How to Justify Big Government
581394
The author is correct about many of the problems we are seeing in our economy, such as the growing wealth gap and bank bailouts. But sadly he is wrong about the cause and the solution. True Capitalism requires a truly free market (we currently have neither). This book seeks to justify big government and increase government intervention. The big government approach can only attempt to print prosperity and seeks to force equality.
3796349
So much of what passes for public discourse is really just after the fact reasoning to justify their team's opinion. Public policy has become a sport. Haidt does a great job explaining how to get beyond this team view to potentially address real problems.
1500141
Politics and greed government gets away with it. Government uses media. The smart ones use music to get the message through.
352999
We need to be aware of the dangers of big government.  Indeed, power corrupts!  When
God is removed from a culture, corruption naturally follows.
1174451
I saw this book recommended by a Libertarian. I'm glad I purchased and read it. It brings forth an excellent pro-freedom argument. Get it.
3000792
According to perpetual social and political critic James Bovard, the power inherent in government is alive and well; unfortunately, as he reminds us, they are not always necessarily accomplishing the people's will. Thus we find ourselves in circumstances in which governments are both larger and more powerful than ever before, while the individual citizen's ability to control and influence the course of his or her own life and liberty is becoming more and more problematic. In this stirring expose, the author explores how the federal government increasingly poses a threat to destroy individual rights and liberties in an attempt to preserve the fiction of government as superceding the citizen. Bovard wonders along with us how this state of affairs has managed to occur, and takes a thoughtful and impressive tour of the history of government control over individual liberties in an attempt to better understand it, and the future it presents for our cogitation.
Long before it was either fashionable or popular, conservative author Bovard was railing against the accumulating power and privilege of the crony-based capitalists who now seem to control the country.  Here he draws blood from a dissection of the notion of state sovereignty, which he contends amounts to nothing so much as a glossy justification for the power elite's lust for ever-increasing power and privilege. Especially egregious in the author's view is the way the doctrine is being used to justify the behavior of others, to limit their rights to protect themselves, or to keep the fruit of their own labor. Indeed, all of this is food for thought. Moreover, Bovard is an interesting and quite eclectic scholar, someone who accomplishes both meticulous research and establishes the substantiation for his claims as he proceeds, and does so quite convincingly. He also seems to be profoundly well read, based on his wide use of quotations from such luminaries as Marx, Hegel, Rousseau, and Thomas Hobbes.
Thus, he manages to raise some thought provoking issues regarding our seeming need to regulate many aspects of private behavior (such as the use of pot) that we can neither effective enforce nor usefully demonstrate to be evil for the individual. Bovard argues quite convincingly regarding the potential dangers of allowing others to regulate our Constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties according to their own moral prerogatives. Bovard reserves special scorn for the so-called "Peter Pan" theory of government as the benevolent and paternalistic defender of the commonweal, and actively guides the reader through a critical review of the two hundred year history on the subject, a history he finds rife with examples through which government has repeatedly used its power to thwart rather than support the will and civil liberties of the majority. This is a splendidly researched book that reads well and which has some disturbing thoughts regarding the state of our polity. It is also one I highly recommend. Enjoy!
829887
Dr. Arnn discusses why the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution do not contradict each other as progressives, academics and journalists claim.

Our system of checks and balances among the three branches of our government were designed to prevent the abuses of power that fostered the Revolutionary War. However, our government now has a fourth branch, the Administrative branch. Some present day leaders want to change the Constitution because this Administrative branch is not authorized under our Constitutional system.

This huge Administrative branch is a source of our nation's out-of-control spending, loss of freedoms and loss of control by we the people. Consequences will increase if we the people do not regain the representative government our founders created.

The author reminds us that we the people were intended to control the government as well as the government control certain human behaviors. At present we have no real control over the fourth branch, the Administrative system. This branch makes laws (regulations), supplanting the role of Congress. This branch administers penalties (fines) the function of the judicial branch.

Our Declaration and Constitution are unique in world history. Larry Arnn's arguments for not changing these documents are well reasoned, fully researched and corroborated by our Founders writings.

The last half of this book contains copies of the Declaration, Constitution and various Federalists papers documenting the truths Dr. Arnn presents.

Dr. Arnn, the President of Hillsdale College, teaches history, the Constitution and other classes. He has been published multiple times.

Hillsdale College regularly supports educational lectures and seminars on national and world problems, and refuses government funding.
4311734
Growing up, I never questioned whether the government should provide education or old age pensions.  When America rebelled against Hillary Clinton's health care initiative, I slowly realized that other government services that I took for granted also began as a political proposal.  I asked myself why it may be good for government to control education, but not health care.  It was that kind of question that led me to read a whole host of books that ask the same question.  The latest being, Libertarianism: A Primer.
In this book, author David Boaz tackles many modern day issues from a Libertarian viewpoint.  The main theme of the book is the importance of property rights.  Boaz explains that the first property right is the ownership of self.  Without ownership of self, the ownership of anything else is meaningless.  If you are willing to accept his thesis and read further, you will find that private property is the basis of the free market, and the free market is what makes human freedom possible.
Markets just naturally churn out what we want, because they are rewarded for doing so.  An entrepreneur that provides a needed good or service can then provide his family a better life.  Whereas the bureaucrat's motivation is to make his position and staff more powerful.  His salary won't be tied into the success or failure of any given project.  But the entrepreneur must live and die according to our fancy.  The entrepreneur may be inept and fail to achieve what we want, but other venture capitalists will take his place until the thing is done right.  When the government fouls up some needed service or good, they scream for a budget increase, as if our stinginess is the real culprit for their ineptitude.
Some have argued that Libertarianism is inevitable, because the Internet and technology will render government powerless to control the mechanizations of society.  I am not so optimistic.  Most people think that the money coming from government is free.  They tell me that they couldn't afford education if the government didn't step in and provide it.  These are people who live in $100,000 houses, drive $20,000 cars and pay a mountain of taxes.  Someday, maybe people will realize that they are paying for these things anyway, until then, the rest of us can enjoy reading books like Libertarianism: A Primer, by David Boaz.
352265
Most Americans are good citizens who work hard and pay their taxes. Therefore, many of them falsely believe that THEY don't have anything to "worry about" when the government ignores or circumvents its' Constitutional limitations.  They are especially prone to accept the government's constitutional abuses when the government proclaims that its' actions will make its' citizens safer or more prosperous.  This book will open their eyes and enable them to see how unrestrained big government has ALREADY negatively impacted their lives in many ways and how it will continue to do so if we, as citizens, continue to tolerate its' encroachments on our freedoms.  This book shows how the constitutional abuses we were told would make us safer and more prosperous have actually had the opposite effect.
3447164
The book gives a concise and logical argument regarding the problem of government getting into the middle of societal issues. Read it and let others know about this book.
2234240
In 1964, Barry Goldwater produced a superb treatise that calls for smaller, limited government, compliance with the U.S. Constitution, lower taxes and lower spending. He identified the first principle of totalitarianism: that the state is competent to do all things and is limited in what it actually does only by the will of those who control the state. In contrast Conservatives believe that we are morally and legally obliged to comply with the U.S. Constitution ensuring the concept of limited government.

Goldwater then identifies that neither of the two main parties, Republican or Democrat, maintain a meaningful commitment to States Rights and the 10th Amendment, which is a prohibitory rule of law, recognizing State jurisdiction in certain areas: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Goldwater very succinctly explains the Conservative position related to numerous issues to include:

CIVIL RIGHTS - Unless a right is incorporated in the law it is not a civil right and is not enforceable by the instruments of the civil law.
FREEDOM FOR THE FARMER - No power over agriculture was given to any branch of national government.
FREEDOM FOR LABOR - Conservatives favor State right to work laws which forbid contracts that make union membership a condition of employment.
TAXES AND SPENDING - One of the foremost precepts of natural law is man's right to the possession and use of his property and earnings. Property and freedom are inseparable.
THE WELFARE STATE - Marxist objective is to socialize the means of production (and) intend to subordinate the individual to the state, buying votes with promises of "free" federal benefits: housing, school aid, medical, hospitalization and retirement.
EDUCATION - Federal intervention in education is unconstitutional.

Whether you are Republican or Democrat, this book is concise primer on American politics that is as relevant today as it was in 1964.

Dr. B Leland Baker, author of Tea Party Revival, The Conscience of a Conservative Reborn
3861822
Chief Justice Roy Moore is one of the most articulate crusaders for the rule of law on the scene today.  This book does a great job of clarifying why elected leaders have an obligation to uphold America's God-based governmental and judicial structure. Whether we like it or not there's overwhelming evidence that our system of American govt. is deity inspired, and just because some may now choose not to "believe" doesn't authorize elected officials to change the original charter.
3722901
Mr. Beck makes compelling argument about the abuses and utter disregard of the Constitution of the United States by our government for the past 80-100 years.  Our Constitution was written to limit the powers of the Federal government and to protect us from it.

I am glad he chose to include the text of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" so we can understand why this great Republic even exists.
If only more people understood their basic, inalienable rights and would stand up to defend them!!
4389304
The author of takings sorts out some vital issues. This book sorts out eminent domain issues, based on a clearly described economic theory of government. Epstein settles the 'Lockean Proviso' issue, and reasons through many other issues. For example, he makes the case for flat taxes over so called progressive taxes. But above all, this book establishes that anything that the government does constitutes a taking of some kind, and takings are only justified in very limited circumstances.

Takings is the best reasoned critique of modern transfer states that I have seen. This is one of a few books that has really changed the way I think about political economy. Every Law and Public Policy student should read this book, as should David Souter.
176016
The idea that good government -- effective, productive, protective -- is possible, and even desireable, seems to drive libertarians and Tea Party conservatives up the wall. It may have something to do with an overweening devotion to liberty, but I think it might have most to do with the fact that some people profit from the mistakes of others, and anti-government types want more individual profit. They enjoy the chaos and competition of an unfettered marketplace, which is unfortunately most beneficial to those who depend on investments rather than a salary.

But when we consider the damage done to our society and our economy during the eight years of the Bush administration, when we see the results of a government that doesn't intervene when health and safety and livelihoods were at stake, we realize that liberty must be limited to some extent. The authors of this book are not necessarily suggesting we limit liberty, yet their critics wasted no time decrying their liberal pedigrees and accusing them of promoting governmental intrusion into spheres of life that should remain private.

The authors are simply showing that when governments and companies help citizens and employees make better decision, when taxpayer dollars and corporate profits are channeled into such programs, everyone benefits, just as families do when parents present better choices to their children. I realize this statement will trigger another howl from libertarian and right-wingers about political elitists and do-gooders and the nanny state and the infantilization of our culture, but these generalizations are both selfish and cynical. Even good people need help at times, and we are morally bound to help them whether or not you may wish to.

The authors' detailed examples and reasoning provide excellent arguments for the kind of government we need. I hope everyone will read this useful, positive, and important book.
3426415
Forbes' flat-tax proposal is built on a flawed assumption -- that the central government should be doing everything it does and therefore needs all those taxes. If the scope and size of the central government were pushed back to the limits imposed by the Constitution, there would be absolutely no need for any individual taxes whatsoever. No, not even a flat tax.
4593854
In this book, Coleman explains why our government is the cause of many of the major economic issues the US is currently facing. A fiscal conservative, Coleman advocates smaller government, changes to the current tax structure, limiting the terms served by members of Congress, and government spending cuts across the board. His points are valid and do indeed make me wonder how we got to this point. Highly recommended reading, especially if you care about your country, where it's headed, and what you can do to make things better.