What is Libertarianism? A Book Review

By Lance Winslow
All of us in the United States have friends that are libertarians. After all, it appears that nearly 10 to 20% of our population during any given election call themselves libertarians. And this group of individuals often is the deciding factor in elections because they become the swing voters. But, if you are wondering what it is to be a libertarian, then I have a very good book that I like to recommend to you. The name of the book is;

"Libertarianism in One Lesson" by David Berglund, 1977

There was a book on Libertarianism which was translated in Polish and it caused a revolution in 1988 and 1989. 1990 communism was ousted in socialist nations collapsed due to the thought that "you own yourself." Libertarians believe; "No one has the right to force you to do what is not in your best interests," each person owns themselves - you cannot force others to do what is against their best interests. However, you must take responsibility for yourself.

There is a chapter on cooperation versus force in the book that is quite good. The book made me think about the possibility that perhaps, government could work as conglomerate franchised module in the service business for things like trash, power, enforcement, military, and dog catchers. I definitely enjoyed this quote; "If people are inherently good, you don't need a government and if the people are evil you don't dare have one," and "Government is us and they are no more noble than the bureaucrats in it," and since everyone in government comes from the population, if there are any problems, it's already our fault.

In fact, the book was full of great quotes, here's another one; "A government agency which falsely justifies actions against a citizen is not an acceptable government" in some ways one could say that Government is not real, it's a lie we all agree to live by, a fictitious entity, worth nothing without our consent. How can you have a social contract when government legislators and regulators make onerous and restricting laws against freedom and liberty? We must respect the rights of all; there is no superior human being in our government. Anyway, I think you would enjoy the discussion that went on throughout this book, it will really make you think.