The Ten Things You Can't Say In America

Rating:
Summary: A surprised conservative
Review: Although I have read articles by Larry Elder for the past year I did not realize he was a libertarian. In this book, Mr. Elder describes several divisive areas in an easy to read and understand approach. His perspective as a hard working, intelligent, no nonsense guy is balanced nicely with antidotes from situations in his life.

The chapters on racism expose problems and issues from both sides of the equation. Yet this does not slide into a negative finger-pointing situation, instead Mr. Elder uses hard numbers and examples to get the reader past the emotional reaction.

I do not agree with the libertarian position on several issues; however, this book has made me realize that I have more areas that I agree with then disagree with.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Finally someone tell it like it is. I honestly wish there were more black people like Larry Elder who is not afraid to speak the truth unstead of hiding behind the "white man oppression"

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, well-spoken and articulate even when he's wrong
Review: I do not walk in lockstep with Larry Elder; there are things he says that I completely disagree with. (A good example would be his "thing #6: There is no health care 'crisis' ". However, there are other things he says that I find absolutely true and very insightful; "blacks are more racist than whites", "white condescention is as bad as black racism", and "the war on drugs is Vietnam II". But always, whether I agree with him or not, his arguments are always thoughtful, interesting, and articulate.

This is not to say that they are without flaw; at one point in his chapter on race, he recounts his uncle telling him of how badly he had been used by whites when growing up in the deep south in the middle of the twentieth century, and how he pointed out to his uncle, essentially, "That was then; this is now," to make the point that one can't live in the past with regard to such things, and refuse to recognize change. But then just a few pages later, he complains of the fact that blacks almost universally vote democratic, when, after all, it was Lincoln and the Republican party that ended slavery, and southern Democrats who had perpetuated it, and who continued to fight segregation well into the sixties and even seventies. And I wanted to shake him, and say, "Yes, but that was then, and this is now; you can argue with the assumption that the Democratic party is better than the Republican party for black people now, but whether they were or not 30-130 years ago has no bearing on the argument."

Still, this is a very valuable book, not the least for the fact that it was written by a black man. Much as he would hate to admit it, when a black man says some of the things he says here, they are less easy to dismiss out of hand than they would be if they were written by a white man. That may be an unpleasant reality, but it's reality nonetheless.

Rating:
Summary: Better Than Most Similar Titles
Review: I give Elder credit for not resorting to the blatant misrepresentations and outright fabrications frequently utilized by Coulter, D'Souza, and other popular conservative writers. However, he still fails to make his case, often citing questionable sources, making unsupported assertions, substituting anecdotes for evidence, and making huge leaps of logic that could be picked apart by any first-year philosophy student.

Rating:
Summary: Name Calling and Condescension Turned Me Off
Review: I had never heard of Larry Elder but the title of this book intrigued me enough to buy it. I thought I was going to be reading an interesting view of race relations in America, and I was right - for the first chapter or two. I enjoyed his perspective on racism even if I didn't always agree with it.

But once he strayed from that topic and into his own narrow political platform, I gave up reading the book and listed it for sale here on Amazon's site. You know, I profess to not knowing too much about the libertarian platform, but Elder's condescending tone didn't make want to learn from him. And truthfully, he sounded like a dyed-in-the-wool conservative to me. I was especially dismayed that he resorted to name-calling: calling liberals "toe-tag liberals." Well, this liberal gave up.

There's a part of me that wonders what Elder might say about his stated liberal-biased media now, four years since this book was published. Perhaps it's something he talks about on his radio show, but again, I couldn't care less to tune in and find out after starting to read this book.

I suppose if I kept reading his other chapters I would've found some more interesting bits. But I'd much rather learn about differing viewpoints from people who don't talk down to me and call me names.


Rating:
Summary: An excellent primer on domestic American policies
Review: I read this book because while I know a lot about American foreign policy, I lack expertise in American domestic/economic policy. I have also been a fan of Larry Elder for several years. Elder takes his "Republitarian" theories and backs them up with both statistics and facts, illustrating to the reader the applicability of his ideas in a real world scenario.

While I'm not sold on all of Elder's ideas (yet) he accomplished a goal that perhaps is more important than winning me over. He made me think about a range of different subjects in a variety of new ways.

If you're looking for a domestic political primer that will challenge your outlook on issues such as: gun control, health care, the war on drugs, race relations, media bias and a host of others, "10 Things" is a worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: Surefire itrritant for the Politcally Correct
Review: It's ironic that in this country, dedicated to liberty and rights, there are some things that must never be said in public. Far from the ideal that any and all political speech is protected by our Constitution, we now have a social landscape where certain points of view will be met with ad hominem attacks and scathing denunciation, rather than thoughtful rebuttal based upon facts. The sentiment, "I disagree with what you said, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it," has been completely eliminated from public discourse and replaced with hysterical accuasions of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. Larry Elder here braves the inevitable rage of the Left to describe, in clear terms, several points of view that counter the Politically Correct popular wisdom.

I found that this book was fun to read, and others of a libertarian persuasion will find it so, as well. My main reason for giving it only 4 stars is that I do not believe that this particular book will convince any statist or collectivist of the error of his ways. (Although there's a valid argument to be made that NO book could convince a typical Liberal to change his mind.)

The reason I qualify my praise this way is a nagging feeling I have that Elder relied on secondary sources for much of his discussions. While he liberally and frequently quotes other pundits who have written about studies, I did not find that Elder wrote very much about the studies themselves. (It may be that, having recently finished some very academic books, I am reacting to Elder's more casual tone, but I'm not sure.)

One of the things that Elder has included that I found amusing is esentially a cookbook of all of the criticisms that will be used to denigrate him by people who are too Politically Correct to actually read the book. Every time one of his critics mouths off, there's a good likelihood that the critic will be underscoring Elder's point, and demonstrating how perceptive he is.

Rating:
Summary: Well Written... Every American should read this book!!!
Review: Larry Elder's Ten Things You Can't Say in America is probably the best book I've read in years. From the Opening Chapter on Blacks and Racism to the final discussion of the fallacy of Gun Control, Mr. Elder is on the offensive against every special interest from the Liberal Media to Femenists. His book is witty and insightful and Long Overdue.

Having said this I feel the reader must be made aware of the fact that the Sage from South Central backs his views up with facts. He uses quotes by people like Spike Lee (amongst others) to back up his argument that blacks are more racist than whites. He uses statistical figures to prove Gun Control does not work and will not solve the problem of violence in American Society. He uses independant figures to prove the media is not only biased but that this bias is destructive.

I have to say that by the end of this book I was certainly onboard with Mr. Elder and his ideas (i already agreed with most of them but not all). The best thing about Larry Elder is the fact that he not only points out a problem, but provides us with a soloution. If you read no other social commentary this year, read this one.

Rating:
Summary: Freedom 101
Review: Since I live in Massachusetts, it took me awhile to hear about Larry Elder, so this book was actually my introduction to his beliefs. But man, what an introduction. "The Ten Things You Can't Say in America" is a systematic, all-out assault on the Marxist super-state that America is quickly becoming. Like Rush Limbaugh before him, Elder does have a bit of a tendency toward polemic and fuzzy generalization (he is a radio show host, after all), but his incendiary writing style is ideal for entertaining while it enlightens. With the relentless logic of the trained lawyer that he is, and drawing on sources ranging from Booker T. Washington to Milton Friedman to Chris Rock, Elder pokes holes in a series of leftist dogmas. Many of the themes laid out in Thomas Sowell's classic "The Vision of the Anointed" are echoed here, and Elder peppers his assaults on the liberal vision with plenty of personal anecdotes and hard facts that you won't find on the network news.

If there's one idea that's repeated throughout this book, it's the superiority of free markets to political measures in dealing with the "problems" faced in America today. Racism and sexism? Blacks and women don't need anti-discrimination laws, they just need to make it unprofitable to discriminate against them. Health care? If there's a crisis, it's because government regulation has distorted incentives and interfered with supply and demand. The Drug War? Government has created a drug problem out of thin air by creating a black market. Illegitimacy? It's our country's biggest problem, and the government has created it through a welfare state that subsidizes irresponsibility with the tax dollars of the responsible.

The political left has gotten away with this craziness, according to Elder, because they're firmly in control of the government and the media. As anyone who pays attention knows by now, the Republican and Democratic parties are virtually indistinguishable, with both sides willingly participating in the steady advance of socialism in America. Elder sarcastically (and hilariously) sums up the differences between the parties by noting that the Republicans want to take a pocketknife to a problem requiring a machete, while Democrats don't even think there's a problem. And of course, the media can be counted on to advance the big-government agenda every chance they get. The media's leftist bias has been noted over and over, but some of Elder's revelations are still surprising as he describes just how much the media tries to twist the national debate on issues ranging from the welfare state to race relations to gun control.

If there's any one chapter in this book that resonates most, it would have to the one with the attention-grabbing title "Gun Control Advocates-Good Guys With Blood on Their Hands." It's virtually impossible to get straight talk on this issue from the maintream media (as Elder painstakingly illustrates), but Elder presents an avalanche of facts to prove that government restrictions on gun ownership increase crime at the same time as they decrease freedom. And as he points out, those in favor of gun control have to get by a little thing known as the Second Amendment. Elder obviously gives our founding fathers a bit more credit than the political left does.

While "The Ten Things You Can't Say in America" is by no means a scholarly work, it's nonetheless very useful in drawing attention to the liberal fallacies that many people have come to take for granted. On every subject Elder addresses, he illuminates the underlying truth and strikes a convincing blow for freedom and honesty. Elder's treatment of the issues confronting America in the 21st century is wide-ranging, approachable, and eminently sensible. Let the debate begin.

Rating:
Summary: Speak the truth.
Review: Speak the truth and let the chips fall where they may.

Elder confronts the sacred cows of PC belief head on. He takes on racism, sexism, the medical industrial complex, the decline of marriage, the liberal media, and other "unspeakable" topics without flinching. He describes going to a library in a poor section of LA. Outside several "oppressed" youth are skateboarding on the sloped landscaping. Inside only Korean kids study, not a single "oppressed" minority kid. The largest part of the book is about the black racism and black victimology, combined with white condescension. Elder well describes how these forces combine to keep so many blacks from achieving decent lives.

Elder goes on to confront the myth of the "Glass Ceiling" and the faux medical crisis. He shows how these myths create huge problems for society with their lies and faux victims. Other topics where "what everyone knows" is ripped apart are the war on drugs, gun control, the welfare state.

Neither is Elder just spewing a republican or democratic view. One chapter is entitled "There isn't a dime's worth of difference" and he blasts both parties for failing utterly to address any of the most important social issues of our time.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but perhaps that is because I agree with Elder on virtually ever issue. I don't know if anyone who wants to continue believing the status quo cultural myths will read and learn, but they ought to.