A Review of Mark Levin's "Liberty and Tyranny"

By James R. Rice
The number one best-selling non-fiction hard-back book in the United States at the time of this review is Mark Levin's 'Liberty and Tyranny' (Threshold Editions/Simon and Schuster). Its subtitle says it all: 'A Conservative Manifesto'. This book consists of just 245 pages including its 38 pages of notes--yet, it contains more knowledge of current politics and the relevant economic and historical knowledge than any other book one is likely to find out there in the waste land of American popular non-fiction today. It is also a philosophical work--and probably the most important American philosophical work to be published since Ayn Rand's philosophical novel 'Atlas Shrugged' (1957).

Mark Levin is "huge fan" of Ayn Rand, and so it is fitting that sales of 'Atlas Shrugged' have also dramatically surged upward since our current Presidential Administration got elected into office in November of 2008. 'Liberty and Tyranny' was begun, and most of it written, at least 18 months before it was released for mass consumption on March 23rd, 2009. So, much of this book proves prescient. The Conservative manifesto of 'Liberty and Tyranny' must be scaring the hell out of the Liberals, the Democrats, and the RINOs--those who seek to give us Hell on Earth for our lives (but not for theirs). These are times which try people's souls; this book is a bright and burning lantern in the darkness, which explains its huge sales. If enough people read and understand this book, the mad Libs will be in more trouble than they have been since 1980.

The great power of 'Liberty and Tyranny' lies in the fact that it centers entirely around ageless, timeless principles--the principles which manifest Conservative thought and deed. No Liberal has any principles; all that citizen Liberals want is for the government to guarantee that nobody can be "better" than they are, and all that Liberal politicians want is power, as much power as they can possibly have over everyone else's lives. There are no principles in their views--only fear and power-lust, nothing more.

Mark Levin lays out in exquisite detail and clear, concise, consistent prose precisely where Conservative principles have their origins, the objective evidence for why they work, and their historical precedents. He actually does not call the Liberals by that name throughout most of the book, as that label has historically been applied in different ways and could cause some confusion; instead, he calls them "Statists": those who worship government and/or work in the government who want to expand its power relentlessly and, in truth, infinitely.

Conservatism is what gives us liberty; Statism is what puts us under the iron fist of tyranny. Conservatism has precious little to do with what the Statist makes so many gullible Americans of all classes believe it does. Levin proves this premise true over and over and over again, whether writing about the need to read the Constitution as it was written and derive its original meanings and intents from historical context and extratextual letters, journals, and notes written by the Founders; or the insipid evil of mad Liberal science on issues like the spurious grounds for banning of DDT and the massive man-made global warming fraud; or the evil of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; or the need for the federal government to do just the one thing that it was ever supposed to do: preserve the American civil society.

'Liberty and 'Tyranny' tells us that "so distant is America today from its founding principles that it is difficult to precisely describe the nature of American government." Levin also reminds us that President Ronald Reagan said, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction". The book ends with the epilogue of "A Conservative Manifesto" and lays out a 10-point call-to-action plan that all need to hear in these dark days.

Read Mark Levin's 'Liberty and Tyranny'. Meaningfully mark it up. Read it over again. Read it slowly. Give it to your children and grandchildren as presents--and when you do, put a little sticky note on the cover saying, "I'm sorry for what I've done to you."