Liberty Books

Promises, Performance, And Prospects: Essays On Political Economy, 1980-1998 collects key writings of Antonio Martino, Italian statesman and political economics professor. Motivated by classical liberal thought yet also concerned with issues of political economy as fiscal responsibility, the threat of statism to individual liberty, and the migration of overtaxed citizens to the underground economy, Martino's essays may focus particularly on Italy's circumstances yet involve extensive analysis of problems that are germane to all advanced democratic societies. Essays include "Budget Deficits and Constitutional Constraints", "Is Social Justice a Myth?", "Was Keynes a Keynesian?", "European Monetary Union: A Fatal Mistake?", "A Comment on 'Nineteen Eighty-four: A False Alarm?'" and many more. Especially recommended for college library and economics studies shelves.

If you need a book to begin understanding the basics of property rights and some of the complex issues that surround them, this is your book.

Protecting What Matters: Technology, Security, and Liberty since 9/11 presents a thoughtful array of views on one of the critical issues of our time: balancing privacy and civil liberties with heightened security concerns in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In a learned and lucid introduction, Clayton Northouse displays an impressive legal, moral, and philosophical mastery of the various debates regarding national security and civil liberties. Beginning with an overview of the aborted 2001 Pentagon program TIA (Total Information Awareness), which planned to create an enormous database aiming to "provide the government with an all-seeing eye on the world," (3) the book's introduction discusses government attempts to strengthen national security, efforts that culminated in the 2001 PATRIOT Act. Northouse's introduction also situates our current debates about national security in the context of some two hundred years of American history. Beginning with President Adams' notorious Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, and reviewing similar actions taken by President Lincoln during the Civil War, the US Congress in 1917 in the midst of the World War I, and President Roosevelt in the tense weeks after the Pearl Harbor bombings, Northouse shows how in times of acute threat to American security, our government has repeatedly taken measures, often viewed as impulsive and myopic by the gaze of history, to increase surveillance, detain or persecute `threatening' people, and allow for stronger executive powers. In our ADHD media culture where catchy sound bites by slick politicians and entertaining on-screen spats between well-heeled partisans pass as genuine debate, Northouse reminds us that current efforts to balance our fundamental needs for collective security and individual rights have strong roots in our country's rich history. The implicit message here seems to be that our past has much to teach us, if we would only listen.

The high points of this consistently engaging book are the closing chapters written by Senators John Kyle (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) assessing the constitutionality and effectiveness of the PATRIOT Act. Senator Kyle offers an intelligent and impassioned defense of government actions to defend the American people in a time of unprecedented danger. Senator Feingold, in an equally thoughtful piece, presents his strong objections to the PATRIOT Act, while simultaneously emphasizing the need to provide robust security for our country. In sum, Northouse has assembled an intelligent and energetic army of scholars, lawyers, policy makers, and government officials to do battle over one of the most pressing concerns in the post 9-11 world. In sum, Northouse's work raises the level of debate in our country while simultaneously demonstrating the need for further dialogue, sharper analysis, and more effective legislation in addressing a central issue of our time.

This is Buchanan's earliest book. Its main contribution is the debunking of the notion, prevalent at the time of publication and perhaps still, that government debt does not constitute a burden on taxpayers. Buchanan demonstrates that it is not the bondholders but future taxpayers who bear the cost of today's public expenditures. Bondholders are eventually repaid their invested principal plus interest, and they bought the bonds voluntarily because in their opinion it was the most appropriate investment from the entire range of investments available to them. The voluntary nature of their lending suggests they are better off not worse off, and thus they could hardly be deemed to be bearing a burden. Since bondholders will eventually be repaid from the proceeds of future taxes, it is future taxpayers who pay for today's public expenditures insofar as they are debt-financed. It makes no difference whether the debt is held internally (domestically) or externally (by foreign entities). Buchanan was not the first to make this argument (he credits classical economists such as Henry C. Adams, Charles F. Bastable, and particularly the Frenchman Paul Leroy-Beaulieu), but considering the "we owe it to ourselves" nonsense that was fashionable at the time, Buchanan's exposition was clearly warranted.

Although Buchanan is a libertarian thinker, his rationale here is not one of small government being superior to big government. He argues that not having to face the financial consequences of our spending decisions leads to distorted cost/benefit analyses: "[T]he real cost of public expenditure which is debt financed must rest on individuals other than those who participate in the social decisions made at the time of the approval or rejection of any proposed expenditure...This destroys the individual comparison of benefits from public expenditures and the costs of these expenditures which is possible in the case of taxes...If any individual benefits at all are expected to accrue currently from a proposed public expenditure, the individual when making his choice between the public debt-public expenditure and the no debt-no expenditure alternatives will always tend to favor the former over the latter. In such cases, the choice processes usually embodied in democratic institutions cannot be expected to provide correct decisions, upon any criterion of correctness. The individual chooser cannot fairly compare benefits and costs" (pp. 119-120).

All in all this is a terrific slim volume that makes for an indispensable first read in the study of the topic of public debt finance, along with Democracy in Deficit, volume 8 in the Buchanan Collected Works series, and, better yet, Debt and Taxes, volume 14 in the series.

Dr. Winnubst's latest work should prove to be an excellent, eye opening experience for anyone interested in what we mean when we call ourselves "free," or even what we mean when we say "I." Using several eariler philosopher's works about experience and identity, Dr. Winnubst deconstructs the myth of the automonous individual, independent of such fundamental considerations such as race, gender, economic status, and sexual orientation. Further, she argues that the myth of the autonomous self has been established for the sake of those who benefit from social injustice, what Dr. Winnubst calls "phallisized whiteness." She continues by offering how we can proceed while accepting our aspects of race, gender, wealth, and the like as inseparable parts of ourselves.

Dr. Winnubst shows clearly that she has confidence and authority in every field she approaches, from common and classical concepts of freedom to the philosophy of race and gender and psychoanalysis. Anyone who has encountered the philosophers who she cites will see their direct influence in her theories; however, Dr. Winnubst grounds her views as much as possible in original arguments. Nevertheless, anyone unfamiliar with her sources will not be left behind since Dr. Winnubst, showing her teaching experience, provides concise but proficient explainations of her citations. This book seems to welcome anyone willing to invest the time and energy to struggle along with the text, much in Bataillian fashion, to better understand what makes us ourselves.

Pam Parson did it again! She wrote such a moving piece of work that I am encouraged to move on in my walk of faith, using her characters as my guide. I enjoyed every chapter, every page, every intriguing episode. I do hope that Mrs. Parson will continue to write to give us both the reading enjoyment with strong characters like Kate, Collin, Jack, and Sadie, as well as a spiritual boost to aspire to a higher calling in Christ, just like they lived. All I can say is thank you, Pam Parson!!!

Reach For the Stars and Read is a wonderful collection of fun and thought provoking poems for children. They are delightful. I have heard the cassette tape and the songs are ones children will like learning to sing-along with the words of the poems in the book. Everyone with children should buy this book and songs to accompany.

Jamieson certainly does not shy away from controversy in Real Choices; this text is bound to rankle everyone from conservatives to old guard feminists still stuck in an "equality at all costs" mode of thought. Setting out to prove that equality and expanded liberty for women are not mutually exclusive aims, Jamieson ultimately succeeds in presenting scenarios where the law can move towards respecting individual freedoms and identities while creating a more level playing field for women. Jamieson is a talented writer, not given to the pretension and convolution that so often pervade academic works, and she even demonstrates a sense of humor on occasion; both qualities make for a pleasant reading experience. The work itself manages to integrate a myriad of contemporary feminist and legal works, but is carefully organized and well footnoted. Overall, Real Choices is an interesting read, an important illustration of how far feminism has come since the days of Dworkin/MacKinnon, and where the movement is heading in the 21st century.

I don't remember when I have finished reading a book and felt like I learned as much as I learned from this incredible book. As far as I can find, Daniel Dreisbach is a little known author who has written about a half dozen books on religious liberty and the First Amendment. I do not understand why Mr. Dreisbach is not a more acclaimed author, as his writing style is succinct, his research is exhaustive, and his conclusions are infallible.

Dreisbach himself gives an apt description of this book in the opening paragraph of his Conclusion chapter, when he writes;

"If only one conclusion emerges from this study, it should be that history can be, indeed has been, used and misused by strict separationists and nonprefentialists alike. The religion clauses are particularly susceptible prepossessions in the guise of historical interpretation. Sadly, the Supreme Court has been one of the chief abusers of the historical record."

The book first examines the battle of intentialist versus nonintentionalist theories of judicial interpretation. The author gives sound evidence from both Jefferson and Madison, two founders' whose views have been perverted greatly by the judiciary, in defense of the intentialist theory. Here a precedent is set for the author to follow throughout the book, where he continues to use similar instances of how history has been perverted and distorted to support the views of nonintentialists or nonpreferentialist or even strict separationists.

Much attention is given to recorded material, which has been largely overlooked or omitted by the judiciary. For example, Mr. Justice Black singled out Jefferson's Revisal number 82 in his opinion in the famed Everson case, but failed to mention Revisals 83-85 which called for protecting the property rights of the Anglican Church (no other church was protected), a blue law bill which also called for prohibiting disturbing citizens in the peaceful expression of their religion, a bill for appointing days of public fasting and Thanksgiving, and finally a bill which called for the recognition of Biblical (Levitical) Law.

The end result, Dreisbach succeeds in soundly rebutting the views of strict separationists such as Leo Pfeffer, Hugo Black and others. This is the best book I have read on the subject of the First Amendment and religious liberty, and there have been many good volumes written. Then again, this is not a book that you can "read' per se. This is a book that must be studied as the text makes up only half of this volume. This book has an incredibly extensive notes section and a bibliography that is unbelievable. I have already added about a dozen "must reads" to my reading list from this fine work.

I cannot recommend Dreisbach's book highly enough. This must definitely added to the essential reading list of anyone wanting to learn more about how Jefferson's "Wall of Separation" metaphor has been distorted and abused, and how our federal judiciary has used selective views of history to support their conclusions, rather than using all-inclusive views of history to reach their judicial decisions.

I found this little known book completely by accident. I have had on my reading list, another book by Dreisbach called Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State. I found this earlier work by Dreisbach referenced in another book and decided I should read his earlier work first. I'm truly glad that I did and will order other books by Dreisbach immediately.

Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com

I've read many books on small business startup and entrepreneurial guides to success, but this book is by far the best I've ever read on the subject. Edward K. Frank comes at you from a different angle. He not only shares his business successes but he shares his business failures and tells of how to avoid them. He's been there. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is considering starting a business as well as anyone who may need a motivational boost to get started. The book can even help those who have failed in small business start again. A truly wonderful book by an incredible man!