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Average customer rating:
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
- Provocative, appealing and controversial
- pharaohs lived in the 3rd century AD
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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- History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Provocative, appealing and controversial.......2006-08-02
Fomenko has succeeded to convincingly demonstrate the misconception about what "history" factually is... It is fiction and -like we can read and judge for ourselves- no science. It indeed is "make belief" only. I "discovered" Fomenko while studying the "old" history of Al Andaluz, Spain. Having found too many contradictions in available data, having seen too many forgeries as to pretend the importance of christianity for its decline, I ventured out to find Fomenko, who convinced me that we know little if anything for sure of the epoch before the XI-century. However, the integration of the Arabic-Islamic cultural history into the heavily distorted Western fails... There are some attempts to fit "the budding new religion" (Islam) into Fomenko's scheme, but they are too weak to be taken seriously and too often focussing on Turkey as the region where things started to influence the West, which is untrue at all.
Islam certainly was no "new religion" in the X-century. That the highly cultivated Al Andaluz ruler Mohammed-I could have been "mirrored" down in time into some myth about the "illiterate" founder of Islam itself is highly speculative. Nevertheless, Fomenko convinces me about the processes that were involved in forging a christian history. Intriguing and controversial as his books are, I recommend them as to rethink our current position in time and space and simply verify what was claimed. It is a "good" book, but not for bedtime reading... Mundus vult decipi, the world wants to be cheated. Fomenko's readers will understand why.
pharaohs lived in the 3rd century AD.......2006-02-16
Traces of white wine were found in Tutankhamen's tomb however there were no record of white wine in Egypt until the 3rd century AD, 1600 years after the young pharaoh died according to the traditional chronology. http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18925395.400
It can be interpreted as a contribution towards New Chronology theory that pharaohs lived in the 3rd century AD.
Average customer rating:
- An accurate depiction of what's happening to the US
- Must reading for freedom loving Americans
- A chilling examination of our future
- Prescient
- What Would Jesus Read?
|
American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury
Kevin Phillips
Manufacturer: Penguin Audio
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ASIN: 0143058444
Release Date: 2006-03-21 |
Book Description
From the writer called our "modern-day Tom Paine,"an explosive analysis of the axis of religion, politics, and fiscal imprudence that threatens to destroy the nation.
Unabridged CDs - 11 CDs, 13 hours
Customer Reviews:
An accurate depiction of what's happening to the US.......2007-06-27
I've read this book twice (from the library) and bought my own copy so I would have access to the information that Kevin Phillips presents. This well-written book is a must read if you want to understand what's going on in the US today. The author of The Emerging Republican Majority describes how the Republican party has sold out it's conservative principles to interests representing oil, religion, and the financial services oriented debt-industrial complex. Citing historical precedents that show the parallels between what's going on in the US today and what went on in past empires that entered decline and are now "over the hill" (Spanish, Dutch, English). This book is a must read for those interested in the future of the US that want to understand what's really happening.
Must reading for freedom loving Americans.......2007-05-13
American Theocracy is must reading for Americans who are troubled by the rise of the extreme right in America and those concerned about the undo influence of the religious right in our government.
A chilling examination of our future.......2007-05-10
American Theocracy is an extraordinary piece of sustained analysis of the political and economic future of the United States. Its argument based on the work of Kennedy is that the country is in a terminal decline due to a mixture of radical religion, oil dependence and chronic debt.
As a former Republican analyst, Phillips is clearly disenchanted with the direction of the Republican Party and the Bush family. He makes a clear and convincing case that the US is going down the wrong path.
I did have some quibbles in that he is constantly refering to his previous books as though they were standard works. A work needs to stand clearly on its own legs.
Secondly, I would have liked some call to action to address the issues he raises. The book paints a bleak picture and then provides no roadmap or even a suggestion of where the United States should be heading.
Prescient.......2007-05-09
Drawing on historical precedents, Kevin Phillips paints a stark picture of the U.S.A. in her twilight; overburdened by an outrageously large and growing debt, dependent on a diminishing resource, and blinded and misled by fanatical religious elements. This book should be required reading for all high school seniors - we may be able to "dodge the bullet" if enough Americans understood the situation - but, alas, this will not happen soon.
What Would Jesus Read?.......2007-04-24
As usual Kevin is pointed in his discription of what most Americans would rather not think about- that is the 400 pound gorilla in the room.
The theocrats have always been with us and will continue to influence the direction of the nation- until someone stands up and says "No".
History is a continous thread that binds us to the past. Zealots don't just "Go away". They reconstitute and rise again. It is no coincidence that we are at war in the Middle East and a politician from the South controls the White House. Like the Islamists who's intolerance we fight, and who need to translate their faith into action, so too do fundamentalist Christians. Books like Phillips' make Christian fundamentalists nervous.
The rest of us are not suppose to notice nor to understand the implications of what the religious right is telling us these days.
All one has to do is follow the thread of history to understand the intentions of "God's little helpers". There are retributions to be paid by the "evil doers", prisons to be built and wars to fight;
prophesies to fulfil and a better place to be purchased for all who find themselves disenfranchised.
Fundamentalist zealots will know when the time is right. The Islamists have already acted on their faith- in their minds they had no choice.
For if they believe what they say they believe- they have to act or lose their very souls.
By the percentage of fundamentalist Christian military personnel who continue to volunteer for duty in Iraq, it would appear that the new Crusades have begun. Without Iraq the mission would in time be our own central government.
Average customer rating:
- "The Money Men" intriguing ...
- Another great contribution from Dr. Brands
- Brands Doesn't Disappoint
- Not up to Brands very high standards
- THE MONEY MEN follows their lives, philosophies, clashes and lasting influences.
|
The Money Men: Capitalism, Democracy, and the Hundred Years' War over the American Dollar (Enterprise)
H. W. Brands
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0393061841 |
Book Description
A best-selling historian's gripping account of the powerful men who controlled America's financial destiny.
From the first days of the United States, a battle raged over money. On one side were the democrats, who wanted cheap money and feared the concentration of financial interests in the hands of a few. On the other were the capitalists who sought the soundness of a national bank—and the profits that came with it.
In telling this exciting story, H. W. Brands focuses on five "Money Men": Alexander Hamilton, who championed a national bank; Nicholas Biddle, whose run-in with Andrew Jackson led to the bank's demise; Jay Cooke, who financed the Union in the Civil War; Jay Gould, who tried to corner the gold market; and J. P. Morgan, whose position was so commanding that he bailed out the U.S. Treasury.
The Money Men is a riveting narrative, a revealing history of the men who fought over the lifeblood of American commerce and power.
Customer Reviews:
"The Money Men" intriguing ..........2007-02-10
I found this book to be a bit of a challenge, since it takes the reader through the history of U.S. money from before the nation's establishment as a country independent from the crown of England, and the accompanying tax structure, all the way through the Federal Reserve days of Alan Greenspan. Yet what I learned about the men profiled in this book gave me a glimpse of their "inner workings" and how their business - and personal - biases have had an affect on the entire development of the U.S. An excellent read.
Another great contribution from Dr. Brands.......2007-01-05
Dr. Brands never disappoints. His research and witty style makes him a must-read in any topic on American history. Here, he's taken what some might consider a dry economics topic and turned it into a pleasurable experience that will help anyone understand this important current in the course of our country.
Brands Doesn't Disappoint.......2007-01-01
I am a big fan of Bill Brands' work. He's one academic historian who can make complex subjects understandable to Average Joes like me. Unlike the previous reviewer, I don't have much background on the Money Question, which, as Brands explains, so deeply divided the nation for the first dozen or so decades of its existence. So this book was a learning experience for me.
In "The Money Men," Brands elucidates five pivotal stories in America's economic development:
*Hamilton's efforts to establish a national bank and his program to finance the developing country's growth through national debt
*The Jackson-Biddle "War" in which Pres. Jackson prevailed in killing off the Second Bank of the United States
*Jay Cooke's role in financing the Civil War
*The failed attempt of railroad barons Jay Gould and James Fisk to corner the gold market
*J.P. Morgan's role as the nation's de facto central banker.
Of these, I was particularly drawn to the story about Cooke's innovations in selling Union war bonds to the general public. Major bankers, especially New York bankers, had shown only tepid appetite for such bonds amid Union battlefield setbacks. Indeed, except for Lincoln, Cooke may have been the man most responsible for keeping the Union army in the field.
I was also surprised to learn -- as apparently were his contemporaries --of the relatively modest size of Morgan's estate: $68 million. By comparison, Andrew Carnegie amassed a $225 million fortune.
Brands wraps up with the resolution to the Money Question -- the establishment of the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913. The Fed system was a compromise that combined elements of Hamiltonian capitalism and Jeffersonian democracy. With a couple of glaring exceptions (late 20s/early 30s and 1970s) the Fed system has served the nation's economy well across nine decades now.
Not up to Brands very high standards.......2006-12-20
The Money Men by H.W. Brands is a good, albeit quite brief, review of our nation's historical struggle between the forces of capitalism and democracy. Clearly the two, while a recipe for economic success, opportunity and global power, have collided both philosophically and politically over some two hundred thirty years.
Brands, a highly regarded historian at the University of Texas, and the author of such definitive books and "Andrew Jackson" and "The Age of Gold" seems to have radically tailored his prose for this entry into The Enterprise Series. As it is my first read of these books I cannot be sure if the editors at Norton are seeking to spoon feed a reader audience where little existing knowledge of the specific topics is assumed. It seems as if that is the goal and it is a shame as Brands has so much more to offer. His writing is crisp in The Money Men and the history of a developing economic, financial and monetary system is well done, but from a cursory and overview perspective. Those looking for more should do just that, keep looking.
THE MONEY MEN follows their lives, philosophies, clashes and lasting influences........2006-11-07
The Money Men: Capitalism, Democracy and the Hundred Year's War Over the American Dollar charts the influence and struggles of the financial industry in American history, using biographical sketches of five key financiers to follow the story of the American dollar. Andrew Hamilton, Nicholas Biddle, Jay Cooke, Jay Gould and J.P. Morgan each helped form the monetary system in this country - and thus helped shape its political choices. THE MONEY MEN follows their lives, philosophies, clashes and lasting influences.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Average customer rating:
- A Must Read
- As a voter you owe to yourself to read this.
- Best Journalist of our Time
- A real eye opener!
- Armed Madhouse better reporting and more convincing
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The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
Greg Palast
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0452285674 |
Book Description
Award-winning investigative journalist Greg Palast digs deep to unearth the ugly facts that few reporters working anywhere in the world today have the courage or ability to cover. From East Timor to Waco, he has exposed some of the most egregious cases of political corruption, corporate fraud, and financial manipulation in the US and abroad. His uncanny investigative skills as well as his no-holds-barred style have made him an anathema among magnates on four continents and a living legend among his colleagues and his devoted readership.
This exciting new collection brings together some of Palast's most powerful writing of the past decade. Included here are his celebrated "Washington Post" exposé on Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris's stealing of the presidential election in Florida, and recent stories on George W. Bush's payoffs to corporate cronies, the payola behind Hillary Clinton, and the faux energy crisis. Also included in this volume are new and previously unpublished material, television transcripts, photographs and letters.
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read.......2007-06-27
As bitter this sort of truth be -- that is, to both patriots and would-be patriots (well, at least they're trying) -- it's now the harshest of realities.
Because it effectsd njot merely us sinners but also the still unborn yet to come, it does, however, needs to be seen clearly and understood -- if we don't want to let it happen yet again.
We have been witrness to the abuse of our religion 9in the blatant pursuit of power as well as that which usually serves best to bu7y it: money.
Take notice then and learn from these past 6.5 years. That's the only way not to repeat our most recent political past. Live and learn. Even so, fool me once, shame of you Bush et al. But, fool me again, shame on me!
A must read if myou truly want to be finally now a learned and wordly wise citizen of the now somewhat tarnished (if not sorely debased) but still greatest nation on earth (in spite of the Bushies best efforts to bleed it dry in particular, as well as wreck it generally) our own United States of America .
As a voter you owe to yourself to read this........2007-06-05
As everyone knows if one side gets away with something, pretty soon everybody is doing it. So even if you are a died in the wool Republican you should read this book, because I can guarantee you that the Democrats will be caging/purging you off the voter rolls next.
Mad about Iraq? Here's the scoop on why we've made a hash of it. Even if you wanted to toss that foul dictator Saddam Hussein, and now are wondering why after liberating these folk we are still being shot at, read this book.
Mad about your gasoline prices? Read on. Mad about your power bill? Read on.. we are being played for suckers and I for one am tired of it.
Best Journalist of our Time.......2007-05-21
What can I say, Greg Palast is a genius at finding the hard facts on not just President Bush, but Clinton too. Some might think he is bias support the right-wing. But with a open mind this book and Greg on his site blows you away with facts. Features how the Republican's (BUSH TEAM) fixed the election with scrub list, globalization, corporate cons my favorite Small town minds. Plus his new Book, features how they are planning to steal 04 and 08. Get this book help spread the news of the cronies in Washington.
A real eye opener!.......2007-04-01
Greg Palast is a very courageous man who wants the truth to be told. I highly recommend this book.
Armed Madhouse better reporting and more convincing.......2006-12-16
I struggled with the idea of knocking 2 stars off of my rating, but "Armed Madhouse" is simply much more for the money (same author). Do not get me wrong here... the book is still a good read, but the self-important - look at me - tone takes away from the larger message- and there is a very important message here. I read "Armed Madhouse" first and would probably have enjoyed this book more if the order was reversed... but, frankly, the research is not AS convincing as the former, and it hurts the message. You should still buy this book, but make certain you read "Armed Madhouse".
Average customer rating:
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- Gilded Age One
|
Age of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America, 1865-1900
Jack Beatty
Manufacturer: Knopf
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Binding: Hardcover
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- Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919
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ASIN: 1400040280
Release Date: 2007-04-10 |
Book Description
A brilliant reconsideration of the Gilded Age in America, when an oligarchy of wealth triumphed over democracy, when dreams of freedom and equality died of their impossibility. Jay Gould, the “Mephisto of Wall Street,” never runs for office, but he rules. This was his time (and John D. Rockefeller’s and Andrew Carnegie’s), and this was his country.
At the end of the Civil War, with the rebellion put down and slavery ended, America belonged to Lincoln’s “plain people.” But “government of the people” and economic democracy were betrayed by political parties that fanned memories of the war to distract Americans from government of the corporation.
Synthesizing the research of a new generation of scholars, Jack Beatty gives us a fresh look at the “revolution from above” of industrialization that forged modern America. In Age of Betrayal, Supreme Court justices turn the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise of “equal protection of the laws” to the freed slave into the shield of the corporate “person.” The presidents of the Pennsylvania and Southern Pacific railroads engage in a bidding war for congressmen. A depression brought on by railroad speculation throws millions out of work, the hungry riot for bread in Buffalo, the homeless sleep on Chicago’s streets, “tramps” are arrested, strikers are shot, and the nation’s presidents avert their eyes.
In the 1890s the Populist revolt from below challenges the revolution from above. Entrepreneurial capitalism ends in the early 1900s, as 1,800 giant firms are compacted into 157 behemoths. God instructs President McKinley to invade Cuba and seize the Philippines from Spain; turning from liberators to occupiers, U.S. troops slaughter and starve the (Roman Catholic) Filipinos in the name of “Christianizing” them. In perpetrating this “infamy,” William James cries out, “We have puked up our traditions”—revealing how these sordid decades had remade us.
A passionate, gripping, often shocking history of wealth over commonwealth—thirty-five years of American history in which we see the reflection of today’s gilded age.
Customer Reviews:
Fables of the Reconstruction.......2007-06-21
_Age of Betrayal_, I have to say, was a thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing read. Mr. Beatty, who demonstrates his probity, erudition and understanding time and again on NPR's _On Point_, easily imports these virtues into writing. His is politically inflected historiography in the best sense, comparing favorably to marxian British historians of previous generations like E. P. Thompson and Gareth Stedman Jones. For the author, what is past is incontrovertibly prelude, and his treatment of the Gilded Age offers the perceptive reader as many insights into his own historical moment as of historical ones.
To his credit Mr. Beatty wears his learning and convictions lightly; the polemic is always subtle, never heavy-handed, and is seamlessly integrated into the prose; the gusto with which he tackles his subject proves infectious. Some chapters, such as those treating the rise and spectacular collapse of the Populists, and the labor unrest at the Carnegie steelworks, have a tragic sweep to them that will leave only the most jaded eye unmoist. As one who studies late-nineteenth century British literature, I really have to credit the author with deepening my understanding of events on this side of the Atlantic during the same period.
I do, however, have two quibbles with the text. First, the author's prose style, while generally graceful, does show a proclivity toward terseness, as well as Chicago-Manual economy of punctuation, which sometimes make even more formidable the dense thickets of data the author frequently drops his reader into. Second, while in the main Mr. Beatty confines himself to the period stated in the book's subtitle, 1865-1900, he does at times look forward to FDR's New Deal, and offers as a coda some words of Woodrow Wilson's in 1913. What the author fails to discuss in his small leap forward into 1913 is another significant event of that year, the creation of the Federal Reserve, a puzzling omission given that Lincoln's greenback paper currency and the free-silver of the Populists occupy such important places in his narrative.
Puzzling because the Fed did exactly what Lincoln did, and what the Populists proposed: replace metal-back currency with fiat. The only twist -- and a critical one, keeping with the theme of betrayal -- is that the power of fiat was removed from government and placed in the hands of private bankers through legislation drafted by representatives of the reviled caesariat of robber-barons. This, I think, is perhaps the greatest single greatest betrayal, ensuring as it does that the everyday wage-worker will lose around three percent per annum the value of his labors' fruits -- and it is one the author never mentions. I'd be interested to hear how the author would defend the creation of the Fed as an innovation on what the free-silver folk, whom Beatty, following Milton Friedman, claims would have triggered inflation of low-double digits. I am therefore led to ask: Is the steady, inexorable march of three-percent inflation preferable to that which the free-silverers would have engendered? Is it simply the rate of the progression that makes the former palatable? To me, this is like saying the prisoner condemned death by _lin chi_ died before the thousandth cut, and thus did not die by _lin chi_.
These are of course ancillary considerations, and they do not prevent me from recommending _Age of Betrayal_ as an instructive, entertaining read. I also recommend Louis Menand's magnificent _The Metaphysical Club_ for discussion of another dimension of the same era.
Gilded Age One.......2007-06-19
"This book tells the saddest story: How, having redeemed democracy in the Civil War, America betrayed it in the Gilded Age." That is that start of _Age of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America, 1865 - 1900_ (Knopf) by Jack Beatty. But Beatty, an author of previous histories of that age, isn't just sad. He is angry. It may be futile for a historian to be angry over the unchangeable actions of corporations, government, and citizens so long ago, but a reader cannot help but pick up on it and share the indignation. Beatty has packed one disappointment and betrayal after another into a big book thick with human folly and greed. He cannot help making comparisons with current times, although the comparisons are not pointed or emphasized. He does such things as quote President Hayes's diary about "the rottenness of the present system", "the excessive wealth in the hands of the few", or "This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a government by the corporations, of the corporations, and for the corporations." Beatty's case for this being true of the time about which he writes is overwhelming, and that can only increase suspicion that such forces are at work in our own time.
The great innovative industry of the time was railroading. The government made it easy for railroads by giving over 150 million acres in land grants, which the companies not only used but developed and sold. The corporate bosses and politicians enriched themselves, and kept themselves in power to continue to do so. The benefits handed out by government were not all directly to the railroads. There were protective tariffs for manufacturers, a system that grew out of the civil war to procure emergency funds but then prevailed for decades because it benefited the companies. The tariffs did help transform the nation into a leading industrial power, but not only were the benefits not passed onto the workers, the consumer paid higher prices on common articles, a type of tax that was "a very sly one" according to Woodrow Wilson. Beatty's greatest bitterness is against the astonishing reapplication of the 14th Amendment, which had been enacted to protect the rights of millions of former slaves, but became an assurance of continued protection of corporations. There was some redemption in Populism. In this dark book there are few heroes, but the dirt farmers who changed the Farmer's Alliance into a third party refused to play the money game of the main parties. Southern Populists even tried including the poor black farmers, and maybe even risked their lives in preventing lynchings. Workers did strike against railroads when they knew they would be blacklisted from the industry, and did so in solidarity with fellow workers.
But _Age of Betrayal_ is bleak and massive and well referenced. When Beatty does call upon comparisons to our time, it is pointed and accurate. He quotes Mark Hanna, "William McKinley's Karl Rove", who said "All questions in a democracy are questions of money." We are even measuring candidates now by how much money they can raise in their campaigns. Inequalities between the richest and the poorest of our nation were severe then, improved in beginning of the last century, but are severe again now. Lobbyists have seemingly bottomless pockets, then as now. The rich of that time arranged to keep taxes on the rich down, as happens now. We got through the Gilded Age, and its problems are not our own, but Beatty forces us to consider whether we have entered a Gilded Age Two.
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- our new branch of government
- good book, but lacks balance
- Democracy Derailed Derailed
- Good Introduction, But Off in Places
- Good Book, but Common Knowledge for Most
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Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money
David S. Broder
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0156014106 |
Amazon.com
Longtime Washington Post scribe David S. Broder, considered by many to be the dean of Beltway journalists, delivers a pounding attack on ballot initiatives in Democracy Derailed. Available to voters in half the states and in hundreds of municipalities ("from New York City to Nome"), initiatives allow citizens to skirt the legislative process and put measures directly before voters. And this, writes Broder, "is alien to the spirit of the Constitution and its careful system of checks and balances." Furthermore, it "threatens to challenge or even subvert the American system of government in the next few decades." Broder begins with a history of initiatives, which grew out of the well-intentioned Populist and Progressive movements, quickly arriving at the present day and the numerous controversial measures on subjects ranging from taxes to campaign finance. Much of the book is devoted to the 1998 election cycle, with particular attention paid to California's Proposition 226--the paycheck-protection initiative that would have limited the ability of labor unions to spend members' dues on political activities. The fact that it ultimately failed doesn't undercut Broder's message, because so many other measures have been passed in California and elsewhere. The real strength of Democracy Derailed, however, isn't in its arguments against ballot initiatives, but in its description of how the business behind them really works. Broder spots moneyed interests everywhere; others will merely see citizens choosing to spend their dollars on politics. On one point Broder is indisputably correct: initiatives represent a grossly "unexamined arena of power politics." With this book, they become better understood. --John J. Miller
Book Description
Now in paperback, how initiatives are remaking our democracy, creating a hazardous new arena of politics.
Where once most state laws were passed by legislatures, now voters in half the states and hundreds of cities decide directly on such explosive issues as drugs, affirmative action, casino gambling, assisted suicide, and human rights. Ostensibly driven by public opinion, the initiative process is far too often manipulated by moneyed interests, often funded by out-of-state millionaires pursuing their own agendas.
In this highly controversial book, David Broder, the "dean of American political journalism" (Brill's Content), explains how a movement that started with Proposition 13 in California is now a multimillion-dollar business in which lawyers, campaign consultants, signature gatherers, and advertising agencies sell their expertise to interest groups with private agendas.
With a new afterword updating the results of the most recent elections and discussing the potential for future initiatives, Broder takes the reader into the heart of these battles as he talks with the field operatives, lobbyists, PR spinners, labor leaders, and business executives, all of whom can manipulate the political process.
Customer Reviews:
our new branch of government.......2005-08-25
The government as envisioned by the US Constitution consists of three parts: the executive, judicial and the legislative. Interestingly, the founding fathers never included any mention in the Constitution of how the state and local governments should be comprised. For most of America's history, state governments copied the national model to some degree. This has changed since the 1970's, with the introduction of referendums and initiatives in over 20 states and numerous counties, districts, and cities. These two changes have allowed voters to directly influence, change, and often counteract the actions of the three established branches of government. The Constitution defines clear checks and balances between the three branches, and ways by which individuals would be chosen to serve in these branches. But there is no such legal underpinning for the referendum and initiative. The resulting consequences are the subject of this well-thought out and well-referenced book.
The author gives a history of the referendum and initiative in America, how these two ideas entered the public consciousness, and how they have come into legal existence in various states and localities throughout the US. The author then proceeds to describe some of the major initiatives and referendums that have passed and failed, their supporters and opposers, and their effects, both intended and unintended, both on the political process in their jurisdiction, but on other jurisdictions. The author shows how money often becomes the prevailing factor in the formation and acceptance/rejection of a referendum or initiative. Specific cases are studied in detail, especially those in bellwhether states such as California.
The overall image portrayed is that both the initiative and referendum are often instruments of specific industries amd business lobbies, and rarely are ever reflective of issues of general concern to the electorate. Also, both instruments have been used succesfully to limit tax collection, but without the requisite cut in spending. This book also shows how use of both instruments has led to increased bureacracy, paperwork, and lawsuits as more pieces are added to the governing process, without a coherent framework of checks-and-balances.
Oveall, this is a very important book to read, not just for lawmakers, but citizens in general.
good book, but lacks balance.......2004-04-09
David Frohnmayer, president of the University of Oregon, described the degenerating initiative process by saying, "It's no longer citizens fighting the oligopoly. Now it's the oligopoly paying people to act as citizens." An explanation of David S. Broder's feelings on the initiative process would mirror these words. In his "Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money," Broder makes his convictions known. Although he provides little balance on the issue, he writes a strong, solid message from the anti-initiative camp.
Broder has the skills, experience, and information to make a potent argument against initiative and referendum campaigns. He has a B.A. and a M.A. in political science from the University of Chicago. Starting in 1966, he has been a corespondent for the Washington Post, in which his columns continue to appear every Wednesday and Sunday. In 1973, he was honored with the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. Broder also appears frequently on television news programs. Views expressed by Broder are often left of center, as shown by recent headlines such as "Would FDR Run Those 9/11 Ads" and "Dean: A Milestone, Not A Millstone."
With his well-established background, it is no wonder that Broder builds firm grounds against the modern initiative and referendum processes. Broder opens "Democracy Derailed" with a well-researched history of the initiative. In tracing back to the Progressivist and Populist movements of the 19th century, Broder hands the reader the "how"s and "why"s of initiative's origins. He then proceeds to show the current condition of the initiative campaign, especially in California, Oregon, and other states that implement it.
The bulk of Broder's book discusses the negative aspects of the progressivist initiative in the current United States. These chiefly concern the influences of powerful entities (such as big businesses, wealthy individuals, and initiative promoters), the undermining of constitutional legislative power, and the lack of public knowledge of detailed issues. Broder essentially argues that, though politicians have a price, the American voters wear an equally low tag. While that may not be the worst aspect of the corrupted initiative, Broder gives it ample space on the pages of "Democracy Derailed." Perhaps the strongest and most frightening detriment of the initiative is its assault on the structure of a democratic republic. This issue is also given plenty of voice from Broder. He also complains about the corrupt system of putting initiatives on ballots. Many initiative-promoting companies pay campaigners per signature for petitions, a practice of questionable integrity. The book leaves nary a stone in the anti-initiative field unturned.
"Democracy Derailed"'s chief downside lies in the fact that Broder makes no effort to break the soil of the field of the initiative benefits. The book starts with the noble origins of the initiative process, then proceeds to indicate that the current process bears no resemblance to those origins. While the current process may be quite different, it still stems from those benevolent origins. Some believe that a few positive elements of those origins remain in the otherwise-corrupt system today. Broder gives little voice to such opinions. The initiative's ability to raise the possibility of issues such as term limits may, in fact, be of benefit to this republic. Though governmental officials should represent the citizenry, they necessarily constitute a small segment of the population with its own interests in mind. There are many intelligent, thinking Americans who see the downfalls of the process as well as the redeeming qualities. However, Broder characterizes some of these people as "a bearded . . . hippie" and others as far-rightists. He includes a few token quotes from initiative rights activists, but usually follows them with rebuttals from the anti-initiative camp. The initiative rights groups may sometimes contain extremists, but they are an important part of the debate over the merits of the initiative process.
As anti-initiative literature, "Democracy Derailed" is impeccable. Broder has his facts straight; he has dotted every "i" and crossed every "t." As a springboard for discussion, the book suffices. A book that gives solid voice to both sides of the issue might be an improvement for fruitful bipartisan debate. Whether Broder intentionally omitted a solid voice for the opposition or whether his habits as a liberal journalist have carried over to the pages of "Democracy Derailed," the only fault with the book is its lack of balance. Some books, however, unlike journalistic media, should be unilateral. David S. Broder's Democracy Derailed is one such book.
Democracy Derailed Derailed.......2002-12-18
_Democracy Derailed_ is obviously very well researched. Broder cannot be faulted for his attention to detail. He talks with a wide variety of people, some who feel that the initiative process serves democracy wonderfully, others who disagree. And while it seems as if he tried to make the book fairly evenhanded, every once in a while Broder makes an off the cusp comment that is virulently cynical about the people's ability to make good choices. Certainly the masses have not always made the best decisions, but Broder is unwilling to give them any credit at all. This distrust of the public seems especially out of place when it is revealed that most of the initiatives that are promoted solely for the benefit of a special interest fail. That seems to indicate a public that can make good decisions.
Despite that complaint, much of Broder's analysis is still valid. The initiative process has clearly become something that is not used by "the people" but mostly by corporations to further their own political agenda. The money issue has polluted this avenue, that was originally supposed to be a way for normal people to pass laws that legislatures were too scared/beholden to interests to make. And while this is unequivically true, Broder does not spend enough time talking about ways that the process could be changed to reflect the original intention. His (in my opinion, unwarrented) distrust of the public leads him toward wanting to abolish this potential tool for democracy.
Good Introduction, But Off in Places.......2001-08-15
As a political consultant working in California, much of what Broder writes is familiar to me. That said, I am certain that, for many Americans, this text will be their introduction to this rather peculiar facet of democracy in the western USA.
Broder does a good job covering the topic in broad strokes, from its origins, to the days when it was used infrequently, to its use now, often by powerful and wealthy interest groups trying to push their agenda, often with very deceptive tactics. While he does a good jobs on these topics, as well as bemoaning these initiatives impact on representitive democracy, he misses several important subjects.
Most important, he does not deal with the implication of California's constitution (our basis law) being often radically altered by a vote of 50%+1 of the people who show up at the polls. Nor does he deal with how the legislature now often won't touch issues, figiuring that they will be covered in the initiative process. Most importantly of all, he does not lay enough of the blame on elected representitives whose failure to act in face of serious problems has led to many of Californias most famous initiatives (prop 13 and the problem of skyrocketing property taxes being the best example).
As I said, this is a good introduction, but a lot more could be written on this important topic.
Good Book, but Common Knowledge for Most.......2000-07-08
Being a Californian, and one who works for a State Senator, I was interested to see what an outsider would have to say about our Great State. After chuckling about what some in the national media have said about California politics, I was surprised to see that Broder did a decent job in summarizing the recent proposition campaign in 1998.
His book is a case study that follows the money, and the advertising campaign tactics meant to trick and deceive voters. Unfortunately, this tale is all too common in Californian's high priced television driven political process. Broder could have chosen any major proposition ballot initiative in this state and produced similar results.
However, because Broder's case study and thesis is such a common occurrence in California, anyone with just a meager understanding of politics would have found the conclusion of this book axiomatic. Of course, this speaks to the well researched and truthful nature of the book, but I picked it up looking for special insight into the political process from a veteran reporter. Unfortunately, Broder's book shines no more light on the problem of money and the lack of checks and balances in proposition campaigns than already exists.
I don't want to sound like a snob, and in all honesty, I would recommend this book as a primer in California's proposition campaigns, but it only provided a basic understanding and little more.
A clear problem exists, and Broder does a good service in pointing it out so eloquently.
Average customer rating:
- "Selling out" is a good book...
- BIG SAMAD SEFIANES HONEST OPNION THEFT OF OTHER PEOPLES WORK
- Nitty Gritty, Worth Every Penny to Any Voter
- Required reading
- An Area of Vitally Needed Reform
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Selling Out: How Big Corporate Money Buys Elections, Rams Through Legislation, and Betrays Our Democracy
Mark Green
Manufacturer: Regan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Economic Conditions
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ASIN: 0060735821
Release Date: 2004-02-03 |
Book Description
With CEOs and corporations under fire for years of outrageous deception and fraud, the time has come for Mark Green's groundbreaking book, Selling Out. A political watchdog and longtime crusader for better government, Green exposes the truth about the poisonous role money has come to play in our political culture. How are so many corporations able to buy political protection? Why do legislators pay more attention to contributors than to constituents? Filled with bold and practical solutions that are already working to return power to the American people, Selling Out is sure to inflame anyone who's stunned by the recent corporate scandals -- or who's curious about how so many have gotten away with so much for so long.
Customer Reviews:
"Selling out" is a good book..........2006-06-01
This is a good book...an insider writes a great story, and really with good faith; the only problem is "certainty"; if the author can incoporate detail rules of elections with his stories and show how closely things are related, his argument can certainly sells better. Also, there are a lot of theories out there regarding campagn financing and public elections; a little theory can help sort out all those messy events...
BIG SAMAD SEFIANES HONEST OPNION THEFT OF OTHER PEOPLES WORK.......2005-02-15
My name is Big Samad Sefiane, I have been writing screenplays and making music since the age of 13. The only problem with that
book which came out in feb. 2004 is very much a like my screenplay I have written and copyrighted before he released his book. I wouldn't rate a book, singer or songwriter who takes other peoples ideas and mixes it with his work. The book is too much similar to my screenplay Entitled HACKERS. After sept. 11, 2000 mail slowed down and it took me a year to copyright my screenplay. The screenplay as visible on the internet and also sent to strattford career institute for editing. The similar scripts will be reviewed by an entertainment attorney.
Nitty Gritty, Worth Every Penny to Any Voter.......2003-01-20
I've chosen this book, together with Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men" and Greg Palast's "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" to end a lecture I give on the top 50 books every American should read in order to understand why America is not safe today and will not become safe anytime soon, unless the people take back the power and restore common sense to how we spend the $500 billion a year that is now *mis-spent* on the military-industrial complex instead of real capabilities for a real world threat.
Mark Green knows as much as anyone could know about the intricate ways in which the existing system provides for *legally* buying elected representatives away from the citizens' best interests. The details he provides in this book--as well as the moderate success stories where reforms have worked--are necessary.
The bottom line is clear: until the 60% of America that is eligible to vote but does not vote, comes back into the democracy as active participants who question candidates, vote for candidates, and hold elected representatives accountable *in detail and day to day,* then corporate corruption will continue to rule the roost and will continue to concentrate wealth in the hands of an unreasonably wealthy few at the expense of the general public.
Although I found the book inspiring, I also found it depressing. Absent another 9-11 (or two--or suicidal shooters in an elementary school in every state of the union, or cataclysmic failure in Iraq and North Korea) I see no immediate prospects for America's dropped-out citizens "awakening" and taking back the power. There is still time for corporate money to get smart, pump a little more down to the poor, and avoid a revolution at the polls.
Required reading.......2002-12-09
People recently have been lamenting the low voter turnout and general apathy of the american voter. I think Green is dead on when he suggests campaign financing is a big culprit. Politicians accept monetary donations from corporations and PACs that grossly shadow donations from individuals, leaving us feeling that our say or vote doesn't make a difference, and that all candidates are lousy; it's just a matter of which is more tolerable.
Green lays it out in this well researched book. If you have any faith in the US government, it will be gone after reading this book. The "good guys" are few and far between - and it's more and more difficult for them to get elected to office to make a difference.
An Area of Vitally Needed Reform.......2002-10-17
Mark Green has spent his entire adult life in consumer interest reform politics. He began by working for Ralph Nader and eventually became New York City's commissioner of consumer affairs. He became more intimately connected than ever to the dangers posed to democracy by the influence of big money when he ran as the Democratic Party's candidate in the last New York mayoral election against multimillionaire Michael Bloomberg. The amount of money spent on both sides was staggering, prompting Green to pick up his talented pen and write this tome dedicated to awakening citizens to the dangers of a democracy perilously close to drowning in a cesspool of excessive funds.
Whereas America's founding fathers provided the nation's fledgling government with a system of checks and balances, in current times one can forget about the balances and concentrate fully on the checks. Checks and more checks are forthcoming from big interests, which translates into ultimate control, no matter how often this axiomatic truth is denied. As critics ask: If the strategy is not succeeding, why do the big money interests shower accelerating amounts on political campaigns?
The cancer on our democracy is abundantly clear to those interested citizens watching election battles in the current 2002 mid-term campaign. Rather than stepping forward and debating the merits of the major issues facing the nation, an increasingly helpless and turned off citizenry is bombarded by simplistic campaign negative ads highlighting half truths and sometimes outright lies. Post election studies reveal that excessive negative advertising disgusts many voters, who then become so turned off by the process that they do not vote at all. This was symbolized in the 1988 presidential election when George Bush the Elder prevailed on a highly orchestrated campaign of negative advertising highlighted by Willie Horton and the Pledge of Allegiance. Less than half of all eligible voters bothered to go to the polls, an all-time high since such scientific studies began to measure voting tendencies.
This cancer on the body politic has been a festering wound for some time. A few years ago in California an election campaign specialist with an imposing track record for success proclaimed bluntly that when a candidate hired his services it was time for him or her to take a vacation. He did not want the candidate to get in the way as he put his big money campaign into gear, highlighted by advertising displays of catchy symbols and pithy comments, which were drummed ad nauseum into the minds of voters through television and radio.
Mark Green made a recent appearance on the Phil Donahue Show in which he made a dire prediction. If this cancer is not dissipated through corrective legislation very soon then we will reach the point where the only two types of candidates are independently wealthy moguls ready, willing and able to spend millions of their own dollars such as a Michael Bloomberg, or lackeys under the total control of the wealthy special interests bankrolling their campaign efforts.
Mark Green's is an important voice which needs to be heard. The voice is tuned into the major area that will make or break democracy as we have known it. Will the days of idealistic but far from wealthy candidates be truly a thing of the past? Will Jeffersonian town hall democracy be something the smooth talking kingmakers will dismiss with sarcastic laughter as relics from a truly distant past?
Average customer rating:
- Tells how to fight fire with fire, through active citizenship, responsible investing, and shareholder activism
- Tells how to fight fire with fire, through active citizenship, responsible investing, and shareholder activism
- Overload the corporate system
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The Challenge to Power: Money, Investing And Democracy
John C. Harrington
Manufacturer: Chelsea Green
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Economic Conditions
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Democracy
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ASIN: 1931498962 |
Book Description
Our only chance to save the planet and take back control of our economy and political system lies in our ability to control our dollars. In a brilliant synthesis of thirty years of experience, John C. Harrington gives investors the strategies to thwart corporate domination of the earth's resources, decentralize our economy, restore democracy, tame corruption, and regain community control of our financial resources.
A strong advocate of using shareholder power to push for responsible corporate practices that benefit society, Harrington warns that we are running out of time; corporate abuse of shareholders and other stakeholders runs rampant. Concerted, coordinated shareholder action is needed to challenge corporations to adopt human, labor, and environmental codes of conduct to eliminate years of egregious and abusive practices.
For corporate America to change in time, a revolution—fueled by investor dollars—must come from within.
Customer Reviews:
Tells how to fight fire with fire, through active citizenship, responsible investing, and shareholder activism.......2005-12-08
Corporations have great power on how democracy is handled in America: that's the message of and proof contained in The Challenge To Power: Money, Investing And Democracy. Individuals and other organizations need to break big business' hold on society and the world economy, argues Harrington, who has led the socially responsible investment movement for over thirty years: Challenge To Power tells how to fight fire with fire, through active citizenship, responsible investing, and shareholder activism.
Tells how to fight fire with fire, through active citizenship, responsible investing, and shareholder activism.......2005-12-08
Corporations have great power on how democracy is handled in America: that's the message of and proof contained in The Challenge To Power: Money, Investing And Democracy. Individuals and other organizations need to break big business' hold on society and the world economy, argues Harrington, who has led the socially responsible investment movement for over thirty years: Challenge To Power tells how to fight fire with fire, through active citizenship, responsible investing, and shareholder activism.
Overload the corporate system.......2005-11-14
My link to this book is from a book review by William Baue which can be found at http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/1854.html.
"What is now needed is a strategy that is a 'systems' approach that coordinates all the stakeholder strategies at one time to overload the corporate system," Mr. Harrington. "Shareholder advocates will play a role, as will activists in the streets, NGOs in the community, labor in the workplace, and peasants, farmers, and workers in the fields of developing countries."
"Corporations will not be able to deal with campaigns coordinated at the local, state, national, and international levels," he adds. "We need to act now as investors, as voters, as philanthropists, as executives, as consumers, as activists, and most important of all, as human beings concerned about the survival of our planet, our economy, and our struggling democracy."
Let's all do this!
Average customer rating:
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Regulating Finance: The Political Economy of Spanish Financial Policy from Franco to Democracy
Arvid John Lukauskas
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Economic Policy & Development
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International
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Money & Monetary Policy
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ASIN: 0472108360 |
Book Description
In recent years many countries have liberalized their financial markets as a central element of their efforts to reform their economies and increase their economic growth rates. Financial deregulation leads to a fundamental restructuring of a country's economy and polity, as market forces, not state officials, begin to determine who obtains financial resources and at what cost. A critical question is whether countries can undertake a program of liberalization while undergoing democratic transformation. In this study, Arvid John Lukauskas explores why governments tightly regulate their country's financial system and why they choose to liberalize it.
Using a rational choice approach, Lukauskas contends that public officials provide the dynamic behind the evolution of financial regulation as they seek to retain power and generate public revenue. Lukauskas argues that the nature of a country's political institutions shape the incentives facing politicians and influence whether they seek to regulate closely or liberalize financial markets in the pursuit of their goals. Lukauskas then tests his ideas in an in-depth case study of the evolution of financial policy in Spain, a country that transformed its financial system into a mostly market-based system after years of heavy state intervention, while undergoing a transformation from a dictatorship to a democracy. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that leaders will not undertake structural change during periods of democratization, he finds that leaders in Spain undertook financial liberalization despite opposition from powerful groups, because democratization gave Spanish leaders a strong incentive to improve economic performance through financial reform in order to compete for votes.
This book will be of interest to political scientists and economists interested in studying financial markets and the effects of regime change, including democratization, on economic reform.
Arvid John Lukauskas is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Columbia University.
Average customer rating:
- IRS Lackys like Brian Rookard Can't answer tough questions
- The concepts change how you view the actions of others.
- The Sorry Tale of an Anarchist
- I don't vote. I still complain
- A Liberating Read
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There\'s No Government Like NO Government: the nonvoter\'s manifesto
Jackney Sneeb
Manufacturer: Trafford Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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All Amazon Upgrade
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ASIN: 1553695739
Release Date: 2006-07-06 |
Book Description
A diabolical, irreverent, and even arrogant indictment of the mass delusion, "democracy," and the blind faith in any other form of "government."
Customer Reviews:
IRS Lackys like Brian Rookard Can't answer tough questions.......2004-09-12
Brian Rookard (the only one to give this book a bad review) is one of the IRS lackys on usenet who continually call "Onry" (Jackney Sneeb)and others who want liberty, derogatory names because they can't answer the simple and logical questions Onry raises:
Are all men's rights equal? _____yes or _______no?
Can someone delegate a right they don't posess to another or a group of others? ______yes or ________no?
If your judgment determined a law to be immoral, who SHOULD decide for you whether you obey it or not?
__a) you
__b) someone else _________________ (please specify)
Rather than answer the simple questions (which would pretty much end all the argument about whether "government" has any legitiment "authority") they avoid the questions and call names.
After lurking on usenet for years, I've come to be a true believer in non-government as the only hope for freedom.
You should read this book and then tell others about true freedom.
The concepts change how you view the actions of others........2004-09-09
"Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plentitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual."
-- Thomas Jefferson
The moral judgement we must make, is did the action of that other individual violate my right as an individual?
If somebody gets impatient and pulls out in front of me when I am impatiently driving down the road, how do I judge the individual's action as it relates to me?
1. You cut me off you !@#!@#! @$$40!% <Waves one finger salute> attempts to cut off other driver in revenge.
2. Dumb move, good thing I saw you. You're moving with traffic and not holding me up. Life is good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Observing Teenage boys playing in a playplace. Should I say something?
1. They are too old by my arbitrary decision, so Yes.
2. They are not damaging the equipment, they are not running over the little kids, so No.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"There oughta be a law", means "I don't want them to do that." I must now rethink every thing that I don't want them to do based upon not having the authority to make them stop.
"Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question." "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliance with none."
--Thomas Jefferson - First Inaugural Address.
The Sorry Tale of an Anarchist.......2004-09-09
This guy has no idea what he's talking about. He rants and raves, his arguments are not well thought out, and he's a hypocrite too. He talks about how taxation is theft, and he collects a government check!?!?!? The author hangs out on the Usenet news group misc.taxes and pens under the name(s) of OnryAnRkst, XCobraJock, and Jackney Sneeb. His arguments are regularly trashed and his inconsistencies exposed. He's a real piece of work, that guy. Don't waste your money.
I don't vote. I still complain.......2003-09-02
That's right. Even before reading this book I considered voting to be a pointless exercise that made minuscule, even nonexistent impact on the powers that be. The age old statist shibboleth of "if you don't vote, you can't complain," along with other similar (and absurd) contentions, are demolished quickly by the author's withering logical analysis of the monstrous, immoral and antihuman concepts of "government" and "authority." Along with exposing the fallacious nature of practices such as voting, the author systematically breaks down the core components of the statist's belief in "government" and destroys them with relatively simple logic, aided by examples of past conversations with "government" aficionados and accurate (often hilarious) analogies and comparisons.
I recommend this book to all living and breathing humans.
A Liberating Read.......2003-07-12
Although the sub-title of this book is "The Nonvoter's Manifesto" and discusses the nature of the illusion or delusion that is commonly called "government" its true target is the nature of moral decision making. Who, or what, is it that makes your moral decisions, those decisions that you are faced with every moment of every day? Even as you read this you are making moral decisions in that you could simply get up and attack, steal from or otherwise harm anyone else nearby, but you do not (I hope). The crux of the work, therefore, is how and why many people perpetrate acts of violence almost entirely without qualm simply because those decisions are apparently made on their behalf by "authority".
The magical and illusionary nature of "authority" is described using simple and often witty analogies and syllogisms. In my opinion the logic of the case made is quite unassailable; you really CAN'T grant a right, which you yourself do not have, to another. This makes "authority", "government" and "democracy" utterly illusory. The consequences of this simple, yet profound realisation? That all moral (and other) decisions are entirely yours to make. You cannot legitimately hide immoral behaviour behind the veil of "authority" since it is always YOU who makes your decisions and any attempt to claim otherwise is an attempt to obviate your own autonomy and a denial of your own moral responsibility.
The book itself is logically sound, witty and peppered throughout with actual dialogue from internet chat rooms which act to provide the arguments of the "authoritarian" and demolish them in no short order. Everything from "Who would build roads?" to "Government protects our rights" is considered and crushed beneath "Jackney's" unstoppable logic.
The ultimate conclusions may seem somewhat odd. The only political condition there is, or has ever been, is anarchy - armed gangs ordering people around through the threat of force. "Laws" are merely commands from the controlling gang, again backed by threats of force. Everyone is an anarchist; either that or many people are some kind of bizarre robot without free will who have their decisions made for them by some mysterious (and almost universally immoral) gang calling itself "authority" or "government" - a decidedly nauseating, anti-human idea.
In conclusion, read this book. It suffers slightly from a lack of continuous narrative but its informal and humorous approach will help you see past the delusions placed upon you by those in "authority".
The only government.....is self-government and "voting" in order to legitimise the immoral force masquerading as your government is simply wrong.
Books:
- Money and Democracy
- The Political Economy of Monetary Union: Towards the Euro
- Making Emu Happen: Problems and Proposals : A Symposium (Essays in International Finance, No 199)
- Future of the International Monetary System
- The Political Economy of Social Credit and Guild Socialism (Routledge Studies in the History of Economics, 14)
- Elusive Union: The Process of Economic and Monetary Union in Europe
- The Cross of Gold: Speech Delivered Before the National Democratic Convention at Chicago, July 9, 1896
- A Half-Dollar = 50› (Dollars & Cents)
- Marshall Islands Economic Development Report (World Business Library)
- European Community Law on the Free Movement of Capital and the Emu (Stockholm Studies in Law, V. 2)
Books