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 enlarge | Author: Ron Paul
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $21.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  572 reviews
Sales Rank: 53
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0446537519
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.931092
EAN: 9780446537513
ASIN: 0446537519
Publication Date: April 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 Good overall, but far from flawless July 3, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
In his latest book, Ron Paul maintains that, if we are to have "real change" in this country, we must break free from the "artificial limitations" that are so often imposed by the political and media establishments on free debate. And to do that, he argues, we must "start asking serious questions once again," instead of allowing said establishments dictate to us what questions we're allowed to ask.
In chapter one he rightly points out how American voters are being given "false choices" every election season, since the policy agendas of the two major parties are far more similar than different.
In his chapter on foreign policy, he takes neoconservatives to task for blurring the fundamental distinction between "isolationism and noninterventionism," and posits that it is actually they, not he, who are the "real isolationists," since they isolate the U.S. "in the court of world opinion by pursuing needless belligerence and war that have nothing to do with legitimate national security concerns." By engaging in such belligerence, Paul argues, our government has merely stirred up "hornet's nests," and thereby made us "more" vulnerable to attack "than we would otherwise have been."
In chapter 3 he does an admirable job of explaining why Constitutional phrases such as "general welfare" and "necessary and proper" do not, in fact, give an "open-ended character" to the powers granted to Congress in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. Nor, Paul correctly asserts, is there anything in the Constitution that allows Congress to "delegate" any of its powers to the executive branch.
In chapter 4 Paul points out the multiple ways government engages in "legal plunder" -- whether directly through taxation or indirectly through "regulatory schemes" that protect politically-connected businesses from price-lowering competition. To that extent he is on solid ground. He is on very weak ground, however, when he parrots the Austrian school's fairy tale view of the Gilded Age (see Age of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America, 1865-1900 (Vintage), blindly denying that corrupt monopolies were defrauding or fleecing consumers, that laborers were (in many cases) being forced to work for slave wages, and that "giant corporations" were routinely and effectively engaging in anticompetitive behavior. He also makes the exaggerated claim that the American economy was "starved for capital" during that era, and that this was the primary reason so many people were poor, when the reality is that capital often sat idle due to land speculation-caused depressions (see Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry in the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth... The Remedy). Fortunately, he returns to solid ground when he accurately characterizes organizations like the WTO and NAFTA as "government-managed trade schemes" that, as such, have nothing to do with "genuine free trade"
The "civil liberties" chapter alone is worth the price of the book. Here Paul exposes how control-freak politicians, in the name of "protecting" us from terrorists, have waged a virtual terrorist attack of their own on the very "freedoms" for which Muslim extremists supposedly hate us; and proposes as a solution to this outrage the enactment of his "American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007." He also explains why the drug war is a failed, destructive and unconstitutional war, and why ending this war would greatly reduce if not eliminate many of the problems that countless people mistakenly attribute to drugs themselves.
As one who both contributed to Ron Paul and voted for him in the primary, I'm sad to say chapter 6 is by far my least favorite chapter, and the main reason I couldn't give the book 5 stars. Although I agree with him that we urgently need to reform the current money system, I'm convinced, after reading this chapter, that he has a very limited understanding of both the nature and history of money (see The Lost Science of Money: The Mythology of Money, The Story of Power), and that this limited understanding causes him to advocate a deflationary cure that is actually far worse than the inflationary disease. Among the many facts he ignores (however unknowingly) are:
* that the worst depressions in U.S. history (including the Great Depression) all occurred under his beloved "gold standard";
* that the average American was significantly poorer in 1932 than in 1928, even though the value of the gold-backed dollar was significantly higher in 1932 than in 1928;
* that debt-based fiat money is fundamentally different from debt-free fiat money (see the documentary film, "The Money Masters");
* that money is uncreated whenever the principal of a bank loan is repaid, and that the money supply would therefore collapse -- and the economy along with it -- if everyone, including the government, got out of debt; and
* that banks never create the money needed to pay the interest on all the money supply-expanding loans they make, and how this actually creates a built-in SHORTAGE of money.
Those wishing to have a full understanding of the money issue (including how best to reform the current system) would be much better served reading Ellen Brown's masterwork, Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System and How We Can Break Free (Revised and Updated).
The 7th and final chapter is mostly a summary of the previous six, and a stirring call to action. "The empire game our government has been playing," Paul concludes, "is coming to an end one way or another. This is the fate of all empires: they overextend themselves and then suffer a financial catastrophe....We are already seeing the pattern emerging in our own case. We can either withdraw gracefully, as I propose, or we can stay in our fantasy world and wait until bankruptcy forces us to scale back our foreign commitments. Again, I know which option I prefer."
And so do I. Thank you, Ron Paul, for writing this book (even if you are innocently mistaken on the gold standard ;-)).
Unprecedented Times July 2, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Absolutely enlightening book about the reason for the destruction of our great country by means of stealth and strategy. The whistleblower of all whistleblowers! Sound money, the public education system, foreign policy... this man knows it yet what he says goes the contrary to the status quo. Must must read!
May convince my father. July 1, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am more than half-way thru the book and have not been disppointed. More importantly for me, though is that I asked my father to start reading it and he says he seems to agree with most of what Dr. Paul says., This is from a man who has, unfortunately been listening to Rush L. and O'Reiley and believes much of what he sees on FOX. His original impression of Paul was directly from FOX, he thought he was a nut. My mother had the same impression. They do not have access to the internet, so must get all their info from the mainstream media. However, he has recently become a history buff, reading all he can about the Constitution and the original framers of the Constitution, and I think he is ripe to "See the light". I thank Dr. Paul for all his efforts to turn this country around and inspire a new generation to realize how important the decisions we make now will affect our childrens' future.
A MUST READ July 1, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Excellent Book...a Must Read for EVERYONE! Brings out shocking truths of the government and what he will do to fix it. Talks about issues that every politican advoids.
informative June 30, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
We`ve been listening to this book more then once. There is so much info, that it`s a must. I just wish we had a lot more Ron`s in our congress and senate. This country could be so much stronger.....
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