John Hospers Review: Conscience of a Libertarian by Wayne Allyn Root

My book, LIBERTARIANISM was first published in 1971. Its subtitle, ‘A Political Philosophy for Tomorrow’ has at long last come true today.

The pragmatic reality is in Wayne Allyn Root’s brilliant new volume: THE CONSCIENCE OF A LIBERTARIAN - a title I might add, that was obviously carefully considered and borrowed in the “classic liberal” sense –that is, it was returned with dividends of thought and deserved tribute to The Conscience of a Conservative author, politician – Barry Goldwater.

The similarities between Root and Goldwater become increasingly apparent; both strongly believe in individual freedom, both recognize the United States as a republic and firmly support States’ Rights and a federal government with limited powers as unmistakably defined by the United States Constitution; both are conservative, agree an oversize federal government dooms America.

Yet both are centrist libertarians when addressing topics concerning personal choices and social issues such as abortion, gays in the military and the legalization of medical marijuana.

Above all, both Root, the Libertarian Party’s 2008 Vice-Presidential nominee and Senator Barry Goldwater, the 1964 United States Presidential Candidate of the Republican Party – are blunt, outspoken, straight-talking politicians who do not see ‘liberty and justice for all’ being compatible or existing for long with federal government spending-gone-wild – and, like Goldwater, Root is bold, passionate, unafraid to speak clear and often about what he believes.

In his book, Root documents that the problems Goldwater faced 50 years ago are the same today, only far worse - e.g., federal government runaway growth, increased taxation, wars, foreign aid, foreign military spending, welfare, etc. Root contends that if we had heeded Goldwater’s advice those years ago, we wouldn’t today be facing a decay of culture and possible demise of our nation.

Root says, “In 1959, Goldwater predicted the descent of America. His main issues were always government over-spending, over-reaching, interference in the lives of individuals, which often goes hand in hand.”

Root’s own description of the State of the Union is no less dramatic and clear; he conveys a sense of urgency about surviving the worst financial emergency in the history of the United States. The self-made New Yorker speaks rapid-fire from the heart; pulling no punches, without skipping a beat, Root says:

“I’m not too nice. It’s time to throw niceties overboard. It’s time to suspend manners. We don’t have time for nice. Being nice hasn’t gotten us anywhere. While we’ve been nice, the problem has reached the critical stage. It’s time for action.

“This book is the opening shot across the bow of the Titanic. The United States is the Titanic nearing the end of a long journey. The iceberg is ahead. Someone has got to get the taxpayer’s attention before we all perish. Now is not the time for nice…”

True to his word, from there Root gets rough and raw and intense, however – he seems not to be afraid of anyone or anything; promising to scream the truth of what’s happened to our nation from the highest mountains, never to stop screaming, to remain relentless - staying right on-target with the colossal fiscal catastrophe facing this country – until everyone gets the message.

Written in Four Parts, Root’s work is a must-read guaranteed to rivet all who cherish their freedom and seek to protect their lives and loved ones from the dictates of a monstrously oppressive federal government looking to control its citizens from pre-crib to post-crypt, from now and for generations to come.

Root goes for the jugular; the plundering and rape of America’s treasury by an administration that appears bent on destroying capitalism and the middle class grows ever more difficult to defend as one reads the jarring facts in the book. In spite of the author asking questions that need to be answered by those who should be held accountable - many will criticize Root’s in-your-face style, and these same detractors will unfortunately miss the irrefutable truth.

The author takes no prisoners, leaves no doubt how the disaster came to be; Root names-names but blames both Democrat and Republican administrations for over- spending, inflating the size and reach of government and creating a welfare state that is a form of slavery even as it continues to bleed taxpayers. It is on the issues of over-spending and oversize federal government control in the personal lives of our citizens with which I most agree with the author. This is how I first explained it some four decades ago in LIBERTARIANISM, and I’m sad that it’s truer, more pertinent and more dangerous now than ever:

“Another effect of the welfare programs, which may not be intended by its proponents but invariably occurs once the programs have gone too far, is the stratification of society. Those who speak in the most heartfelt manner about equality of opportunity are by the very policies they advocate freezing the mobility of workers in such a way as to frustrate them at every turn and forever prevent their rising to the level of their abilities. Government tends to put them on a treadmill from which they cannot escape.

“It is not merely that the programs tend to perpetuate people in welfare down to the third or fourth generation; this is true, and tragic enough. But one effect of the monumental taxes required to sustain the programs is to keep working people, even those with imagination and ability and ambition, frozen into their present stratum of society, without a chance to improve themselves.”

Root sees welfare and government entitlement programs creating a slave state. He understands the relationship between excessive taxation and the ill-effect on civilization as we know it. He justifiably resents the liberal hypocrisy of socialized medicine, good enough for 300,000,000+ of US, but not so the elitist politicians, who step over the United States Constitution and verbally, burn our flag along with our freedom of choice.

Root is a successful business man, an entrepreneur who knows capitalism and hard work is what made this nation great. He also realizes what the end result of “Share the Wealth” or “Spread the Wealth Around” will be – and that is a not so slow kill of the Golden Goose – the cutting off of the very source of the affluence that those who hate capitalism expect to receive and enjoy.

A resonating theme of Root’s work is that he asks, actually demands to know for himself and for all Americans – “WHERE IS OUR TAX MONEY?”

Reminiscent of the famous sign "The Buck Stops Here" that was on the desk in President Harry Truman's White House office (and made in the Federal Reformatory at El Reno, Oklahoma) Root asks in gruff Truman-like manner, where has the hundreds of billions, trillions of our dollars in tax money for “bailouts” and payoffs gone – to whom, and why? WHERE IS OUR MONEY?

In other words, Root wants to know who the wizard is behind the curtain, or better yet, who are the masters pulling the strings of the man in the empty suit.

Root’s book has solutions for the mess we are in, and the author has faith that our nation may yet rise up from the ashes of a calculated sinister scheming, anti-American, anti-capitalistic administration. He states, without hesitation:

“It’s obvious that the people running our government are flawed hypocrites!”

Root, of course, is referring to his former Columbia University classmate and current U.S. President, Barack Hussein Obama, who in fact, refuses to debate Root or produce any, let alone essential Columbia University paperwork that could prove citizenship and constitutionally legitimize the Obama presidency.

“The U.S. government makes Bernie Madoff look like a piker,” says Root, who describes what the Obama administration of admitted tax cheats, liars, self-serving members of government and other co-conspirators has done, as the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. Root continues, without a shred of doubt: “The same economic tsunami that destroyed Madoff’s scam will now destroy the scam of the U.S. government. The game is over—we are bankrupt. Actually, we are bankrupt squared (to the tenth level).

“We cannot possibly continue to spend at the same levels as when things were going good, now that things are going bad,” Root says in no-nonsense terms. “There just isn’t enough tax revenue coming in to keep spending at the same baseline. We can’t keep spending far more than we take in, while at the same time the national debt from decades past keeps piling up unpaid.”

If the truth hurts, you’d best stop here. Otherwise listen to Root: “We are so broke, we can’t pay last year’s bills, let alone the new bills for this year. Yet Obama has decided to spend more in response to this crisis--far more. By a decade or so from now, just the interest on the national debt (according to Obama’s own projections) will be $800 billion per year.

“How big is $800 billion? If you spent $1-million per day from the day that Jesus was born until today, it still wouldn’t equal $800 billion! And that’s just the interest payment owed by the American people. This is insanity. It is financial madness,” says Root, who then continues: “This issue is the biggest threat to our existence. This same threat, government over-spending, massive entitlements, and mounds of debt reaching to the moon, is what destroyed the Greek and Roman empires.

"We are headed for the same fate,” says author, politician Wayne Allyn Root. “The U.S. is crumbling because of one issue: over-spending by government.”

Root has solutions. To me, he’s the only candidate who’s articulate, powerful in presentation, and RIGHT. He presents his views with vigor and clarity on every occasion. He comes across great because he speaks truth from the heart, of America, to America, for America. There’s time: ROOT FOR AMERICA. Bring in 2010 and 2012: THROW OUT THE BUMS, AND CRIMINALS!

Review by Dr. John Hospers 1st (1972) United States Presidential Candidate of the Libertarian Party.

2 posted on 09/01/2009 8:58:34 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (0bummer uses George Orwell's book "1984" as a "How To" guide.)

Wayne Root agreed to be LINO (Libertarian In Name Only) Bob Barr's running mate. Barr subsequently endorsed Al Gore's "global climate change" events, heaped praise on Obama, trashed Palin as unqualified, and tried to throw Root overboard as a running mate, in favor of Ron Paul (with Root's blessing!), but even Ron Paul wasn't as foolish as Root and realized by that point that Barr had become a pathetic caricature of himself.

Going by the 2008 election, I could care less about anything Wayne Allyn Root has to say.

I don’t think Root agreed to any such thing,
except to get into the thick of things at the LP.
Who else can lead this party out of the fragments?
That Dr. Hospers would even take the time to read
Root’s book is big, that he would endorse is HUGE!

7 posted on 09/02/2009 1:24:09 AM PDT by Keltik ("The goal should not be diversity -- the goal must be Quality.")

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