(My Clovis News Journal column for July 5, 2013. Also here: link)
There are a lot of libertarian books and authors out there. Most of the older examples can be rather dry and difficult for modern readers to wade through. As enlightening a book as Albert Jay Nock's 1935 work "Our Enemy, the State" is, it can't be considered light or leisurely reading. And it will upset a rosy view of government just as surely as any modern writing.
On the other hand, some of the more modern writers can be very entertaining while getting the uncompromising message across.
One such writer is L. Neil Smith, with his book "Down With Power: Libertarian Policy in a Time of Crisis".
Smith is best known as a science fiction writer, but there's no fiction in "Down With Power". The book is a series of no-holds-barred essays dealing with different, mostly State-created, problems and issues, and with his liberty-respecting solutions.
Smith is more hopeful of using the processes and mechanisms of "government" to affect the changes and correct the problems than am I, but it wouldn't bother me one bit to be wrong on this account. He could also be said to lean a bit more to the "conservative" side of the aisle, although that could just be an illusion due to his strong support of gun rights and his opposition to the modern religion of "Environmentalism".
He spans issues from "animal rights", to government-sanctioned marriage, to the indispensable Zero Aggression Principle, and just about everything in between. If you have a gripe, and it somehow involves people running and ruining the lives of others, he probably has something to say about it. You may not automatically agree with what he has to say, but it will do you good to be exposed to- and consider- his ideas, which are expressed in his own lively and passionate style.
His book wraps up with a chapter called "The Plan", where he lays out what could be done to rescue America from this current (and long in the making) cesspool of Democrat and Republican socialism. If put into action, he claims his plan would turn the country around and put it back on course in six months.
I have to agree that his plan would work spectacularly well, and I would love to see more people have the courage to implement it.
"Down With Power: Libertarian Policy in a Time of Crisis" runs about 300 pages and is available from Amazon.com for $14.99 or $9.99 for the Kindle version.
There are a lot of libertarian books and authors out there. Most of the older examples can be rather dry and difficult for modern readers to wade through. As enlightening a book as Albert Jay Nock's 1935 work "Our Enemy, the State" is, it can't be considered light or leisurely reading. And it will upset a rosy view of government just as surely as any modern writing.
On the other hand, some of the more modern writers can be very entertaining while getting the uncompromising message across.
One such writer is L. Neil Smith, with his book "Down With Power: Libertarian Policy in a Time of Crisis".
Smith is best known as a science fiction writer, but there's no fiction in "Down With Power". The book is a series of no-holds-barred essays dealing with different, mostly State-created, problems and issues, and with his liberty-respecting solutions.
Smith is more hopeful of using the processes and mechanisms of "government" to affect the changes and correct the problems than am I, but it wouldn't bother me one bit to be wrong on this account. He could also be said to lean a bit more to the "conservative" side of the aisle, although that could just be an illusion due to his strong support of gun rights and his opposition to the modern religion of "Environmentalism".
He spans issues from "animal rights", to government-sanctioned marriage, to the indispensable Zero Aggression Principle, and just about everything in between. If you have a gripe, and it somehow involves people running and ruining the lives of others, he probably has something to say about it. You may not automatically agree with what he has to say, but it will do you good to be exposed to- and consider- his ideas, which are expressed in his own lively and passionate style.
His book wraps up with a chapter called "The Plan", where he lays out what could be done to rescue America from this current (and long in the making) cesspool of Democrat and Republican socialism. If put into action, he claims his plan would turn the country around and put it back on course in six months.
I have to agree that his plan would work spectacularly well, and I would love to see more people have the courage to implement it.
"Down With Power: Libertarian Policy in a Time of Crisis" runs about 300 pages and is available from Amazon.com for $14.99 or $9.99 for the Kindle version.
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