Liberty And Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto

First, I want to thank Mark Levin for providing me a copy of his new book Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto, as a friend and disconnected from any request for, or offer of a review. I don't do book reviews as a rule (Thomas Lifson's recent review is here).

As I think it important and because of what Mark's book offers, I'd rather put it in context relative to the current Tea Party effort. I believe they are somewhat linked, as both speak to the potential for a resurgence in American individual freedom as a counter-force to our rapidly growing government, or state.

In Liberty and Tyranny Mark doesn't talk so much about Right versus Left, or Republican versus Democrat, as he does about the free individual in contrast to the state - which will always be as constrictive as it might be benevolent. If you believe, as I and many conservatives and libertarians do, that we find ourselves at a potential pivot point in American History, Mark's book offers up a frame of reference, a language, solid arguments and a manifesto to inform and empower a forward path.

Our Nation's Founders sought a balance between individual freedom and the need for Government. Our Constitution was as much about protecting the individual from government, as it was about establishing that very thing. This view has been all but lost and Mark's effort speaks to that quite well. Subsequent passage of the Bill of Rights and even other early Amendments tell us that, if the Founders erred, it was on the side of government. Why else would they have foreseen an all but immediate need for the Bill of Rights?

As Mark basically points out, with the onset of the Great Depression and The New Deal, Government, along with "helping," discovered a terrific marketing scheme that has continued to empower its growth. Today, bad economic news presents government with, not just another chance to help, but with the opportunity to take even more power away from the individual and bestow it upon itself. To the degree we permit this to happen, several degrees of what it means to be an American will be lost. That's why I found Liberty and Tyranny to be both a very important and incredibly timely read.

Today, the once liberal statists, to use Mark's wording, too often stand the Constitution on its head, using it more to codify government and acquire power, than do they use it to truly protect the rights of all Americans as a whole. Given the current administration's stated goals, if freedom loving, genuinely free-thinking Conservatives and Libertarians don't fight back intelligently and forcefully for all we're worth now, individual freedom in America will not be worth nearly as much as it is today in ten years.

But if you are truly serious about this battle, you must be able to talk the talk, as well as walk the walk. Liberty and Tyranny will ensure the former and signing on to the Tea Party movement will ensure the latter. I would encourage readers to both buy and read the book, as well as to get involved.

Video below of Mark discussing the book courtesy of Fox.  

Comments

[Lala]

He's on Fox and Friends right now, 8:18 am

[unseen]

If our schools taught civics instead of global warming this book would not be needed.

[Paul A'Barge]

I'm sure I agree with all of it already, even without reading the book.

Regarding being able to talk the talk, frankly why? Have you ever been in an argument with a statist Liberal (oh wait. You have a blog that allows comments. Of course you have).

Frankly I think these people (Liberal statists) are not able to understand the tyranny they promote. Or, they understand it and have chosen to embrace it. You're not going to talk these mutts out of anything, least of all their treasured fascism.

If Jonah Goldberg's book "Liberal Fascism" and this book together can not become important forces in liberating us (and Jonah's book has not) then frankly we're all screwed until the great, uncommitted middle (aka "independents") realize just how far up theirs the government has got.

Until then, this book and Jonah's are simply tools for us to use to torment ourselves ... well-written, thoughtful analyses of just how screwed we are.

Oh and one last thought ... do you think that John McCain will be reading this book? Me neither.

[Basil]

I'm puzzled by this remark: "Subsequent passage of the Bill of Rights and even other early Amendments tell us that, if the Founders erred, it was on the side of government." It seems to me, that if they erred, they erred on the side of individual liberty, not government. Now, maybe that is what you were saying, or meant, in a round about way. But it is not the way it came across to me.

[Dan Riehl]

I meant that the Bill of Rights was essentially added to ensure those individual liberties as they weren't adequately addressed in the Constituion proper. The fact that they were needed would mean the Constitution erred toward government, as it didn't do enough to address their intent in that regard. Also see below.

"It largely responded to the Constitution's influential opponents, including prominent Founding Fathers, who argued that the Constitution should not be ratified because it failed to protect the basic principles of human liberty. The Bill was influenced by George Mason's 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, the 1689 English Bill of Rights, works of the Age of Enlightenment pertaining to natural rights, and earlier English political documents such as Magna Carta (1215)."

[Derek Swanson]

Basil,

Dan got it right.. the founders did grant too much federal power. This is why they came back later with the first 10 amendments to try and limit that power and put it in a box. For example, the Tenth Amendment is similar to an earlier provision of the Articles of Confederation: "Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled." The Tenth Amendment explicitly states that the federal government is limited only to the powers granted in the Constitution.

This of course, has been trampled on and ignored for perhaps almost all of the last century, to our great woe. Every time the federal goverment hits states with some new unfunded mandate or national park or requirement that they don't want or agree with it's in violation of the 10th.

This is why the 10th is referred to as a "truism", sadly so.

While the constitution and the bill of rights are fantastic documents, they could have been written a little more clearly, but I'm grateful for what we did get. Crazy times, they were.

[JC]

I agree with the substance of almost everything Mr. Levin says, but I do not like his radio show one bit. He screams and yells like a child and bullies his callers in the most thugism and idiotic manner. Again, I agree with the substance of his views, but his style is beyond terrible. I am not persuaded by his ranting. Only the most weak minded could be persuaded by such garbage...

[Peg C.]

My family all love Mark. My 30 yr. old stepdaughter who turned us onto his show went to Barnes & Noble today for the audio book she had reserved and they were completely sold out of the hardcovers and audio CDs (she got hers but there was a line of buyers who were disappointed). Mine is on the way from Amazon.

There is nothing childlike about Mark; he is phenomenal. JC is not one of us.

[Peg C.]

My family all love Mark. My 30 yr. old stepdaughter who turned us onto his show went to Barnes & Noble today for the audio book she had reserved and they were completely sold out of the hardcovers and audio CDs (she got hers but there was a line of buyers who were disappointed). Mine is on the way from Amazon.

There is nothing childlike about Mark; he is phenomenal. JC is not one of us.