04/25/11 Baltimore, Maryland – Sometimes Ron Paul seems too good to be true. For decades he has championed the cause of liberty and sound monetary and geopolitical policy. He has done this in the very heart of the Leviathan state even as the federal government has accelerated its expansion in the postwar years. Further Dr. Paul has repeatedly presented his case in print in clear language. Liberty Defined is the latest timely addition to those efforts.
The format is one we’ve seen before in books like Libertarianism A to Z. In Liberty Defined, the introduction lays out the overarching principles of liberty and anti-authoritarianism. The book itself then devotes each chapter to an individual issue, starting with abortion, then moving through things like Austrian economics, capital punishment, evolution and creation, global warming, hate crimes, Keynesianism, taxes, unions and much more. The chapters are fairly short at just a few pages each, written in clear language that seeks to discuss and educate. Each chapter is a delight to read, particularly for lovers of liberty, but even when you don’t fully agree with Dr. Paul, you’ll find his position compelling and his honesty and consistency incredibly refreshing.
“The phrase ‘Austrian School’ or ‘Austrian economics’” Dr. Paul writes, “is not something I ever expected would enter into the vocabulary of politics or media in culture. But since 2008, it has. Reporters use it with some degree of understanding, and with an expectation that readers and viewers will understand it too. This just thrilling to me, for I am a long-time student of the Austrian tradition of thought.”
And no doubt many readers will share Dr. Paul’s joy. They will also note that it is Dr. Paul himself who has been tirelessly campaigning for the free market principles of the Austrian School for the past several years. He tells about the founder of the Austrian School, Carl Menger (1840-1921) “who wrote that economic value extends from the human mind alone and is not something that exists as an inherent part of goods and services; valuation changes according to social needs and circumstances. We need markets to reveal to us the valuations of consumers and producers in the form of the price system that works within a market setting.”
Dr. Paul notes that Keynes’ “entire agenda presumes the existence of a wise activist state that is involved in every level of economic life. Liberty was not an issue that concerned him.”
The Austrian School, however, believes, “We are not cogs in a macroeconomic machine; people will always resist being treated as such.”
Liberty Defined is certain to make people on both sides of the left-right political debate uncomfortable. Dr. Paul decries the welfare state beloved by those on the left, but repeatedly shows that such a state is just the other side of the coin of the interventionist foreign policies of those on the right. Dr. Paul himself is a man of religious and spiritual conviction, but he also doesn’t shy away from analyzing how the neoconservatives of the modern right use adulterate religion and patriotism to garner support for their imperialist adventures.
“Instead of religious beliefs being the cause of war, it is more likely that those who want war co-opt religion and falsely claim the enemy is attacking their religious values. How many times have we heard neoconservatives repeat the mantra that religious fanatics attack us for our freedoms and prosperity? Neoconservatives use religion to stir up hatred toward the enemy.”
Dr. Paul also isn’t given to idealism. He admits, for example, that a truly libertarian position would have porous borders, but he points out that that just isn’t possible right now. He notes that even in a stateless society, all property would be privately owned and those property-owners at the borders would have the right to decide who cross their land. Dr. Paul handles the issue deftly and his proposals of work permits and conditional green cards as opposed to deportation, among other things, struck even this anarcho-capitalist leaning reader as reasonable.
And Dr. Paul is certainly no anarchist, but he is close enough for government work. He is the kind of politician even an anarcho-capitalist could love. Dr. Paul is well versed in the dangers of governments and their tendencies to grow; yet he thinks there is room in the world for a minimal amount of government. It’s a delicate balance. He pulls it off with aplomb. In the chapter on prohibition he says:
“Government should not compel or prohibit any personal activity when that activity poses danger to that individual alone. Drinking and smoking marijuana is one thing, but driving recklessly under the influence is quite another. When an individual threatens the lives of others, there is a role for government to restrain that violence.
“The government today is involved in compulsion or prohibition of just about everything in our daily activities. Many times these efforts are well intentioned. Other times they result from a philosophic belief that average people need smart humanitarian politicians and bureaucrats to take care of them. The people, they claim, are not smart enough to make their own decisions. And unfortunately, many citizens go along, believing the government will provide perfect safety for them in everything they do. Since governments can’t deliver, this assumption provides a grand moral hazard of complacency and will only be reversed with either a dictatorship or a national bankruptcy that awakens people and forces positive change.”
Liberty Defined is layered with a practical view of the political realities, but it never fails to stay true to its moral core. Dr. Paul repeatedly points out that many of his solutions — which ultimately come down to the federal government getting out of the way — simply won’t be applied because the federal government is just too intertwined with the problem.
But Dr. Paul never wavers. With the fearlessness for which he has become famous, Dr. Paul continues to assault all the bad central planning policies and popular misconceptions that allow them to continue even in the face of failure.
On Keynesianism:
“…Something did change with the publication of The General Theory. Keynes gave the governments of the world a seemingly scientific rationale for doing what governments wanted to do anyway.”
On unions and government labor laws:
“Union power, gained by legislation, even without physical violence, is still violence. The laborer gains legal force over the employer. Economically, in the long run, labor loses.
“…If only it were so easy to help the working class. Just dictate wages and everyone will be financially better off. Unfortunately, this leads to disastrous results, whether it’s the prolonging of the economic mess as it did in the 1930s or the tragic results in American industry that we’re witnessing today.
“What good is it to mandate a $75 per hour wage if there are no jobs available at that price? What good is a minimum wage of $7.50 if it significantly contributes to overall unemployment?
“The reaction to the economic argument explaining the shortcoming of labor unions and minimum wage laws is that it’s heartless and unfair not to force ‘fairness’ on the ruthless capitalists. But true compassion should be directed toward the defense of a free market that has provided the greatest abundance and the best distribution of wealth of any economic system known throughout history.”
The chapter on taxes, however, is probably the best (and certainly this reviewer’s favorite). It sums up so many of the important themes: private property, liberty versus coercion, public education, economic misallocation, and the voracious appetite of the state.
“‘Taxes are the price we pay for civilization,’ according to Oliver Wendell Holmes. This claim has cost us dearly…If we as a nation continue to believe that paying for civilization through taxation is a wise purchase and the only way to achieve civilization, we are doomed.”
I am tempted to quote the chapter in its entirety, but at this point I would simply urge you to buy the book so you can read it there, along with the rest of this wonderful work.
Regards,
Gary Gibson
Managing Editor, Whiskey & Gunpowder
April 25, 2011
P.S.: Click here to get your copy now.
Gary Gibson
Gary Gibson is the managing editor for Whiskey and Gunpowder. He joins the Whiskey staff as a long-time fan and reader of both Whiskey and Gunpowder and The Daily Reckoning. A graduate of Fordham University, Gary now spends his days reading about and writing on limited government, sound money, personal responsibility and resource investing.
The Daily Reckoning is your premier source for making sense of the news Washington and Wall Street generate. Each business day, The Daily Reckoning calls on its stable of world-class writers and thinkers to show you how to get ahead.
Start your 100% FREE subscription to The Daily Reckoning today and you’ll get a free research report, “How to Survive the Fall of Social Security.” Simply enter your email address below to get your free report and join over 495,000 worldwide Daily Reckoning subscribers!
We Respect Your Privacy and We will
Never Share or Sell Your Email Address
“Drinking and smoking marijuana is one thing, but driving recklessly under the influence is quite another.”
nonsense, they are the same thing. a person under the influence is neither rational nor in control of himself. this creates a reasonable presumption of hazard to others (via guns, automobiles, wandering into traffic causing disruption, etc), hence responsible parties can and must take charge of such an individual even before such hazard is fully realized.
Most probably would agree with gman and which indicates individual liberty won’t be returning anytime soon.
I wish Paul would learn to stand up straight, buy a decent suit and tie and speak with the “Big Boy” voice. He would be so much more effective.
It’s hard to take someone seriously when their fly is open and they have spaghetti sauce on their shirt – know what I mean? The man has to win votes from a very diverse electorate. He could help his CAUSE greatly by tightening a few things up.
In a similar vein, how is he going to get the republican nominee when he reserves his contempt for the Republican Party. He is conciliatory when speaking to democrats but exhibits contempt for Republicans. This is out of all proportion and it irks me.
A Ron Paul is not even remotely possible in the Democrat party.
I’ve seen him on Rachel Maddow and he did all that he could to seem like a liberal on the show. I was sickened and I give him no points for courage. He wants to be liked by liberals too much.
Now If he wants to slam “neocons” in the GOP, I’m all for it. But it’s dumb for him to be constantly slamming republicans and only giving democrats the “Republicans do it too” line. He should leave the damned party if he can’t even do that.
if you define “liberty” as “doing whatever I want whenever I want because I want and too bad what happens to anyone else because of it” then yeah.
that’s the problem with libertarianism. it ends at the tip of your nose and everything beyond that is just void. it’s a mirror image of liberalism – liberalism views the entire world as something to be looted, while libertarianism has no view of the world at all.
Adam Smith said it best: progress requires “little else…but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice.” Instead, we have manufactured wars, high taxes to support a bloated bureaucracy, and justice for the highest bidder.
gman–
WOW! I didn’t realize there were readers on this site that think the way you do. Rather than get into an argument about the slickest slopes I have ever heard, e.g. “neither rational nor in control of himself” and “reasonable presumption of hazard,” I would love it if you could tell me why you even come to this site at all?
And to Gary G, good article, but isn’t it frustrating to read Dr. Paul and then realize he has no chance of being elected?
Cheers.
I think you miss the point gman. Doing whatevery you want regardless the consequences to others is the act of a spoiled brat. Rational society/civilization has a right and duty to expect adult behaviour from its members. You want to paint yourself purple and dance naked in your living room? Fine, just pull the curtains so you dont blind your neighbors. And they have a right to expect you will pull the curtain. We sacrifice out atavistic desires to avoid chaos and provide the opertunities for peace and prosperity for all.
The early generations of president have given the impression of a all-rounder, passionate, responsible, caring characteristics. At times, they even played ‘friendly’ matches with their communist arch-rival.
The models from Nixon onwards are rather..
The versions could only be described as blunt, square, overly winning-appetite, nothing but destined to win only.
Until materials are consolidated, all ideas or plans are verbose paper strategies. It is destined doom then pave a path for early realisation. Overly verbose or spittle filling up a tank would only depress global citizens at large.
“I would love it if you could tell me why you even come to this site at all?”
why do you? to have your opinions confirmed? and I do indeed believe you don’t want to get into an argument about a person under the influence being neither rational nor in control of himself.
“Rational society/civilization has a right and duty to expect adult behaviour from its members.”
what I said. libertarianism is little more than the atomized self disconnnected from any human attachment.
and that disconnect from any human attachment is what they mean by “liberty” and “freedom”.
I know. Don’t you just hate Liberty and Freedom?
When there is favourable trade terms there is a stance that you must opt. Whence comes liberty when you need to choose side astutely, or favouritism prevails?
Whence comes liberty when money flow out freely from the casino?
Sounds like gman is one of those people that drinks a beer then falls flat on his face. Look pal, not everyone lacks the motor control, mental stability, tolerance, and/or rationale to be able to be in control of themselves under the influence of drugs. Thanks to the wonderful “War on Drugs” my highschool was flooded with every drug imaginable in which I indulged a lot from 15 to my early 20s. I never once hurt anyone or violated anyone’s property and I was quite rational and in control of myself.
I’m now a network engineer for a major telecommunications provider and own my own financials company (which is doing quite well) and I still partake in recreational drug use from time to time.
You obviously have no idea of what you’re talking about and even if some people have no control or are not rational under the influence doesn’t mean that those of us who are should be punished for their bad behavior. If you’re going to make that argument you may as well make the argument that all people should be locked in a cage 24×7 because some people in society aren’t in control of themselves nor are they rational while they are sober.
Good day, sir! I say, good day!
Austrian school sound good in theory, but will never get a democratic vote in favour of it because the medicine is just too bitter to swallow…
So.. on and on it goes and it has probably already reached the point of no return with or without the intervention of Dr. Ron Paul
Any mention of Ron Paul anywhere on the net is sure to attract the basement-dwelling class of self-righteous mother hens that can’t help but have their fingers in everyone elses business because they have none of their own.
Poor gman needs the statists and bureaucrats to manage his life from cradle to grave as, at some point, he has the potential to lose control of himself or become irrational. Thank god your taxes are going to those which can control your actions and keep others safe from your harm. You are the dream citizen. Fall in line, or suffer the victimless crime!
.An economic school of thought that originated in Vienna during the late 19th century with the works of Carl Menger. The Austrian school is set apart by its belief that the workings of the broad economy are the sum of smaller individual decisions and actions unlike the Chicago school and other theoriesthat look to surmise the future from historical abstracts often using broad statistical aggregates.
Gman-
I come to this site to read about the exploits of the MG and to read about BB’s adventures in Argentina. I also like the non-mainstream financial observations. Now answer the damn question. Why do you come here? I ask because you fit the profile of a troll. And say hello to Harry for me. I miss him.