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| The Revolution: A Manifesto | 
 enlarge | Author: Ron Paul
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $21.00
Buy New: $11.90
You Save: $9.10 (43%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  710 reviews
Sales Rank: 106
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0446537519
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.931
EAN: 9780446537513
ASIN: 0446537519
Publication Date: April 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
The Patriots' Platform for 2008 April 27, 2008
73 out of 79 found this review helpful
According to former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Congressman Ron Paul is the "one exception to the Gang of 535" on Capitol Hill. The Establishment Elite, having Dr. Paul blocked out by the mainstream media and ridiculed by the Republican Party, believed his candidacy was stopped dead in its tracks. Despite their self-assurence, Dr. Paul received nearly 130,000 votes in the Pennsylvania primary. The REVOLUTION is alive and well! And in "The Revolution: A Manifesto," Dr. Paul crafts a strong intellectual argument for the most radical idea of the 21st century: LIBERTY. The book will be an eye-opener for many of those who were blocked from hearing Dr. Paul's vision on such propaganda outlets as Fox News. Dr. Paul explores all of America's ills and maladies and outlines our Constitutional solutions to these problems. As Dr. Paul outlines in all of his speeches, books, and lectures, only the U.S. Constitution can deliver us the most optimal and beneficial solutions to our financial, foreign, and cultural issues.
Dr. Paul's chapters on economics and money are, in my opinion, the best parts of the book. He notes correctly the unfunded liabilities of Medicare and Social Security that reach the tune of $53 trillion. He obliterates the argument for a universal health care system by pointing right at veterans' hospitals, which are nothing short of a complete disgrace. If this is how the government treats its heroes and most valorous citizens, Dr. Paul says, then why in the world believe you would be treated any better? He desires the elimination of the unconstitutional income tax, of which all goes right to the interest payments on the national debt and to the collectivist United Nations before it even reaches the federal government. The Federal Reserve is also creating a fiat empire that will crumble in the years to come and send millions of Americans into economic turmoil. Dr. Paul rightfully condemns such a tyrannical system and calls for its eradication. I don't fully agree with Dr. Paul's views, and I somewhat question his approval of bringing every last American troop home from overseas, but I recognize that the other 99.5% of his analysis on foreign policy is spot-on.
I dearly hope this book is circulated on every home, library, and college campus across the country. The American people still do not believe they have a choice in this presidential election. To this I tell them: Ron Paul has NOT dropped out of the race! You still have a choice! No conservative, libertarian, or independent should accept someone like John McCain, much less vote for him! Read "The Revolution" and decide for yourself who deserves to lead our nation, which is now sucked into unconstitutional and undeclared wars in the Middle East, burdened by intrusive government interference, and losing its precious freedoms guaranteed to it by the Bill of Rights. Who will you choose?
Let the revolution begin!
An Easy To Read & Understand Book...A Must Read For All Americans to Understand What Our Founding Fathers Wanted - When... April 27, 2008
62 out of 67 found this review helpful
An Easy To Read & Understand Book...A Must Read For All Americans to Understand What Our Founding Fathers Wanted - When They Created the Declaration of Independance & The U.S. Constitution.
I Highly recommend this to even the folks who laughed at Dr Paul in the GOP Presidential debates...and went the other direction, to vote for the same old rags that we have been having for a long time. The Rags like our current President, and The Clintons, etc....all the way down the line since Abraham Lincoln...YES...he has
The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War
Listed on the back of his books to further read...
Ron Paul...you deserve an A+++ for this book!!
Quote from this book: "Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies..."
More Excerpts follow:
"Every election season America is presented with a series of false choices. Should we launch preemptive wars against this country or that one? Should every American neighborhood live under this social policy or that one? Should a third of our income be taken away by an income tax or a national sales tax? The shared assumptions behind these questions, on the other hand, are never cast in doubt, or even raised. And anyone who wants to ask different questions or who suggests that the questions as framed exclude attractive, humane alternatives, is ipso facto excluded from mainstream discussion.
And so every four years we are treated to the same tired, predictable routine: two candidates with few disagreements on fundamentals pretend that they represent dramatically different philosophies of government.
The supposedly conservative candidate tells us about "waste" in government, and ticks off $10 million in frivolous pork-barrel projects that outrage him--the inevitable bridge-to-nowhere project, or a study of the effects of celery consumption on arresting memory loss--in order to elicit laughter and applause from partisan audiences. All right, so that's 0.00045 percent of the federal budget dealt with; what does he propose to do with the other 99.99955 percent, in order to return our country to living within its means? Not a word. Those same three or four silly programs will be brought up all campaign long, and that's all we'll hear about where the candidate stands on spending. But conservatives are told that they must support these candidates, and so they do, hoping for the best. And nothing changes.
Even war doesn't really distinguish the two parties from each other. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry voted for the Iraq war. With the exceptions of Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel, even the Democrats who postured as antiwar candidates for the 2008 primary elections are not especially opposed to needless wars. They typically have a laundry list of other military interventions they would support, none of which make any sense, would make our country any safer, or would do a thing to return our country to fiscal sanity. But liberals are told that they must support these candidates, and so they do, hoping for the best. And nothing changes."
"When Republicans won a massive off-year election victory in 1994, neoconservative Bill Kristol immediately urged them not to do anything drastic but to wait until the Republicans took the White House in 1996. Well, the Republicans didn't take the White House in 1996, so nothing ever got done. Instead, the Republican leadership urged these freshman congressmen to focus on a toothless, soporific agenda called the Contract with America that was boldly touted as a major overhaul of the federal government. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The Contract with America was typical of what I have just described: no fundamental questions are ever raised, and even supposedly radical and revolutionary measures turn out to be modest and safe. In fact, the Brookings Institution in effect said that if this is what conservatives consider revolutionary, then they have basically conceded defeat.
Needless to say, I am also unimpressed by the liberal Left. Although they posture as critical thinkers, their confidence in government is inexcusably naive, based as it is on civics--textbook platitudes that bear absolutely zero resemblance to reality. Not even their position on unnecessary wars is consistent--Hillary Clinton and John Kerry both supported the Iraq war, for instance, and the major Democratic candidates in 2008 who claim to be antiwar are generally eager to invade some other country apart from Iraq. Even Howard Dean was all in favor of Bill Clinton's intervention in Bosnia, going so far as to urge the president to take unilateral military action beyond the multilateral activity already taking place. Liberals at the grass roots, on the other hand, have been deeply alienated by the various betrayals by which a movement they once supported has made its peace with the establishment.
No wonder frustrated Americans have begun referring to our two parties as the Republicrats. And no wonder the news networks would rather focus on $400 haircuts than matters of substance. There are no matters of substance.
My message is one of freedom and individual rights. I believe individuals have a right to life and liberty and that physical aggression should be used only defensively. We should respect each other as rational beings by trying to achieve our goals through reason and persuasion rather than threats and coercion. That, and not a desire for "economic efficiency," is the primary moral reason for opposing government intrusions into our lives: government is force, not reason.
People seem to think I am speaking of principles foreign to the Republican tradition. But listen to the words of Robert A. Taft, who in the old days of the Republican Party was once its standard-bearer:
"When I say liberty I do not simply mean what is referred to as "free enterprise." I mean liberty of the individual to think his own thoughts and live his own life as he desires to think and to live; the liberty of the family to decide how they wish to live, what they want to eat for breakfast and for dinner, and how they wish to spend their time; liberty of a man to develop his ideas and get other people to teach those ideas, if he can convince them that they have some value to the world; liberty of every local community to decide how its children shall be educated, how its local services shall be run, and who its local leaders shall be; liberty of a man to choose his own occupation; and liberty of a man to run his own business as he thinks it ought to be run, as long as he does not interfere with the right of other people to do the same thing. "
As we'll see in a later chapter, Taft was also an opponent of needless wars and of unconstitutional presidential war-making.
This is the Republican tradition to which I belong."
End of Excerpts
By The Way...I am a NON-NEOCON-GOP(Republican) and not a Libertarian!
Changing the world! April 14, 2008
59 out of 71 found this review helpful
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R31AEC63BGOF61
Ron Paul will be remembered by history as the father of the American Renaissance!
Ron Paul's Revolution. April 27, 2008
58 out of 64 found this review helpful
_The Revolution: A Manifesto_, published in 2008, is a campaign book by Ron Paul, U.S. Presidential candidate in 2008 and Texas Congressman. This book outlines Dr. Ron Paul's program for America which essentially consists in restoring liberty to the American people and upholding the United States Constitution. While Ron Paul's message is unique among all the candidates for president in this upcoming election, his campaign has been blackened out by the media. Nevertheless, he enjoys a sizeable following and has achieved records in campaign contributions. What Ron Paul promises is a substantial change from the usual form of U.S. politics and a return to the principles of the Founding Fathers as spelled out in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. To Ron Paul, this means among other things a non-interventionist foreign policy, a limited and substantially scaled back government, a return to economic freedom along with a restoration of lost civil liberties to American citizens, and a new look at the money issue and the Federal Reserve banking system. During his terms in Congress, Ron Paul has earned the nickname "Dr. No", because he is a medical doctor and because of his refusal to vote against the U.S. Constitution. While Ron Paul is running as a Republican, he represents an Old Right non-interventionist form of conservativism or libertarianism that is not found amongst the majority of Republican candidates today. Ron Paul has criticized the neoconservative component of the Republican party for quite some time, but he also finds today's Democrats to be equally at fault. In fact, Ron Paul finds the whole political class to be possessed of individuals who largely seek power for its own sake and have little interest in the principles of liberty upon which the United States was founded. This book outlines Ron Paul's plans for peaceful revolution and a return to the United States Constitution.
In the first chapter of his book, Ron Paul explains the false choices in American politics. Here, Ron Paul explains how the Republican party has been co-opted by phony neoconservatives. At the same time, Ron Paul finds fault with the Democrats for largely agreeing with the Republicans on issues of intervention abroad while demanding an equally problematic and substantial intervention at home. Thus, Ron Paul sees little difference in the two main political parties. In the second chapter, Ron Paul explains the foreign policy of the Founding Fathers. Ron Paul quotes George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Quincy Adams showing how the Founders maintained that America should not meddle in the affairs of other nations. Ron Paul then shows how the events of September 11 were used by the Bush administration to excuse a strongly interventionist foreign policy and an invasion of Iraq that violated just war principles. Ron Paul also argues that Clinton's wars effectively amounted to the same thing and that while the Democrats may claim to be anti-war, they frequently push for interventions abroad and have offered no alternative to the debacle in Iraq. Ron Paul also argues that foreign aid should cease, both on moral and pragmatic grounds, and particularly as concerns the nation of Israel. Ron Paul mentions the case of suicide bombers, but shows how their religion is largely not the central issue of concern but rather their resistance to an occupying power. Finally, Ron Paul mentions various classical conservative thinkers and shows how they uniformly spoke out against empire and unnecessary foreign meddling. In the third chapter of this book, Ron Paul focuses on the Constitution. To begin with, Ron Paul effectively shows how the Constitution has been subverted, particularly by those who maintain that the Constitution is a "living document" (showing how in effect this allows for the government to behave in any manner it wishes contrary to the Constitution and thus reduces its effect to nothing). Ron Paul also focuses substantially on the Bush administration, showing how presidential power has increased and how blatant disregard for the Constitution and Bill of Rights has been effected. Ron Paul also shows how the power of Congress to declare war has been subverted since the Korean war by the president. Ron Paul also discusses such matters as abortion (Roe v. Wade) and the death penalty, showing how such issues have been ruled upon by federal judges with total disregard to the rights of the states. Ron Paul also considers the case of the draft and the federal income tax, showing how both are not only unconstitutional but immoral as well. In the fourth chapter of this book, Ron Paul considers the case of economic freedom. Ron Paul shows how excessive regulations have a damaging effect on business. Ron Paul also argues for property rights and individual freedom. Ron Paul also shows how free trade agreements such as NAFTA and sponsored by the WTO are in fact nothing of the sort, but rather attempts to get the United States to surrender sovereignty to a supernational body. In the fifth chapter of this book, Ron Paul considers the case of civil liberties and personal freedom. Ron Paul shows how civil liberties have been lost, mentioning the Patriot Act and much post-9/11 legislation that in effect gives police state powers to the federal government. Ron Paul also shows how habeas corpus has been suspended and torture has been used against those labeled "enemy combatants". Indeed, Ron Paul argues that the War on Terror has been used to excused much underhanded dealing and spying on private citizens by the federal government. Further, despite the Republican opposition to such tactics used by the Clinton regime, they have largely turned a blind eye to the vast abuses of the Bush regime following September 11. Ron Paul also considers the federal War on Drugs, arguing that this should be an issue for the states to deal with and local communities rather than the federal government. Ron Paul maintains that like Prohibition (which at the least was proposed as an amendment to the Constitution), the War on Drugs has resulted in increased crime and black market drug dealing. Ron Paul also mentions the case of medical marijuana and the subversion of the rights of the states. Finally, Ron Paul mentions the issue of home schooling and shows the complete failure of much of the public education system. In addition, Ron Paul shows how alleged screening for mental illness amongst youngsters may be used to weed out individuals who hold to certain philosophical or religious beliefs. In the sixth chapter of this book, Ron Paul mentions the "forbidden issue in politics", that of money. Ron Paul shows how the Federal Reserve rather than dampening the effects of economic booms and busts in fact makes them worse. As a sound money theorist, Ron Paul offers an alternative by lowering taxes on gold and silver, thus allowing for trade in these precious metals and possibly preventing an economic collapse brought on by a declining dollar. The money issue is particularly important, because no other candidate dares mention it, and because it has not been brought up in the political arena for many years. Finally, Ron Paul ends with a chapter calling for his peaceful revolution. Ron Paul reiterates his main points, showing how we have surrendered our sovereignty by becoming dependent on government. In particular, Ron Paul reaches out to the young by a call to personal responsibility and self-reliance. The book ends with a call to revolution just as our Founding Fathers experienced their call against the oppression of a despotic government.
Ron Paul remains one of the few men in the political arena willing to tell Americans the hard facts about the current state of affairs. He also remains one of the most ardent defenders of liberty. Despite his detractors, and the media's attempt to black out his campaign, Ron Paul's message is one of common sense and high importance. As such, I believe this book offers hope to our nation that would appear to be going the way of the Roman empire.
 A good but flawed book May 5, 2008
52 out of 138 found this review helpful
I consider myself a libertarian and I was very excited to read Dr. Ron Paul's book. The majority of the book is concerned with three basic issues.
1. The Constitution
2. Foreign Policy
3. Monetary Policy
The book starts out with the issue of Foreign Policy and advocates the United States stay out of other countries affairs. This includes staying out of their affairs militarily and also with foreign aid, but he does NOT advocate becoming isolationist. In fact, he makes very strong arguments for free trade and for diplomacy. I agree with his overall point, but he leaves a lot of questions unanswered. What if a country starts slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Jews or Tutsi? What if a powerful country unjustly attacks a weaker country? What if the rest of the world refuses to act? Dr. Paul did not provide strong (or any) answers to these types of questions.
The section of the book concerning the Constitution was excellent. However, Dr. Paul's solution as to how to restore the Constitution's original meaning, intent, and interpretation is rather weak. Although, I don't know that there are good answers.
The section on Monetary Policy was by far the weakest part of the book. As with all the other issues covered in the book, Dr. Paul is extremely good at describing the problem. His explanation of the problems inherent in the FED is very good. However, Dr. Paul advocates readopting the gold standard. Unfortunately, the gold standard has the opposite problem of our current system, the money supply shrinks in relation to a growing economy. This causes deflation, which is just as bad or worse than inflation. Would you build houses or invest in a business if it is likely that their value will decrease? The Great Depression was caused by spiraling deflation not inflation. Dr. Paul's book doesn't even address this common problem that occurs with the gold standard. There are other common problems with the gold standard as well, and Dr. Paul's book addresses none of them.
For the most part, this was a good book and I enjoyed reading it. However, it wasn't the great book I hoped it would be.
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