Book Reviews

Lisa and I went to Chicago this past weekend, and I had the opportunity to finish a few books.  A couple of them were excellent, so I thought I would share:

Eric Hoffer's The True Believer

The frankness and simplicity of this book is astounding, especially considering the fact that Hoffer was a self educated longshoreman with a third grade education.  I can't say I agree wholeheartedly with his conclusions, but this was among the best reads ever.

Here is a snippet:

On Misfits

The permanent misfits are those who because of a lack of talent or some irreparable defect in body or mind cannot do the one thing for which their whole being craves. No achievement, however spectacular, in other fields can give them a sense of fulfillment.  Whatever they undertake becomes a passionate pursuit; but they never arrive, never pause.  They demonstrate the fact that we can never have enough of that which we really do not want, and that we run fastest and furthest when we run from ourselves.

The permanent misfits can find salvation only in a complete separation from the self; and they usually find it by losing themselves in the compact collectivity of a mass movement.  By renouncing individual will, judgement and ambition, and dedicating all their powers to the service of an eternal cause, they are at last lifted off the endless treadmill that can never lead them to fulfillment.

Ron Paul's The Revolution- A Manifesto.

I picked this up in Chicago on a whim, and read it in a day.  It's a very simple synopsis of Paul's presidential platform (he is running as a republican, but is really a libertarian), and it was very interesting.  Here are a few quotes:

On non-interventionism:

Our friendship with Israel should continue... but no special privileges like foreign aid should be extended.  That means we should also discontinue aid to actual or potential enemies of Israel, which taken together receive much more aid than Israel does.  Only those with a very superficial attachment to Israel can really be happy that she continues to rely on over two billion dollars in American aid each year.

On the Constitution:

Now, isn't our Constitution a "Living Document" that evolves in accordance with experience and changing times, 

as we're so often told? No- A thousand times No! Those who would give us a living Constitution are actually giving us

a dead Constitution, since such a thing is completely unable to protect us against encroachments of government power.

On Abortion:

Americans who care about our fundamental law and/or are concerned about abortion do have some legislative

recourse. Article III, Section 2, of the Constitution gives Congress the power to strip the federal courts, including the 

Supreme Court, of jurisdiction over broad categories of cases. By a simple majority, Congress could strip the federal 

courts of jurisdiction over abortion, thereby overturning the unconstitutional Roe. At that point, the issue would revert

to the states, where it constitutionally belongs. Law rightly reflects the morality of the people.

On Racism:

Peaceful civil disobedience to unjust laws, which I support with every fiber of my being, can be necessary at any 

level of government. Our rights come to us not because we belong to some group, but our rights come to us as 

individuals. And it is as individuals that we should judge one another. Racism is a particularly odious form of 

collectivism whereby individuals are treated not on their merits, but on the basis of group identity.

On Economics and Legal Plunder:

People of all classes, under our current economy, are happy to use the machine of the state, if they can get away

with it, to benefit themselves instead of earning their way in the world honestly. We seek to use the government to

enrich ourselves at our neighbors expense. 70 percent of welfare budgets are eaten up by bureaucracy. Every special 

benefit, on behalf of which hundreds of millions of dollars are expended on lobbyists every year, makes goods more

expensive, companies less efficient and competitive, and the economy more sluggish.

You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state.

On Healthcare:

The most obvious way to break this cycle is to get the government out of the business of meddling in healthcare, 

which was far more affordable and accessible before the government got involved. Short of that, and more politically 

feasible in the short-run, is to allow consumers and doctors to pull themselves out of the system through medical 

savings accounts. Those who favor national healthcare need only take a good hard look at our veterans' hospitals. 

There is your national health care. These institutions are a national disgrace. If this is the care the government 

dispenses to those it honors as its most heroic and admirable citizens, why should anyone else expect to be treated 

any better?

On Free Trade:

True free trade does not require treaties or agreements between governments. On the contrary, true free trade 

occurs in the absence of government intervention in the free flow of goods across borders. Organizations like the 

WTO and NAFTA are government managed trade schemes, not free trade.

On the Environment:

A true supporter of private property and personal responsibility cannot be indifferent to environmental damage, 

and should view it as a form of unjustified aggression. Private business should not have the right to socialize its costs 

by burdening others with the by-products of its operations.