Murray N. Rothbard was the founder of the libertarian movement, a radical free marketeer who came of age in the era of collectivism and fought all his life for individualism and laissez-faire against overwhelming odds. The story of his life is at the same time a cavalcade of virtually all of the controversial events, ideas, and personalities of the latter part of the twentieth century. The author of twenty-eight books and thousands of articles, Rothbard's life goal was to found a science of liberty, a comprehensive libertarian system of social thought encompassing philosophy, ethics, economics, and history. This book tells the story of the intellectual adventure that was Rothbard's life, his relationship with the great libertarian economist and philosopher Ludwig von Mises, and his intellectual growth and development as an economist and a thinker.While Rothbard's contributions to the history of social thought are important, his life story is interesting in itself: against almost impossible odds he managed to single-handedly create the libertarian movement out of thin air at a time when such ideas were considered completely outside the pale. "An Enemy of the State" traces Rothbard's ideological odyssey, from the Old Right of the Chicago Tribune and the 'isolationist' America First Committee, to the conservative movement of the fifties and early sixties, to the New Left of the mid-sixties, and then on to the Libertarian Party and the post-Cold War return to his Old Right roots. Rothbard was that interesting combination, an intellectual system-builder and theorist who was also an intellectual street fighter, a scholar, and a man of action. Anyone interested in the history of ideas, whether or not they agree with Rothbard's ideology, is bound to be captivated by and drawn into the story of his fascinating life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Gfited Author Summarizes Gifted Libertarian Mind
I was so impressed by the AUTHOR of this book and the manner in which he so ably presented in summary form the very complex economic, philosophical, and consequently political reflections of Murray Rothbard that I immediately looked for "About the Author" and did not find it.So let me start with the author rather than the subject.

Justin Raimondo an American author and the editorial director of the website Antiwar.com. He describes himself as a "conservative-paleo-libertarian."In addition to his thrice-weekly column for antiwar.com, he is a regular contributor to The American Conservative and Chronicles magazine. Raimondo also writes two columns a month for Taki's Top Drawer.He has published three other books, the last one only available from Google Books:
Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement (Background: Essential Texts for the Conservative Mind)
The Terror Enigma: 9/11 and the Israeli Connection
Into the Bosnian Quagmire: The Case Against U.S. Intervention in the Balkans (AFPAC, 1996) via Google Free Online

As someone who appreciates complexity in all its forms, I found the author's intellectual endeavor in this book to be stunningly formidable.Of the over 24 books by Murray Rothbard, the author presented a coherent account of the high points, and particularly of these that merit further study:
Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market - Scholars Edition
Economic Depressions
An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought (2 Vol. Set)
The Case Against the Fed
Wall Street Banks and American Foreign Policy

From my nine-pages of notes, respecting the 1,000 word limitation on reviews:

Multiple bottom lines in this include the need to question the role and value of the state; the importance of respecting natural law over man-made law (the latter replete with fraud); the utter divide between intellectuals who are independent (very few) and those who choose to be the kept wards of the state; the difference between liberty for all and the dumbing down effect of egalitarianism in its socialist form; the conflict between individual liberty and organizational power; the vital need to respect non-aggression as a fundamental principle; the equally vital need to keep humanity embedded in all studies, avoiding the "objectivism" that is best summarized in another book I have reviewed, Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West; the urgency of educating the public so as to contain the economic elites manipulating state power for their exclusive benefit; and the potential role of religion as a libertarian force (I am reminded of Liberation Theology in Latin America, something the Pope, with his Swiss bank accounts, was never enthusiastic about--so we must distinguish between religious organizations that seek power, and religious intent at the tactical level that is more humane).

In the course of reading this book I felt that I was receiving three different values:

1.A history of Libertarian thought in America;

2.A summary of the reflections of the subject, Murray Rothbard

3.An orientation for the coming war between Middle America and populism, and the corrupt two-party tyranny and its Wall Street masters (cf. Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny and my own book, also free online, Election 2008: Lipstick on the Pig (Substance of Governance; Legitimate Grievances; Candidates on the Issues; Balanced Budget 101; Call to Arms: Fund We Not Them; Annotated Bibliography)

Among the many highlights for me personally:

+ described as the anti-thesis to Marx

+ corrected Adam Smith as well as John Locke, Austrian school focuses on scarcity of resources rather than plentitude of labor, I fall between the two--the human brain is inexhaustible, but we have not applied it to the known scarcity of resources.

+ coherent definition of statism as the common enemy guilty of expropriation, constantly expanding its powers, generally by declaring war without good reason.

+ libertarianism described as a philosophy seeking a policy--as I myself find our federal policies incoherent to the point of being criminally insane or insanely criminal, this resonates with me--this is the philosophy for all of us who are NOT inclined by amorality or empowered by concentrated wealth, to bribe our government.

+ Alan Greenspan was a ringer, who sold out as a member of the Trilateral Commission and on the board of Morgan (Zbigniew Brzezinski is the mind behind most of Obama's mis-steps today in foreign policy--another Trilateralist).

+ Patrick Buchanan and the America Firsters are a significant potential reinforcing force, as are the Reformers.Sadly, the book makes it clear that the Constitutionalist Party is a break-away element that will not play well with others.

Quotes of note:

169.For at least two decades we have been living in a society that has taken on all the characteristics of fascism.At home we have the fascist corporate state economy; an economy of monopolies, subsidies, and privileges....

189.Coercive elites are artificial aristocracies who maintain their power through the office of the State.

196. We now face an America ruled alternately by scarcely differentiated wings of the same state-corporatist system.

The latter was written over a decade before Peter Peterson's Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It or John Bogle's The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism.

The final note for me was the three paths to restoring the Republic:

1.Educatioinalism of the public at large such as the antiwar and 9-11 Truth Movements pursue as well as the natural capitalism, true cost, and sustainable design movments

2.Fabian perssuasion in the halls of power, something CATO Institute gets good marks for

3.Radicalization of Middle America, something that Bush-Cheney and Obama-Biden appear to be doing very nicely.

The author, the subject, and I all share one huge big idea: our persistent faith in the average American.I believe that populism, properly understood as average Americans armed with both personal weapons and a rich understanding of reality, is here to stay.It is sweeping across Latin America and now it is here in America.Praise the Lord!

The Average American: The Extraordinary Search for the Nation's Most Ordinary Citizen
All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (BK Currents (Hardcover))
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

Raimondo's "Facts"
This author claims that novelist Ayn Rand was a philosophical determinist when she met Rothbard. This is part of his effort to clear Rothbard of the charge of plagiarizing Rand's theory of volition.

Anyone familiar with her "Anthem" (first published in America in 1945) knows better. If that's not enough, her private journals (Harriman, editor, Dutton, 1997), also available to Raimondo before his book came out, are conclusive. Moreover, Raimondo's earlier claim that Rand was influenced by Garrett's "The Driver" has been refuted by Chris Matthew Sciabarra, Stephen Kinsella and Bruce Ramsey.

Oops! The original charge against Rothbard stands. And stands out rather obviously to those familiar with both thinker's arguments.

Raimondo joins the ranks of Jerome Tuccille as a thoroughly unreliable historian on matters related to Ayn Rand.

The Legendary Murray N. Rothbard
Magnificent compelling biography of our greatest scholar of liberty -- the legendary Murray N. Rothbard -- who spoke truth to power and inspired generations by his courage and humanity.

Justin Raimondo has written one of the finest biographies I have had the pleasure to read.

Highly recommended!

Let us live to make men free

I first heard of Murray Rothbard in 1970 when I was a high-school student researching the Depression. My kid brother pulled Rothbard's "America's Great Depression" off the shelf of our local public library and suggested I might find it useful.

I was at the age where I was exploring a variety of political perspectives, from John Kenneth Galbraith to Ayn Rand, but I soon recognized that Rothbard was unique.

It was only in the late '70s, as a graduate student at Stanford, that I actually had a chance to meet Rothbard in person. At the time, the national libertarian movement (the Cato Institute, the Center for Libertarian Studies, the Institute for Humane Studies, etc.) had, for various reasons, come to be based in the San Francisco Bay Area, near Stanford, and I had a chance to meet not only Rothabrd but a number of other leading figures in the movement, including Justin Raimondo, the author of this biography of Rothbard.

I was thus peripherally involved in some of the incidents described in this book -- for example, I was a member of the "Radical Caucus," founded by Rainmondo and led by Rothbard. I can therefore testify that, as far as my personal knowledge is concerned, Raimondo has reported accurately, even where he himself differed from Rothbard (for example, on the 1984 Presidential campaign, when Rothbard and I were on the opposite side from Raimondo).

Above all, Raimondo paints an accurate picture of Rothbard as a person: Rothbard was joyously ebullient, voraciously curious, and, while politically passionate, always a gentleman. Over the years, I myself differed from Rothbard on a number of issues -- ranging from intellectual property law to policy in Central America -- but I know of no case in which Rothbard ever behaved in a dishonorable manner.

Rothbard reoriented the thinking of those in our generation who had a serious interest in issues of political philosophy and government. He differed from other advocates of individual rights and limited government in that he combined a rigorously logical understanding of the structure of human rights with an unflinchingly detailed empirical understanding of human history.

He taught us three central lessons:

1. Government -- all governments everywhere -- exists to enable some human beings to control and manipulate other human beings. While an occasional purpose of government is to interfere with others' private lives and control their ideas and/or values, the overarching purpose of government is to enable some people to live at the expense of others via taxation, forced labor, etc.

2. The history of humankind is therefore the record of the struggle between Liberty and Power, between those humans who simply wish to be left alone to live their lives in peace and those who wish to control other human beings. Historians who portray the past as primarily consensus rather than conflict or as the inevitable triumph of impersonal, progressive social forces are lying apologists for tyranny.

3. War is, above all, the means by which government expands its power, not simply by seizing the population and territory of other states but, more importantly, as a means of intensifying and deepening its control of its own populace -- curtailing civil liberties, whipping up nationalist hysteria, increasing the burden of taxation, etc. You cannot favor individual rights, private property, and free markets and also favor war.

Of course, these lessons were, to a large degree, as Rothbard himself recognized, simply a matter of relearning the lessons of the radical liberals of the nineteenth century, of the Jeffersonian wing of the American founding, and of the founding libertarians (such as John Lilburne and the American Roger Williams) of the seventeenth-century English Revolution. But Rothbard presented these lessons in a clearer and more straightforward manner, backed by a wealth of historical understanding, than ever before.

For those of us previously exposed to the "conservatism" of William F. Buckley and his "New Right" circle (Buckley actually advocated, in his own words, a "totalitarian bureaucracy within our shores..." to pursue the war against international Communism!) or the "laissez-faire capitalism" of Ayn Rand (who argued that government was basically legitimate but that government somehow always ended up mysteriously diverted from its legitimate purpose), Rothbard came as a clarifying thunderclap out of the blue.

The Randians did not much care about history (Rand's "history" of philosophy was a cartoonish caricature) and the "conservatives" had little interest in either rigorous thinking or critical history. Rothbard, on the contrary, demanded that we pursue a serious study of economic theory, of the ethics of natural rights, and of the actual events of Western history.

In 1965, Rothbard predicted the collapse of the Soviet empire: based on his knowledge as an economist, he recognized that socialism could not succeed, and, using his knowledge of intellectual history, he predicted that the ideas of Locke and Jefferson, would, in the end, defeat the ideas of Marx and Lenin.

In the final years of his life, after the Soviet Empire had been swept into the dustbin of history, Rothbard correctly foresaw that the struggle over American imperialism would become the primary focus of world affairs, as is now clear to everyone in the wake of the "Bush doctrine" and the American attempt to conquer the Mideast.

As Raimondo discusses in detail, Rothbard pursued a variety of political alliances over the years, always with the goal of advancing his central aim, the freedom of the individual human being. Building on the great legacy of Western liberalism, Rothbard has left us an overarching framework, a powerful set of intellectual tools, for understanding the process of domination and exploitation, and ultimately, for bringing about the triumph of human freedom.

It is now up to us to further hone those tools and to learn to apply them to strip away the mask of Power and restore the natural rights of human beings both here in America and throughout the world.

Excellent Introduction to Rothbard's Life and Work
Energetic and well-written, Raimondo�s biography chronicles the life of seminal libertarian scholar and polemicist, Murray Newton Rothbard (1926�1995). Whether writing economic and historical treatises or squabbling with fellow travelers, Rothbard remained a tireless, happy warrior dedicated to fighting the welfare-warfare state.

Raimondo insists that Rothbard was a "thinker of similar importance" to Karl Marx (p. 157), but Rothbard's undeniable genius notwithstanding, this description seems an overestimation. For the moment, Mises, Hayek, and Milton Friedman loom larger in the firmament. What Rothbard did produce, among his many other accomplishments, was a multidimensional argument for anarchocapitalism. In life, he was a happy warrior on behalf of that as yet unrealized vision. He has been proved correct in his assessments of the signal importance of World War I for constructing the modern state and in identifying Hoover's policies as anticipating the New Deal. Perhaps his optimism regarding the feasibility of a stateless society will some day be validated. In the meantime, Raimondo has written an excellent introduction to Rothbard's life's work. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from New Hampshire Business Review, published by Thomson Gale on November 23, 2007. The length of the article is 545 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Grinding sausage.(Flotsam & Getsam)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: New Hampshire Business Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 23, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 29Issue: 25Page: 47(1)

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The current political trend toward a drastically reduced government role in the economy and civil society begs a thorough discussion of the recent history of the free market movement in the United States. By providing a history of the political revitalization of classical liberalism since the 1960s, Bringing the Market Back In makes a significant step in understanding this discussion. When the market liberals came to power with the election of Ronald Reagan, they failed to translate their economic theories into dramatic political change. Although market liberals had developed remarkable intellectual strengths by 1980, the political movement to roll back the state was still in its infancy. The Gingrich Revolution of 1994 suggests that a better test of market liberalism's political feasibility may come in the last half of the 1990's.

Customer Reviews (1)

Disappointing but still worthwhile
A much-needed history of the libertarian/classical liberal movement in the US. Not all figures get the attention they deserve; even though the author mentions that Rand won survey after survey as the person most influential towards converting people to becoming libertarians, she only gets around 4 pages. Do yourself a favor and get a copy of Jerry Tuccille's It Usually Starts With Ayn Rand, a much funnier and more personal look at some the movers in Kelley's book ... Read more

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Outline of Material
Conservatives & the GOP should be treated as a handbook of conservative philosophy for the Republican Party. We begin with a basic overview of the conservative philosophy in Chapter 1, The Conservative Viewpoint. You will be introduced to Edmund Burke, the Father of Modern Political Conservatism as Russell Kirk calls him, and you will be able to list seven characteristics of the conservative political philosophy and how they can help you win modern political contests. As Edmund Burke fought against the liberal tide that was washing over England, and won, we can learn from the lessons he taught to win modern political campaigns.
In Chapter 2, How Conservatives View the Law, you will learn some basic differences between conservatives and liberals and how they each view the role of law in society. As law provides a foundation to the conservative viewpoint, conservatives can win by expressing issues in legal terms and by upholding the law against liberal attempts to radically change it or remove it to accomplish their social liberal agendas.
Chapter 3, Social and Economic Conservatives, focuses on contemporary political issues from a social and economic standpoint and shows how conservatives can take positive steps towards problem solving. Looking at such issues as Abortion, Homosexuality, and Illegal Drug Use, the rule of law is reemphasized to show how social conservatives can apply legal principles for real and lasting change. Taking a fresh look at the Progressive Era, we will see how fiscal conservative goals may be accomplished with Compassionate Conservatism. We will also review the tax and spend liberalism of the left and how to avoid theological goals that promise savings to taxpayers but don’t deliver.
The next three chapters deal with the character of the media and how to win political campaigns in a liberal media environment.
In Chapter 4, Defining the Liberal Media Bias, a proof of the media’s liberal bias is presented. While presenting their own political perspective through the press, the also Press behaves itself much like any other political party. Working with the media means knowing who they are and how Republicans can be effective within the free market of idea.
Freedom of the marketplace is further explored in Chapter 5, Conservative Campaigns and the Media. Republicans have the right and the responsibility to work within existing media forms. If we want to be successful on Election Day, we need to present the conservative message in both social and economic terms. Building successful political media campaigns also depends upon the proper application of conservative (Burkean) principles within campaign advertisements.
To round out this series on the media and how to win political campaigns, Chapter 6, Independent Media, offers some suggestions as to alternative media forms. Conducting your own issue surveys, instead of relying upon the liberal media, is crucial if campaigns are going to build a successful strategy. And while working with existing media forms, independent media forms should be utilized to enhance the campaign’s media budget. By focusing upon independent media forms during the early voting period and using traditional media forms just before the general election, media budgets can be maximized while minimizing the affect of the liberal media bias.
Chapter 7, Building a New Coalition, demonstrates how the Reagan Coalition can be expanded to include new conservatives. As Reagan’s original ‘Big Tent’ provided a social and economic conservative unity for the GOP, all conservatives from all political walks of life were encouraged to join the Republican Party. Expanding on this foundation, we will explore new additions to the Reagan Coalition to include the War on Terror, Illegal Immigration, Progressive Conservatives, and a new Pro-Life Coalition.
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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Nolan Chart is a political diagram popularized by the American libertarian David Nolan. He created it to illustrate the claim that libertarianism stands for both economic freedom and personal freedom (as he defined the terms), in graphic contrast to left-wing "liberalism," which, according to Nolan, advocates only "personal freedom", and right-wing "conservatism," which, according to Nolan, advocates only "economic freedom". ... Read more