The Revolution: A Manifesto

The Revolution A Manifesto by Ron Paul (based on 747 customer reviews)

(Hardcover)
Author: Ron Paul
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

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Most useful review as voted by customers:
927 out of 979 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/12/08

Ron Paul's Legacy

Ron Paul's legacy--from decades of principled defense of freedom, peace, and sound money--is inculcated in this very important book. Just the right length, it convincingly and eloquently advances the Ron Paul philosophy. It's a book for beginners and for all of us, no matter how well-read, on liberty, Austrian economics, the Federal Reserve, the free market, the welfare state, and the warfare state. No mere "campaign book," this is one for the ages. And I especially appreciated the suggested reading list at the end. Ron, thank you for your shining example in congress, for teaching millions through your presidential race, and for being--as this extraordinary book shows--the Tom Paine of the second American revolution. Fellow Ron Paulians, we have only begun.

554 out of 581 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/22/08

The most important book written since COMMON SENSE

Dr. Ron Paul's THE REVOLUTION: A MANIFESTO is a concise (167 pages) and convincing argument for a return to America's libertarian principles. During his campaign for president, Dr. Paul established a very diverse following: Republicans, Democrats, Greens, and "even some anarchists," he would joke. In truth, many people were drawn to him due his obvious sincerity -- a breath of fresh air! -- even if they did not fully agree with or understand his ideology. Now they will understand and become Austro-Jeffersonians, one and all!

The first chapter, "The False Choices of American Politics," demonstrates why those Ron Paul supporters who do understand his message cannot bring themselves to vote for either McCain or Hillary/Obama, or even to really care who among them wins: There is very little (if any) substantive difference between them. They may disagree about when and where to use foreign intervention, but never over whether it should be used at all. They may disagree over how fast interest rates should be cut by the Fed, but never over whether the Fed should exist. You get the idea.

Chapters 2 and 3 are titled "The Foreign Policy of the Founding Fathers" and "The Constitution," respectively. Here Dr. Paul challenges his neocon and liberal opponents to openly condemn the wisdom of the founding fathers, which they do with their actions, or else follow it. The framers of the Constitution were far from unanimous -- there were bitter disputes among so-called "Federalists" (Hamiltonian nationalists) and "republicans" (Jeffersonian decentralists) -- but today's neocon/liberals reject the wisdom of both parties, taking an expansive view of their powers that even Hamilton himself would have seen as excessive.

Chapter 4, "Economic Freedom," may be an eye-opening one for many readers. First, there are the liberals who were attracted to Dr. Paul's campaign, who may for the first time be presented with a contrast between the true Austro-Jeffersonian libertarian brand of capitalism and the inflationist, Kudlow & Company / Forbes magazine variety. Secondly there are many "paleoconservatives" I met who supported Dr. Paul but were under the mistaken impression that he was against free trade -- nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, as Dr. Paul points out here, he is 100% in favor of unilateral, unconditional free trade and 100% against quotas, sanctions, embargoes, duties, and protective tariffs. He does oppose phony "free-trade" deals like NAFTA and the WTO (joining many liberal Democrats in doing so, but for different reasons) not because they "steal American jobs" (they don't), but because they limit trade too greatly. Furthermore, they erode constitutional sovereignty and work for the benefit of politically connected elites, something with which libertarians, paleocons, and liberals can all agree.

All three constituencies will also cheer Chapter 5, "Civil Liberties and Personal Freedom." Here the contrast between Jeffersonian libertarianism (once considered "liberalism" before that philosophy was given a bad name in the early twentieth century) and the so-called "conservatism" of the neocons and post-WWII New Rightists is perhaps at its greatest. Ron Paul supports the Constitution and the limits it places on government -- which makes him a "blame America" leftist among the neocon punditry, all apologists for the liberal Wilson/FDR/Truman/LBJ foreign policy, by the way.

But the best and most important chapter, without a doubt, is Chapter 6, "Money: The Forbidden Issue in American Politics." Here Dr. Paul expertly details the operations of the Federal Reserve System in stunning clarity -- no conspiracy theories or half-truths that often further obfuscate discussion of the secretive monetary authority. The Austrian (and true) perspective on the Fed is not to be horrified that the Fed isn't a government agency (it is, even if indirectly), but to be outraged that all banks are essentially arms of the government. We don't need the government to have even more control over the money supply, we need it to have no control whatsoever (the exact opposite of what movies like FREEDOM TO FASCISM seem to suggest). What's more, Dr. Paul doesn't spread the myth that the Fed somehow profits as an entity when it creates money (its profits go to the Treasury), but instead, politically connected individuals and businesses profit at the expense of working-class and poor families. You see, the effects of inflation are not uniform -- the Fed System works as a wealth redistribution system from poor and middle-class to the rich and politically connected. How so? Buy this book and find out!

Finally, the book ends with the self-titled seventh chapter in which Dr. Paul lays out a moderate and realistic course that could be accomplished over one or two presidential terms. I'm tempted to share this blueprint for you here but I don't want to discourage anyone from buying the book. Instead, I'll use the last few words of this review to lament the fact that this blueprint will certainly not be implemented by the next president. Perhaps a young man or woman who volunteered for Ron Paul's campaign in 2008 will work his or her way up through the political establishment and be swept into office, with a like-minded Paulian Congress, sixteen years from now (just as Reagan followed sixteen years after Goldwater -- not that either of these two are to be looked at as heroes. . .). We can only hope that the Republic can endure that long!

439 out of 471 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/17/08

Now or never . . .

I think it is fair to say that Ron Paul has risked his life by identifying the essential elements by which the power élite controls our lives. Dr. Paul is a giant in the fields of sound Constitutional doctrine, sound economics, and the philosophy of freedom. Having spent years reading hundreds of books on these same subjects, I can truly appreciate how he has not only mastered these subjects but has provided the quintessential reading list for lovers of liberty everywhere.

The book is a wonderful synopsis of the hopes and expectations of the Founders and how we have fallen short of those expectations and is sprinkled with insightful quotes from Thomas Aquinas, Ludwig Von Mises, Frédéric Bastiat, et al. In short, it is exactly what it claims to be . . . a manifesto - a statement of political principles and intentions.

And what are those intentions? A call to action to complete the revolution started in 1776. One man cannot start a revolution, but like Thomas Paine with "Common Sense" he can waken a dormant spirit. Let the revolution begin.

132 out of 140 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/20/08

The Single Most Important Work on Politics in the 21st Century

I've been a Small Government Republican all my political life and have actively campaigned for Ronald Reagan and Bob Dole. It seems pretty clear that Ron Paul is the only politician who is willing to stand up for our freedoms and our American Values. The expansion of Federal Power over the past two decades (as accelerated under the current administration) has eroded our basic civil liberties and corrupted our political system. In this book, Ron Paul points to another way that will restore our liberties and make our nation strong again. It is time to recognize that both parties in our "Two Party System," have been bought and paid for by corporate and other nefarious interests who care for nothing but their own enrichment. Read this book and pass it along to others.
On a personal note, if Ron Paul isn't on the ballot in November, I'm writing him in and encourage everyone else who values freedom to do the same. If enough of us "waste our votes," in this manner we will eventually send the message that Washington needs to hear.

130 out of 173 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/21/08

Ron Paul + Jesse Ventura = Critical Mass

Ron Paul excels at the Constitutional fundamentals: individual liberty, sound money, and non-interventionist foreign policies. Although I am dismayed by his unwillingess to play well with others (Ralph Nader has the same problem, Jesse Ventura does not), and he does not have a strategy for governance as much as a laundry list of non-negotiable starting points, he is still, for me as an estranged moderate Republican, an inspiration for breaking with the two-party spoils system.

This is an eloquent book in which he draws with extreme care from the thoughts of others, always attributed in the text, and provides a series of arguments that do not call for the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney, but certainly do call for the impeachment of the complicit Congress. Three books in particular support his angry denunciation of how Congress--both Republican and Democratic--has allowed the Executive to attack our civil liberties, sustain executive warmaking never intended by the Founding Fathers, and precipitated an unprecedented financial crisis. Congress standing still for "signing statements" [and I would add, for morons like Gonzalez that give all Latinos a bad name], is the last straw.

See:
Running On Empty: How The Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy)
Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders

He cites Michael Scheuer with admiration, and as I am one of the very few to notice this in my reviews of Scheuer's books, I am delighted that he validates Scheuer's basic view, to wit, Bin Laden and terrorism against America are motivated by *our* presence in Saudi Arabia, our foreign behavior, our unilateral militarism, virtual colonialism, and so on.

He suggests that it was the Clinton Administration that first set the course on Iraq, being too willing to listen to lobbyists for Israel. Of course it was Cheney and Rumsfeld that gave Sadaam Hussein the WMD as--as the joke goes--kept the receipts.

He is very specific on Iran not being a nuclear threat to the USA (and in other writing, e.g. our weekly GLOBAL CHALLENGES report from the Earth Intelligence Network, we note that all the oil states are going nuclear as fast as they can).

He labels the neoconservatives as false conservatives.

At this point in my notes I have written "This is an original work rife with learned quotations from other scholars and practitioners."

He is starkly upset by how the Bush-Cheney regime has destroyed the US dollar, not just with Iraq, the The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict but with our global presence that Chalmers Johnson has addressed so ably in The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project).

Halfway through the volume he takes issue with those who call for a "living" Constitution, and pointedly says that this would equate to a dead and worthless Constitution. Later in the book, but it goes beautifully here, he writes that the Constitution was intended to restrain government, not citizens.

He is also against the draft and income taxes, both of which suggest people are property of government and can therefore be forced into labor. As he states, "young people are not raw material" for the government to play with.

He cites former Comptroller General David Walker with admiration. Walker told Congress in the summer of 2007 that the USA is insolvent, and they ignored him. Today Walker runs the Peter Peterson Foundation and his mission is to educate citizens on their own governments high crimes and misdemeanors in the economic and financial arena.

He shares my view that the Federal Reserve should not exist and manufactures credit out of thin air, one reason we will see more credit bubbles.

He ends by pointing out that the Patriot Act not only violates all our liberties, but was unnecessary because the USG had all the information it needed in advance of 9-11 was was in his words, inept. I disagree. I am fairly certain Dick Cheney received nine different warnings, including from Pakistan and Israel, and he arranged an exercise so he could control the government and let it happen. I think Larry Silverstein, with Bush family assistance, planted controlled demolitions to get rid of his asbestos problem at tax payer expense, and I think Rudy Guliani should be indicted for his role in "scooping and dumping" fire fighter bodies in his rush to destroy the crime scene. See, among many other excellent books and videos, 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, First Edition

He favors the legalization of marijuana and is opposed to attention deficit and other drugs being prescribed to children without adequate testing. I put the book down wishing that Gary Hart, Dennis Kucinich, Ralph Nader, Ross Perot, Michael Bloomberg, Jesse Ventura, and Ron Paul could have formed a new party, the Constitutional Party, and cleaned house. I have lost all respect for Bill Bradley--he sold out to the Trilateral Commission and greed (as did Al Gore). See Obama - The Postmodern Coup: Making of a Manchurian Candidate

John McCain is walking a tightrope. In my view, if McCain can form a Transpartisan Cabinet now--even if only a transitional one--and get David Walker and Ron Paul to lead the group in creating a balanced budget that wipes out the national debt and begins pulling back from all our overseas bases, especially the secret ones that are not worth the outrageous $60 billion a year we pay for the 4% we can steal and not process), then I think it is possible some good may come from this election. Otherwise, it is just four more years, and we MUST create a new political party.

IMHO.

See also:
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
Don't Start the Revolution Without Me!
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All

50 out of 58 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/14/08

Changing the world!

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R31AEC63BGOF61

Ron Paul will be remembered by history as the father of the American Renaissance!

48 out of 49 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/19/08

Manifesto of the Revolution

This book is a must-read.

I truly believe that historians will one day write of THE REVOLUTION as the book that inspired a national movement to reverse America's decline.

It begins with a reality check. Our entitlement programs are insolvent. The dollar is collapsing yet we continue to borrow billions from China every day. National bankruptcy looms while we play empire games abroad, weakening our national defense and stirring up hostility against us. And the political class offers no alternative. Artificial limitations on free debate ensure that the right questions are never asked, let alone answered.

The book's core message is that our current path is unsustainable. Either we face the facts and revert gracefully from empire to republic, or financial reality will make itself known in increasingly uncomfortable ways until the system degenerates into chaos.

It seems impossible to me that anyone could read this book from cover to cover and come to a different conclusion. In concise and captivating prose, Ron Paul takes a rhetorical wrecking ball to the conventional wisdom about terrorism, foreign policy, the economy, healthcare, taxes, trade, the war on drugs, foreign aid, international institutions, and much more. He lambasts the media and political establishments for sustaining the illusion of a fantasy world while liberty and prosperity are silently strangled.

When the dust clears, all that remains standing is the legacy of our founding fathers. Ron Paul eloquently defends the original intent of the founders and the continued relevance of the Constitution. He draws for us a beautiful picture of America - the way it was meant to be, the way it still can be.

Forget the campaign-season rhetoric about unity and change. Here, finally, is a message - a manifesto - around which Americans can unite. "In the final analysis," Ron Paul writes, "the last line of defense in support of freedom and the Constitution consists of the people themselves."

It is that time. The system is compromised. The government is not coming to the rescue. The media will only distract you. The future of our Republic will be decided by you and me. As a first step, let us rouse our neighbors by spreading this book far and wide.

Ron Paul has written a masterpiece that deserves to be read by every American. It enlightens and inspires from the first page to its final sentence:

"Let the revolution begin."

29 out of 33 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/15/08

A must read for every citizen

Ron Paul's libertarian views gives us a secure vehicle to explore the truths and facts pertaining to debates on policy and economics. And he shows us why applying constitutional ideals to policy and economics is the most sound way for our society to function.

15 out of 21 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/15/08

Last Bastion of Hope?

I believe the only reason Ron Paul has not been assassinated to date is because he has not become a big enough threat to the powers that be.

From his new book, The Revolution: A Manifesto...

"This much is true: you have been lied to, robbed, and used by your own government - the people you elected into office and the people you should be able to trust."

What Ron Paul doesn't tell us, of course, is that the people elected to office are not the power behind the thrown. Politics is a game, and it's played at our expense. So long as each citizen follows along with eyes closed, concerned about his or her own petty world, ignoring the larger arena in which we all suffer, there can be no revolution. And at this point in the game, without a revolution, freedom cannot survive.

This is the urgent message to America... that freedom is not FREE but must be won... and won before it's too late. Beyond a certain point in the game, only internal revolution will work. We are now at that point.

America will not see the likes of Ron Paul in future elections unless the powers that be are broken. These power heads do not suffer truth bearers lightly, something America should have learned from the assassination of JFK.

Ron Paul, speaking truthfully on the economy, terrorism, foreign policy, the war on drugs, the housing bubble, the Federal Reserve, civil liberties, and everything else in between, may be the last bastion of hope available to a nation whose people wallow in ignorance of the juggernaut that swiftly races to crush them.

I urge you to get a copy of this book. Forewarned is forearmed. Take advantage of the reading list at the back of the book; learn the truth of Ron Paul's assertions. And if it's not too late already, take up the cause of freedom.

Linda Camp
The CAMP Report
Citizens Against Media Propaganda
www.WantToKnow.info

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