Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Manifesto for a world revolution, 5 May 2008
As a Republican presidential candidate, Ron Paul is understandably a man concerned primarily with the United States, rather than with England or the rest of Europe. However, the ideas expressed in his book, The Revolution: A Manifesto, can be globally applied given a preliminary understanding of the original American revolution and the later construction of the US constitution. The world is suffering from a surfeit of statism, posits the Good Doctor; we have exploding financial bubbles, endless wars, dissolving currencies, and diminishing civil liberties, racing like the four horsemen of the apocalypse across the entire world. With astonishing clarity, Ron Paul exposes how these inter-linked beasts are related and how they can be tamed via the use of a simple ingredient the United States once used to believe in; freedom. The Republicrats of America must hate him for exposing their carefully spun fallacies behind central banking, foreign policy, fiat currency, and the welfare/warfare state. So, if you want to understand what is going wrong in the world and how it can get fixed then you must read this book, especially if you want to know what America should do to become the beacon of hope it once used to be, rather than the imperial aggressor it has unfortunately become. Personally speaking as a Rothbardian anarcho-capitalist, and a follower of Professor Hans-Hermann Hoppe, I feel that the Good Doctor places a little too much reliance on the ability of any constitution to restrain any government. However, he has written a beautifully crafted piece of work which it is possible to read in one sitting, despite its comprehensive coverage of the entire remit of western world government. The text will also help you understand the basic tenets of Austrian economics, a political philosophy based upon peace, prosperity, and freedom, which may help you remove any scales of state indoctrination from your eyes, if you feel inflicted with the fuzzy feeling that somebody has been hiding the truth from you, for most of your life, about how governments really work. In brief, I believe this book could help save the world as we know it. I hope it does and I hope this review has done it the truly magnificent justice it deserves. Go Ron Paul.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting solutions for America's difficulties, 15 Jun 2008
Ron Paul's argument is a simple one. The US is suffering from economic and diplomatic problems because it is ignoring its Constitution and the traditions of its founding fathers in both domestic and international dealings. The US has abandoned its traditional principles of small government, and is instead spending ever more on larger and more intrusive and bureaucratic government departments and schemes. It has also abandoned its non-interventionist foreign policy in favour of pre-emptive war.
Ron Paul is known as a non-consensus politician. He explains in the book this is not because of a desire to seek attention or be contrary for its own sake. Rather, he charges the Republicans and Democrats as being carbon copies of each other and therefore someone has to break the mould, and that might as well be him.
To solve this Paul suggests two things. Firstly, he argues the foreign policy can be changed quickly, so he proposes an end to the war in Iraq, and a strategic withdrawal of US troops stationed in Cold War bases that are no longer threatened. This would save billions of dollars, and would repair America's diplomatic standing in the world.
He rejects this is isolationism. He has no particular problem with military action overseas, providing the full facts of the threat are debated, and the war is properly declared by Congress, not by Presidential executive order. Indeed, the reader will learn the last time Congress declared war was in 1941. Every war since was by Presidential decree. Paul believes this smacks of dictatorship.
He concedes that the elaborate social security schemes in America cannot suddenly be stopped overnight because too many people depend on them. So, he argues a phased reduction in their scope, using money saved from troop withdrawals to fund this transitionary phase. Long term, he envisages dramatically scaling back US central government, and returning power and decision making to individual states.
Ron Paul also talks about his belief that the war on drugs is a waste, and makes the case that soft drugs should be de-criminalised. He also argues that Americans should be allowed to use precious metals like gold and silver in financial transfers, as these commodities are more secure than paper currency which can dramatically change in value.
The book is not without its weaknesses. For a British reader, there are many terms and issues he brings up which are not particularly relevant or easy to understand. As a former doctor, he write extensively on plans to reform the US health care system, yet this is so complicated, no one outside the US would properly understand it. His chapter on the Federal Reserve and monetary policy was also rather confusing to anyone not well versed in the jargon of economics.
All in all, Paul is a rebel figure in American politics, and his book is well worth a read. It is a little inaccurate to describe anything in this book as revolutionary, but it is certainly thought provoking.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Inspiring Read, 27 Dec 2008
I bought Ron Paul's book to find out more about American politics.
Instead what I purchased was a true eye opener. Immensely readable Paul provides a clear strategy to solve the problems in America today, both those which are often portrayed in the media and those which are unspoken-such as international debt. These policies, which are well thought out, are written clearly and simply without the usual tendency in political books to over complicate.
Paul also avoids a regular problem of ignoring the opposing views and his critics. Too often the writers opponents are seen as unworthy of comment by the writer. Instead Paul gives answers the problems critics have with his policy standpoint.
A final worthwhile comment is that the book is not simply relevant to Americans. Though strong emphasis is placed on the American system the policies presented are sensible and realistic wherever the reader is in the world.
I recommend this to anyone who feels there is nothing new or different in politics. Here is proof that there is.
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