Most Influential Books

Before starting with articles TJ and I have written reviews on the five books, which influenced us the most.

TJ's

A Republic, Not an Empire: Reclaiming America's Destiny By Pat Buchanan

I credit Pat with getting me interested in politics. I loved watching him beat down Leftists on the show Crossfire.

Even though at this time in my life, my political beliefs tend to lead to a much smaller government then Mr. Buchanan, I do see eye to eye with him on staying out of foreign entanglements. For those who don’t know, A Republic, Not an Empire, is a well researched book on America’s foreign policy over the last 200 years, and it’s not hard to agree with his conclusions.
I think if we want much smaller government, we must contain our politicians need to intervene in foreign conflicts not directly related to our National Security. In this book, Pat is very persuasive in his attempt to show you how our foreign policy has led astray from what our Founders had intended.

What It Means to Be a Libertarian. By Charles Murray

This Charles Murray book gets the credit with making me aware that I was a libertarian Republican. I knew a wanted smaller government, but after reading his book, I knew then I wanted much smaller government.

It really made me feel comfortable with beliefs of some real ‘radical’ changes in the size and scope of government.

This book will not make a Socialist turn into a Jeffersonian, but it can help a Conservative who’s wondering what happen to “Buckley-Goldwater” Conservatism.

The Fountainhead By Ayn Rand

I haven’t been much of a fiction reader, lately. However, in my early 20’s, when I read this book, I think it helped underscore my beliefs of Individualism.
If you have not read this classic, I guarantee you will end up loving the main character, Howard Roark. The best thing you can learn in the book is that selfishness is a virtue, not some demeaning character flaw.

Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition By Milton Freidman

I saw Milton Friedman on television, when I was younger, and even though he wasn’t an animated guy by any stretch, his greatness was making economics understandable to me.

So I bought Capitalism and Freedom and it didn’t disappoint. He covers Monetary policy to the role of government in education. He is very clear in proving that ‘good’ things come from the free-market system, not the government.

The Roosevelt Myth By John T. Flynn

It has always bothered me that FDR is known as one of our greatest Presidents. If you feel this way, this is a book you should read. Flynn does a great job categorically tearing down FDR’s flawed policies. Which he rightly concludes how the New Deal made the depression worse. It details the administration with only facts that can not be contradicted.

Roark's

Before I start writing this, I'd like to point out that I have been a libertarian for approximately two months and the following books are the ones that have most influenced my thoughts on economics and liberty.

My conservative leanings have been developed from reading political books and listening to countless hours of talk radio for the past eight years.

Also, I originally put 1984 and Anthem on my list; I've decided that they are very similar and I will be replacing 1984 with What it means to be a Libertarian.

The books that have influenced me most and that I will be reviewing are (in order of my reading them):

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism

The Myth of the Robber Barons

Somebody's Gotta Say It

Anthem

What it Means to be a Libertarian

__________

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism

I believe this is the best book for putting down leftist (it may be more prudent to just start calling them Marxist) myths on the economy. It's very readable (I read it just a few months after getting my driver's license) and systematically states the liberal arguments then breaks them down using facts and common sense, two things which liberals seem to be short on these days.

Up until reading this book I kind of understood why tax cuts work and that there wasn't really a reason for liberals to whine about trade deficits. Including these two subjects the books talks about:

· Why rent control doesn't work

· Why slave labor doesn't make sense

· The Free market kills any discrimination

· Charitable givings were up 50% during the 'Decade of Greed'

· Athletes and CEOs deserve their high salaries

After reading this book I had a foundation for my philosophy, but had not yet cemented in my mind the philosophy of limited government.

The Myth of the Robber Barons

This is possibly my favorite book. I originally bought on the recommendation of the PIG to Capitalism, which spent a chapter on the same subject.

The book sets out to prove that the so called 'Robber Barons' (Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, etc.), helped the US and were not just ruthless and greedy, well Robber Barons.

It easily accomplishes this, but also proves another extremely important fact, that has become a huge part of my philosophy: Businesses receiving government help generally suck.

The relatively short (170 pages) book goes over 6 barons and shows how they beat the competition, which many times had government help.

Somebody's Gotta Say It

This was the first book I read that explained the libertarian philosophy of limited government.

Boortz is a talk show host in Atlanta who uses humor and a no-nonsense approach to politics in this book.

It goes over why welfare is bad, government subsidies to art, what should be taught in school, why you don't have the right to vote and many more subjects that made it the first book that really put the idea in my head of small government.

Anthem

I had read that Ayn Rand's books The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged were two Libertarian stalwarts, so when I needed an extra hundred pages read for English Anthem was the book I chose.

To this point I understood why small government is the best for prosperity and many economic things, but Anthem is very good at showing why collectivism will vastly stunt progress.

What It Means to Be a Libertarian

By the time I had written this book I was a self-proclaimed Libertarian, though I really only though about the Economics part of politics.

This book shows why limited government works and uses trend lines to show that in every single aspect things get worse or improve to a much lower extent after government interference.