Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom Paperback – January 23, 2012

After years of having it in my book collection, I finally finished “Liberty Defined.” Even though I am not a libertarian anymore, I still look up to Dr. Paul, read his books, watch his Liberty Report on YouTube when I can, and I still do consider him to be my biggest influence in terms of me developing my political views.“Liberty Defined” is libertarianism 101. It is an excellent way to understand basic libertarian principles from Dr. Paul’s perspective. Reading this book helped keep the libertarian in me alive and gave me more of a vivid understanding of what a truly free society is all about. That isn’t to say that it isn’t without flaws. The issues I now disagree with him on were discussed, but he didn’t do a good job of convincing as to why I am wrong on this issue. I am mainly talking about the chapter on “Empire” here and there were actually a few other sections that made me roll my eyes.All in all, this is still an excellent and vivid read. In terms of political views now, I am like a mix of Ron Paul and Ben Shapiro. As if they merged to form one person. 90% of my political views are essentially based of them.“Liberty Defined” is a great way to understand liberty and libertarianism, still highly recommend- 9.1/10.

*Full disclosure, I am a fan of Ron Paul and was before I bought this bookOne of my favorite books related to policy, history, economics, and of course what liberty means. There are many more in depth and frankly wordy treatise on different definitions of liberty. Outlines just about all of the commonly discussed hot button issues pundits generally discuss on mainstream media PLUS issues not very often discussed, or at least not very often when this book came out. Federal reserve, monetary policy, Keynesian vs. Austrian economics.I have bought multiple copies and given my own copy away to people that I thought would understand libertarianism or classical liberalism better than it is portrayed by political hacks and partisans. The chapters are short but touch on key aspects of every issue. There are many books that dive deeper than the couple of pages devoted on each topic, and many are free on mises.org and elsewhere on the web or google books.Even if people don't ideologically agree with Ron Paul's view on what liberty is and the role of government, he rights in layman's terms and is ideologically consistent. Modern progressives/liberals tend to be more in favor of restricting government on legislating morality but heavily involved in economic issues and infringing on property rights. Conservatives/neo-cons/republicans tend to talk about just the opposite (more about legislating morality and claim to be in favor of less government in the market) Liberty Defined consistently makes the case for liberty to include both economic freedoms as well as individual freedoms including the freedom to associate and voluntary exchange with those that consent. Anytime a a politician or political book is discussed, people will love or loath what it says.This is for people interested in the case for liberty and why more freedom is always better than entrusting governments with the power to use force against peaceful people who each have subjective values. Individuals can make better decisions for themselves than the collective can for others. Individuals always spend their own money better than they spend other people's money precisely because value is subjective.

It is simply amazing that in the time it would take to read a Scooby Doo short-story, Dr. Paul can annihilate the sacred cows of the political mainstream, acting as the metaphorical knife into Caesar’s tyrannical torso. I cannot say enough about how comprehensive and meticulous Dr. Paul is within the confines of such a concise reader (probably will take one hour of your life to get through this entire book). I consider myself fairly well versed (for a non-academian) in libertarianism, Austrian Economics, and Constitutionalism; but this book contained a wealth of knowledge that nuanced many of my previosuly held beliefs, introduced an abundance of historical perspectives regarding foreign interventionism previously unknown to me, and even completely reversed my long held position regarding the death penalty. To borrow from another reviewer, Ron Paul is America’s Cicero, and he well understands that although tyranny may reign in the immediate, true victory lies in the lighting the path of wisdom for the next generation. We may not know the exact moment the U.S. crossed its own Rubicon, but our once constitutional Republic has almost certainly gone the way of ancient Rome’s, and Dr. Paul is lighting the next generation’s long path of return from empire to freedom.