Libertarianism : A Primer

Rating:
Summary: A Important Work That No American Citizen Should Miss
Review: A very good, intellectually stimulating book on modern Libertarianism. This is a short but packed book that is a must read regardless of your political beliefs. It is certainly guaranteed to make you think.

Rating:
Summary: A convincing case argued with conviction
Review: As an introduction to libertarianism, David Boaz's "Libertarianism: A Primer" is often compared with Charles Murray's "What It Means to Be a Libertarian" which also came out in 1997. They are both excellent, but completely different in style and approach. Where Murray's book is "a personal interpretation," David Boaz ranges widely, with lots of references to the many contributors to libertarian thought. Murray's book is more concise and a quicker read, but Boaz packs in a lot more material, making a more overwhelming argument. Both are modern explanations of libertarianism, with refined arguments benefiting from the experience and academic developments of recent years.

For someone completely new to libertarianism looking to get started, I would recommend Murray's book first, then David Boaz's Primer, and finally Boaz's Libertarian Reader.

Rating:
Summary: Politics, philosophy and economics for yuppies
Review: Boaz discusses the history of Libertarian thought which is a good introduction to the actual analysis of political policy.

Unlike other books, "Libertarianism" addresses not only the economic issues, but also the social issues. The arguments are well laid out.

Rating:
Summary: Caution: Anti-Statist Ideas
Review: Growing up, I never questioned whether the government should provide education or old age pensions. When America rebelled against Hillary Clinton's health care initiative, I slowly realized that other government services that I took for granted also began as a political proposal. I asked myself why it may be good for government to control education, but not health care. It was that kind of question that led me to read a whole host of books that ask the same question. The latest being, Libertarianism: A Primer.

In this book, author David Boaz tackles many modern day issues from a Libertarian viewpoint. The main theme of the book is the importance of property rights. Boaz explains that the first property right is the ownership of self. Without ownership of self, the ownership of anything else is meaningless. If you are willing to accept his thesis and read further, you will find that private property is the basis of the free market, and the free market is what makes human freedom possible.

Markets just naturally churn out what we want, because they are rewarded for doing so. An entrepreneur that provides a needed good or service can then provide his family a better life. Whereas the bureaucrat's motivation is to make his position and staff more powerful. His salary won't be tied into the success or failure of any given project. But the entrepreneur must live and die according to our fancy. The entrepreneur may be inept and fail to achieve what we want, but other venture capitalists will take his place until the thing is done right. When the government fouls up some needed service or good, they scream for a budget increase, as if our stinginess is the real culprit for their ineptitude.

Some have argued that Libertarianism is inevitable, because the Internet and technology will render government powerless to control the mechanizations of society. I am not so optimistic. Most people think that the money coming from government is free. They tell me that they couldn't afford education if the government didn't step in and provide it. These are people who live in $100,000 houses, drive $20,000 cars and pay a mountain of taxes. Someday, maybe people will realize that they are paying for these things anyway, until then, the rest of us can enjoy reading books like Libertarianism: A Primer, by David Boaz.

Rating:
Summary: Caution: Anti-Statist Ideas
Review: Growing up, I never questioned whether the government should provide education or old age pensions. When America rebelled against Hillary Clinton's health care initiative, I slowly realized that other government services that I took for granted also began as a political proposal. I asked myself why it may be good for government to control education, but not health care. It was that kind of question that led me to read a whole host of books that ask the same question. The latest being, Libertarianism: A Primer.

In this book, author David Boaz tackles many modern day issues from a Libertarian viewpoint. The main theme of the book is the importance of property rights. Boaz explains that the first property right is the ownership of self. Without ownership of self, the ownership of anything else is meaningless. If you are willing to accept his thesis and read further, you will find that private property is the basis of the free market, and the free market is what makes human freedom possible.

Markets just naturally churn out what we want, because they are rewarded for doing so. An entrepreneur that provides a needed good or service can then provide his family a better life. Whereas the bureaucrat's motivation is to make his position and staff more powerful. His salary won't be tied into the success or failure of any given project. But the entrepreneur must live and die according to our fancy. The entrepreneur may be inept and fail to achieve what we want, but other venture capitalists will take his place until the thing is done right. When the government fouls up some needed service or good, they scream for a budget increase, as if our stinginess is the real culprit for their ineptitude.

Some have argued that Libertarianism is inevitable, because the Internet and technology will render government powerless to control the mechanizations of society. I am not so optimistic. Most people think that the money coming from government is free. They tell me that they couldn't afford education if the government didn't step in and provide it. These are people who live in $100,000 houses, drive $20,000 cars and pay a mountain of taxes. Someday, maybe people will realize that they are paying for these things anyway, until then, the rest of us can enjoy reading books like Libertarianism: A Primer, by David Boaz.

Rating:
Summary: A Stand for the Individual
Review: I was quite fed up with America's two party system, and the anti-American machine that went along with disagreeing with its politics. I was tired of seeing a trend of big government destroy the voice of the individual. I was sick of seeing the mob rule of democracy decide who would rule us for the next term. I knew what I believed but wanted a name for it. I've since found this name in many theories, one such theory is Libertarianism. David Boaz writes with phenomenal clarity on the basics and in depth look at what it means to be a libertarian. He takes many questions that might be asked in our two party system and applies them to libertarianism, and shows how libertarians would handle those questions. If you are looking for a new name to what you believe, and/or if you're a student of government I recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Reviewing the Amazon.com Review
Review: The book is great, clear, and well-written.

The Amazon.com review is a bit confused and somewhat arrogant. First off, the only "unanswered questions" the reviewer could come up with dealt with government roads (excepting the last two items in the last question, which I'll deal with below.) The simple response to these questions is: they are unanswered in the reviewer's mind because he is not able to conceive of private ownership of roads. With private roads, the rules would be enforced privately, as the owner of the road saw fit. Thus one couldn't drive on the left and break speed limits, unless he/she wanted to see his/her use of that road revoked.

Secondly, roads are among the last things most Libertarians would challenge. There are so many other abuses of power happening that arguing about the roads seems daft.

Regarding public libraries and public parks, there is a great deal of trend heading away from public libraries, it's called Amazon.com and the Internet. People are more and more beginning to buy books (used) that they want to read, and sell them when they're done. It would be cheaper for all of us to subsidize the underprivileged (if we felt it necessary) to ensure their access to books than to maintain a crusty pre-Internet institution like the public library.

Regarding parks, they are nice, when they are well-funded. When they are not, they are drug and crime havens, eyesores, and a maintenance challenge. Are we better off with them being public, or should they be privately run, maybe by neighborhood associations (at the local level) or the Sierra Club (at the National level?) I think I could make a case that either of those would do a better job...

Onward!

Rating:
Summary: A great introduction to the principles of liberty
Review: The Libertarian Party has piqued my interest for quite some time. While I read a number of issues of Liberty magazine, I had never read a systematic introduction to the topic. This book provided precisely that. I was pleased with the clear and organized way that Boaz presented the topic to the lay reader. This book gives plenty of food for thought, and provides a springboard for future study of Libertarianism.

Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING Primer
Review: Written with a straightforward style, David Boaz has offered an easy-to-read "primer" into the philosophical tradition that this country was founded upon: The idea that each citizen of the United States of America be granted ultimate autonomy over herself in conjuction with a minimalist state charged with her protection from those who refuse to live lawfully. Boaz not only outlines the main ideas behind libertarianism (once referred to as "liberalism," but in the traditional, "classic" sense of the term), but does so with little tidbits of history here and there, resulting in a book that nicely synthesizes the two into a coherent whole. Although it seems to be almost cliche anymore, this book really is "readible" and fun to boot.

One of the common misconceptions of libertarianism is that their conception of freedom is too broad. Boaz does an excellent service to dispell this notion with the publication of this book. Libertarianism is not only a very old idea, but one that I think will indeed resurface (and is resurfacing) and come to the fore in the comming decades as the tide turns away from "statist," "big-government" conceptions of how this country ought to function. Gone are the days when starry-eyed "utopians" rule the day, for those who are truly rational possess the ability to see that only a truly liberty-maximizing state complimented by a republican representative government can survive in a world of evolving norms and values.

The key to understanding the libertarian perspective, and perhaps the main theme of this book, is the realization that human nature is what it is, and that we need to conform our governmental system AROUND it in a way that "bridles" or "harnesses" it to work for us, maximizing everyone's happiness as much as possible. The problem with more utopian-mined statists is a failure to understand this, coupled with the desire to force others to capitulate to their own ideas (i.e., the "I know what's good for you better than you do" type). Libertarianism recognizes the folly of such a view. Libertarianism to political philosophy is basically what capitalism is to economics. The two go together like peanut-butter-and-jelly, and the sooner our more utopian minded friends realize this, the better off we will all be.

As for Boaz himself, this book is written in a very straightforward way. But I don't think that this style is reason to complain about "elegance" (see Publisher's Weekly review above). Matters of beauty in literary syle is one thing, to be sure, but if Boaz lacks elegance is makes up for it in eloquence, for the book is certainly both persuasive and powerful. The last thing I want to emphasize is that this book is indeed a primer, that is, a basic introduction to libertarianism. Readers expecting anything more will likely be disappointed, but those who are genuinely considering libertarianism for the first time will be very satisfied by this warm welcome to libertarian ideas.

Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING Primer
Review: Written with a straightforward style, David Boaz has offered an easy-to-read "primer" into the philosophical tradition that this country was founded upon: The idea that each citizen of the United States of America be granted ultimate autonomy over herself in conjuction with a minimalist state charged with her protection from those who refuse to live lawfully. Boaz not only outlines the main ideas behind libertarianism (once referred to as "liberalism," but in the traditional, "classic" sense of the term), but does so with little tidbits of history here and there, resulting in a book that nicely synthesizes the two into a coherent whole. Although it seems to be almost cliche anymore, this book really is "readible" and fun to boot.

One of the common misconceptions of libertarianism is that their conception of freedom is too broad. Boaz does an excellent service to dispell this notion with the publication of this book. Libertarianism is not only a very old idea, but one that I think will indeed resurface (and is resurfacing) and come to the fore in the comming decades as the tide turns away from "statist," "big-government" conceptions of how this country ought to function. Gone are the days when starry-eyed "utopians" rule the day, for those who are truly rational possess the ability to see that only a truly liberty-maximizing state complimented by a republican representative government can survive in a world of evolving norms and values.

The key to understanding the libertarian perspective, and perhaps the main theme of this book, is the realization that human nature is what it is, and that we need to conform our governmental system AROUND it in a way that "bridles" or "harnesses" it to work for us, maximizing everyone's happiness as much as possible. The problem with more utopian-mined statists is a failure to understand this, coupled with the desire to force others to capitulate to their own ideas (i.e., the "I know what's good for you better than you do" type). Libertarianism recognizes the folly of such a view. Libertarianism to political philosophy is basically what capitalism is to economics. The two go together like peanut-butter-and-jelly, and the sooner our more utopian minded friends realize this, the better off we will all be.

As for Boaz himself, this book is written in a very straightforward way. But I don't think that this style is reason to complain about "elegance" (see Publisher's Weekly review above). Matters of beauty in literary syle is one thing, to be sure, but if Boaz lacks elegance is makes up for it in eloquence, for the book is certainly both persuasive and powerful. The last thing I want to emphasize is that this book is indeed a primer, that is, a basic introduction to libertarianism. Readers expecting anything more will likely be disappointed, but those who are genuinely considering libertarianism for the first time will be very satisfied by this warm welcome to libertarian ideas.