The Decline of American Liberalism Book

This book was remarkably important in the evolution of my thinking and understanding of the role of government and of how to create peace and prosperity in the world. Before reading this book, I thought along the lines of "if we could only get back to government as it was created at the founding of the United States".

I read only the first fifty pages or so of the book and then stopped because I realized that there was no going back. The seeds of what we have today were sown in original US government. Though the this government was quite small, what we have today is the natural result of what was created in the beginning. This recognition blew my mind and led me on a path of increasing intellectual clarity, which ultimately brought me to what I think is the inevitable conclusion that politics and centralization of authority cannot work. Centralization cannot be limited, even if it starts small.

Just as markets are what bring increasing peace and prosperity around the world, markets are the solution to all roles of government, including law and security (such as police and defense).

A Civil Action is a remarkable account of how justice is not to be found in our legal system and that's because centralized authority does not work. Here's my review of that book: