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1.27.2009

Revolution A Manifesto- Ron Paul

After seeing Ron Paul interviewed regarding the economy several times, I decided to look into his philosophy and read his book The Revolution: A Manifesto. Now the issue I most vehemently disagreed with him was on Iraq. The second chapter of his book was about that very thing. He tied it in again at the end.
While I agree with most of his philosophy I disagree on some of the premises and assumptions he makes in getting to the actions he recommends. For instance, he blames American sanctions for the death of citizens in Iraq with nary a mention of Saddam Hussein and his brutality against his own people. Maybe Saddam was good at blaming American sanctions for the poverty of his people, but I believe Iraqis are smart enough to know that some nation thousands of miles away is not keeping the food from their mouths, and the electricity from their homes. They may not have been able to say Saddam was to blame, but how could they possibly accept that we were the culprit?
Yet there are principles he outlines that do agree with. For instance, I do believe we should not be giving out any foreign aid. I do believe that this aid does incredible damage and is ultimately not used for the intent it was given. It encourages corruption and keeps the power away from the people of the nation it proposes to aid. I also believe that the war on poverty has been as disastrous for the poor as foreign aid has been to other nations. And I do believe government has gotten drastically too big and interfering in American lives.
If Americans want to fund a good cause they will and do, and according to Mr. Paul we are more generous with our private money than our public money.

Here is the Table of Contents:
1 The false choices of American Politics
2. The Foreign Policy of the Founding Fathers
3. The Constitution
4. Economic Freedom
5. Civil Liberties and Personal Freedom
6. Money: The Forbidden Issue in American Politics
7. The Revolution

In the end it was a good enunciation of the principles of liberty. I agree with most of what he said, but not some of his leaps in logic. Perhaps there is more that he could explain, but in order to keep it simple and short he had to leave out details and make these leaps. I encourage anyone who is interested in political philosophy to read this book thoughtfully.

PS For every book lover there is a delicious list of books for further reading at the end!
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