From The Founder's Desk
columnist: Walt Thiessen

Topic: Ron Paul
Review: The Revolution, A Manifesto

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Ron Paul's recently released book summarizes all the themes contained in his presidential campaign stump speech. It also provides his vision and blueprint for America's rescue from its many current problems.

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by Walt Thiessen
(libertarian)
Monday, April 28, 2008

The preface of Ron Paul's recently released book, The Revolution, A Manifesto would have made a great stump speech. It echoes themes Ron Paul used in his actual stump speeches, but in my opinion it would have been a great stump speech all by itself if given word for word. The preface is only about two full pages in length, but it's a great summary of what's wrong in America today.

The message is best encapsulated in the second-to-last paragraph of the preface. It reads:

There is an alternative to national bankruptcy, a bigger police state, trillion-dollar wars, and a government that draws ever more parasitically on the productive energies of the American people. It's called freedom. But as we've learned through hard experience, we are not going to hear a word in its favor if our political and media establishments have anything to say about it.

That pretty much sums up the 2008 presidential campaign, and it is a fitting recapitulation of the campaign that tried to change the status quo. For his efforts, Dr. Paul was effectively shut out of real consideration by the major media and political elite.

It is noteworthy that Barry Goldwater, who was nowhere near the small government candidate that Ron Paul is, wrote his own book in 1960 called, "Conscience of a Conservative." Month by month that year, its printings were sold out. It became such a popular book that by 1964 he was named the presidential candidate of the Republican Party, against the objections of Rockefeller advocates whom today we would call neoconservatives. It remains to be seen whether Paul's book will have the same effect by the year 2012, but I'd say it has a decent chance.

The book is only 167 pages long, making it a comfortable read. It's divided into seven chapters with the following titles:

1. The False Choices of American Politics
2. The Foreign Policy of the Founding Fathers
3. The Constitution
4. Economic Freedom
5. Civil Liberties adn Personal Freedom
6. Money: The Forbidden Issue in American Politics
7. The Revolution

There's also a reading list of 48 books (which contains some excellent choices that I've read and can personally recommend). The list is headed by a short paragraph which commends Murray Rothbard's, What Has Government Done To Our Money for beginners in monetary theory.

The one thing the book lacks is an index. While it's not a long book, an index would have been helpful in tracking down some choice quote for later use, rather than having to thumb through a likely section hoping you'll spot it. Still, it's a minor concern. Overall, this book is an excellent read. The Revolution, A Manifesto is available at a 40% discount from amazon.com. Dr. Paul concludes it saying, "If freedom is what we want, it is ours for the taking. Let the revolution begin." Actually, it's already underway. Buy it, and join the revolution.

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©2008 Walt Thiessen, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Monday, April 28, 2008
Last modified: Monday, April 28, 2008

The views expressed in this article are those of Walt Thiessen only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Walt Thiessen is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.

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