Liberty Defined

50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom

(2011)
Ron Paul

Finished Reading: 12.2011

Ron Paul is the cure for apathetic non-partisan Independents. I appreciate that this collection of issues identifies many different topics which are now served on the table of American politics. Unfortunately, some of these topics had been swept under the table only to be rediscovered here. Listed in alphabetical order, Ron Paul succinctly states his opinion on each and moves on to the next in a sort of primer for fidgety open minds.

A few of these issues are the standard talking points that were boring in the last election cycle, and are still boring this time around because the Democrats and Republicans never really come to any new conclusions: Abortion, education, gun control, and taxes. And more! Other topics are specifically Ron Paulisms, those topics that no one else dares talk about but which Congressman Paul likes to frequently remind us about as issues that need to be discussed rather than blindly accepted: Austrian Economics, Empire, Foreign Aid, and Monetary Policy.

Maintaining Libertarian principles throughout, Ron Paul defends Liberty from the point of view that the rights of the individual are foremost and the government, whatever its form, has no right to take away those individual rights. Since governments should stay out of most issues, they should also leave their opinions and their money out of most issues.  "...Governments have nothing to pass out, since they produce nothing. Anytime government provides a benefit, it must first steal it from someone else who is producing it, thus violating the rights of the individual."

Essentially, denying the rights of one person to help another person is decreasing the freedom of both. The first person has lost his freedom to choose who to help, and the second person has possibly lost his freedom to rise above the monopoly provided by a certain type of help. "Foreign aid can best be described as taking money from the poor in a rich country and giving it to the rich and powerful in a poor country."

Progressives would of course disagree because they, "hold that any law or regulation that is created in the name of something like civil rights is in itself the very essence of those rights," according to Paul Krugman in this article by William L. Anderson. Whereas Libertarians desire fewer laws so that individuals can make their own choices, including poor choices, progressives desire more laws so that no one is allowed to make a poor choice - which could bring us all down. Ron Paul and other Libertarians offer that our national inclination towards legislating everything needs  reconsideration. Anderson quotes Frederic Bastiat as saying, "Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all."

My agreement with Ron Paul's ideas is fairly universal, but of course we can't agree on everything so I enjoyed this book. There are a few of these issues that I find to be secondary at best and are not worth an argument over whether or not they are true, but provide food for thought. Mainstream Republicans should consider whether their undying party allegiance should entertain some healthy deviations and give Congressman Paul another look. He draws support from Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and a wide range of preconceived notions that make for strange bedfellows.

The Revolution

A Manifesto

(2008)
Ron Paul

Finished Reading: 11.2011

Though a Libertarian hiding in a divergent Republican party, Ron Paul isn't out to fool anyone. The Texas Representative boldly lays out his policy in this Manifesto, published during his second presidential run in 2008. If Ron Paul is nothing else, he is consistent and he is clear. He advocates colorful sweeping change in a political landscape where politicians are only looking to pick out a new shade of beige for the upcoming 2012 elections.

One of Paul's primary platforms is a significant change to U.S. foreign policy.  He calls for a non-interventionist strategy where we just leave other countries alone, allowing them to carry out their own business. Our military would stay home and protect America while we save money, lives, and avoid unwanted blowback and the increasing international hatred that boils across the seas. Paul compares today's politicians with those in the past, concluding that our nation is headed into unnecessary interventionism and away from the original intent of our Founding Fathers. He ties our recent foreign policy actions to our other national problems, particularly the economic catastrophe that he predicted and we now find ourselves wallowing in.

Additionally, Ron Paul touches on the Constitution, economics, personal freedom, and money. These are all important talking points in the election season and each brings fodder for further discussion as I now move away from reviewing the content of the book itself, and delve into broader thoughts...

Most political followers see a big asterisk next to anything Ron Paul says, indicating that he is so far outside the box of American ideals that no one on the left or right takes his strategy ideas seriously. This is amazing that someone could be so ignored. I wonder how the radical agenda of a potential President Ron Paul would pan out? Could he accomplish his stated agenda with a typical Congress of regular partisan Democrats and Republicans?

If the government were to get it's big grubby hands out of the cookie jars, what would happen to the neglected crumbs? Would private enterprise, charity organizations and small local governments, as Paul proposes, pick up and run with the programs that the Federal Government leaves behind? Entirely idealistic, I know, but I'd like to see less forced taxation and more voluntary charitable contribution. But I do believe that the depravity of man is real and we will selfishly hoard for our own. The old question was, "Should this or that be done?" But my new question is, "Should government be the one to do it?"

Libertarianism, which I am just beginning to research, is an interesting blend of conservative and liberal thought, with a focus on liberty. Freedom is the catchy word floating around these days, but liberty seems to be similar and not as well understood. I like one definition that liberty is "not...the absence of interference in one's actions, but as non-dependence... (which) means being in a state of non-dependence from another's arbitrary will."

Extreme policy proposals seem like a waste of time on the surface, when every day the general disagreement is about minuscule details or trivial differences. But radical thoughts can bring about moderate change at a time when a new shade of beige is the only color proposed. If nothing else, a potential President Ron Paul would be like nothing we've ever seen.

Bossypants

(2011)
Tina Fey

Finished Reading: 11.2011

Tina Fey is a funny female comedian because she doesn't care that you don't like funny female comedians. Starting on the Chicago improv circuit, she moved on to star in Saturday Night Live in New York, create the hit NBC television comedy 30 Rock, and then try to convince anyone who would listen that two Sarah Palins are better than one, but maybe not better than none.

The Rules of Improvisation, as related by Tina Fey, can be applicable to everyday conversations, even if she didn't intend this. You don't have to be an actor to utilize improve. At the very least, improvisation makes conversation more interesting, and goes something like this: Agree with the person you're speaking with; add to what they're saying to deepen the dialog; make statements rather than ask questions; and go with your mistakes. You never know where mistakes will lead you.

It's nice to know that someone is the showbiz has a strong father figure. Tina loves and fears her father and credits him with her having turned out halfway decent. "That's Don Fey," says everyone as he walks by. Everyone knows who he is and admires him. Don Fey dresses well and looks good. Don Fey did this. Don Fey did that.

My favorite of Tina Fey's characters is Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock. "(She) liked the idea of writing Alec Baldwin as a powerful conservative, having him articulate passionately the opposite of everything he believed in real life."

Sometimes the reasons for a joke are just as funny as the joke itself. There's a lot of that in here.

Above Portland

(2010)
Bruce Forster
Chet Orloff

Finished Reading: 03.2010

PORTLAND - AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE! From the clear blue sky! A view straight down from the heavens! Bask in the glorious sunlight reflecting gallantly from boxy glass towers and shimmering gray rivers! Question the absence of clouds! Embrace the urbanity! Look for your house!

To be elevated above the concrete, brick and storefront at grade to the lofty arms of thinning stratosphere, is pretty exciting. Aerial views are the mix of map and elevation. We look down again at the small blocks from where we hover, and are left breathless to learn of historical and contemporary urbanity, nature, and a desperate search for our own apartment building in the huddled masses below.

This is mostly a picture book containing descriptions, history and commentary. The focus revolves around downtown Portland (since that's where there are things to see), but snapshots of the outlying areas are pleasant as well. The images are clear and beautiful.

There are a number of historical aerial photos, mostly from mid-century, that display the change that has occurred between then and now. One in particular struck me. As we know, Portland and Vancouver are two large cities divided by the great Columbia River. Many stunning views from both are laid out in this book. But I learned here that there was once a city in between (gasp!) No, this city was not in the river itself (not originally anyway), nor is it the lost city of Atlantis. What is now a swampy golf course and race track was once the city of Vanport - epically destroyed in a 1948 flood. I had never heard of Vanport, so I looked it up to learn more. It was a military town constructed during the second world war. The city grew quickly and became the second largest in the state (after adjacent Portland). Five years later it was gone; a small number were killed in the flood and the rest displaced to the surrounding neighborhoods (racial tensions included).

Portland boasts a few instances of pioneering public policy - decisions that shape the city of today. A few decades ago an Urban Growth Boundary was established to help stop the spread of sprawl around the periphery of the city and to protect natural areas and farm lands. While this helped shape the edge of the city, another decision to redirect federal highway funds from a automotive freeway expansion instead to the building of the first line of the MAX light rail train, has shaped the center of the city and the diversity of our transportation modes. The sprawl has an end, and old neighborhoods are intact.

The city marches slowly forward - though it seems like a slow crawl from the air.

A Christmas Carol

(1843)
Charles Dickens

Finished Reading: 12.2010
Read on the Nook

The classic story of mean old Scrooge and his hum-bug outlook on the merriment of Christmas. I've seen various film adaptations of course, and find that I knew many of the lines - which is awkward. A Muppet Christmas Carol, Mickey's Christmas Carol, etc. Without Statler and Waldorf or Scrooge McDuck, however, the real story is decidedly less comical and a little heavy on "grim," but that is as it should be.

Once again Dickens does not disappoint with his great descriptions of London and the colorful people who inhabit the cold, snow-covered bubonic streets. I noticed a few particularly fine longs lists of food, as well. No story is complete without a long list of fabulous foods.  

A Christmas Carol is a very short work, just long enough to fully realize the depravity of Scrooge and allow him to make a turn-around before the ghosts get him. If it were any lengthier, I fear the story could not be completed in one Christmas Eve night and Scrooge might have the misfortune of enduring a few dozen more ghosts rather than only the famous Three: Past, Present and Future. (The Ghost of Past-Participle was luckily never written in).

In the end, Scrooge is of course redeemed and becomes the sort of guy I'd like to have for an uncle: he's got loads of cash, he likes to buy dinner for everyone, and thinks he can fly with ghosts. Sounds like a party.