Homeschooling ourselves reading list

[gregl26]

Hey lets get a list of all the must read books for any Ron Paul Revolutionary and sticky it, or a condensed version of it, for everyone to reference at any time.

1. Of course any book by RP.

2. Any Ludwig von Mises book (though I have not read them and don't know what order they shoulod be read in)

3. Global Gun Grab, William Norman Greg

4. Oops, can't forget the constitution, federalist papers, common sense

[constituent]

well, since you brought up education

gargantua and pantagruel, rabelais

[bp2519]

The Road to Serfdom

Economics in One Lesson

Crash Proof

[gregl26]

someone mentioned in a post a couple days ago the

Creature from Jeckyll Island

[Original_Intent]

The Law Frederick Bastiat
2nd Treatise on Government John Locke

[RTsquared]

Man, Economy, and State - Murray Rothbard.

I'd also put The Conscience of a Conservative on here, but I'm not sure that's quite as imperative.

[nullvalu]

Creature from Jeckyll Island

+1

[Thumper]

Confessions of an Economic Hitman - John Perkins

Capitalism and Freedom - Milton Friedman

A Peoples History of the United States - Howard Zinn

[nate895]

How about any books by Andrew Napolitano?

[Shink]

Rule by Secrecy--Jim Marrs

[icon124]

someone mentioned in a post a couple days ago the

Creature from Jeckyll Island

+1

[gregl26]

brave new world

1984

[JGalt]

Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell.

In fact, I might go so far as to say it is one of the most important essays to read when trying to understand modern politics.

[raiha]

"Is Religion Killing Us?" Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer

"Myths America Lives By" Richard T. Hughes

"The Problem of the Media" Robert McChesney (was in Outfoxed)

"Violent Democracy" Daniel Ross

Bump

[I Am Weasel]

yeah... it's about time.. I was wondering about a reading list. After somebody made a comment that Ron Paul was the most well read person they knew.. I think it was his son Rob at our local rally here in Wichita before the caucus. I do have a copy of the creature from jeckell island. I'll have to pick up on it again though.. :)

[cmasslibertarian]

"How to rig an election" was a great look into politics as usual in the GOP.

[Edu]

http://www.state-citizen.org/
http://www.civil-liberties.com/pages/cases.html
http://www.commonlawvenue.net/main/citizenship.htm
http://www.citizensoftheamericanconstitution.org/homepage.htm
http://www.supremelaw.org/

[cien750hp]

these lists are posted from time to time, this is what i have gathered from the previous threads:
a nation of sheep, the constitution in exile by judge andrew napolitano
blowback by chalmers johnson
the law by frederick basait
through our enemies eyes by michael scheuer
the constitution of liberty, the road to serfdom by friedrich a hayek
on liberty by john stuart mill
on the wealth of nations PJ O'Rourke
free to choose by milton friedman
food for the heart by ajahn chah
the creature from jekyl island by g edward griffith
independants day by lou dobbs (and other lou dobbs books)
the end of america: letter of warning to a young patriot by naomi wolf
1776 by david mccullough
a peoples history of the united states by howard zinn
how i found freedom in an unfree world by harry browne
hegemony or survival of failed states by noam chomsky
death of the west, state of emergency, day of reckoning, a republic not an empire, where the right went wrong by pat buchanan
human action by ludwig von mises
the state vs. the people by claire wolfe and aaron zelman
what ever happened to the american dream by larry burkett
unintended consequences by john ross
the ballad of carl drega by vin suprynowicz
dying to win by robert pape
overthrow by stephen kinzer
the age of turbulence by alan greenspan
Economics for Real People: an Introduction to the Austrian School
the fountainhead, atlas shrugged, anthem by ayn rand
the wealth of nations by adam smith
the case against the fed, what has the government done to our money by murray rothbard
the quest for cosmic justice by thomas sowell
imperial hubris by michael scheuer
a foreign policy of freedom, gold peace and prosperity, freedom under seige, mises and austrian economics (a personal view), the case for gold, pillars of prosperity, the revolution: a manifesto by ron paul
conscience of a conservative by barry goldwater
conscience of a republican by jacob javits
anything on austrian economics, specifically by ron paul and economics for real people
the federalist papers
writings of the founding fathers
economics for real people by gene callahan
economics in one lesson by henry hazlitt
the politically incorrect guide to capitalism
The real lincoln by tom delorenzo
the bible

:)

[pinkmandy]

Wow, what a list. I just requested it be stickied. Awesome reading material!

[hatefalseweight]

Tragedy and Hope - A History of the World in Our Time ; Carroll Quigley .... bill clinton's mentor reveals the secrets of the bankers of the last century and how they have manipulated the political system and wars


War is a Racket - Smedley Butler ; most decorated general of ww1 era. Was recruited by businessmen to overthrow FDR and exposed them. Details massive war profiteering that always takes place with war

Congressman McFadden's Speech
On the Federal Reserve Corporation - Congressional record

Quotations from several speeches made on the Floor of the House of Representatives by the Honorable Louis T. McFadden of Pennsylvania. Mr. McFadden, due to his having served as Chairman of the Banking and Currency Committee for more than 10 years, was the best posted man on these matters in America and was in a position to speak with authority of the vast ramifications of this gigantic private credit monopoly.

[icon124]

sticky plz!

[sophocles07]

Thirty Years' View by Thomas Hart Benton

Killing Hope: A History of US Military Inventions Since 1945 by William Blum

A History of the CIA by William Blum

A History of Monetary Crimes by Alexander del Mar

The Works of John Adams

The Adams-Jefferson Letters

Writings of Thomas Jefferson

Institutes of the Laws of England (1628-44) by Sir Edward Coke

The Autobiography of Martin van Buren

[Revolution9]

bump to move down drolldonkeys posts off the board till the mods get here..

Randy

[IDefendThePlatform]

The Machinery of Freedom by David Friedman

http://www.amazon.com/Machinery-Freedom-Guide-Radical-Capitalism/dp/0812690699/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203057864&sr=1-1

This gets right to the heart of it all. Great book.

[Revolution9]

We need all the home schooling we can get..sorry for the short and sweet reply but

bump to move down drolldonkeys posts off the board till the mods get here..

Randy

[colecrowe]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/15/RVELUP1FR.DTL&type=books
http://imgs.sfgate.com/templates/brands/chronicle/images/chronicle_logo.gif (http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/)

We must get out of the Middle East no matter what, CIA vet says


Todd Oppenheimer
Friday, February 15, 2008


Marching Toward Hell
America and Islam After Iraq
By Michael Scheuer
FREE PRESS; 364 PAGES; $27

At this point in President Bush's "war of terror" (as Borat, uh, mistakenly put it), plenty of writers and political analysts have described this campaign's historic miscalculations. Few have done so more lethally than Michael Scheuer, a 22-year veteran of the CIA who held the unique distinction of directing the agency's Osama bin Laden unit, until he took early retirement in 2004. Scheuer's latest book, "Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq," his third in a kind of anti-neoconservative trilogy, is no exception. Born out of frustration with six years of grievous American mistakes, it is the angriest of the three.

As befits someone of his background, Scheuer's arguments are hyper-practical, almost coldblooded. To foster what he calls a new America First policy, he believes the United States should stop intervening in trouble spots around the world - even if this means watching hordes of innocents being slaughtered, women's rights being trampled and Middle Eastern oil going to other countries. This has led many experts to call Scheuer (now famous as the anonymous author of the 2004 book "Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror") an irresponsible isolationist. Scheuer doesn't care. Those experts - journalists, academics, civil servants, military officers, pundits, preachers, philanthropists and politicians from both parties - are what Scheuer calls "the governing elite." Their collective blindness, timidity and, in some cases, their duplicity are the central targets of "Marching Toward Hell."

To make his case against foreign entanglements, Scheuer quotes America's Founding Fathers, the U.S. Constitution and the man he considers our greatest president, George Washington: "[A] passionate attachment of one Nation for another produces a variety of evils," Washington once wrote. It creates "the illusion of an imaginary common interest [...] and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and Wars of the latter."

To Bush administration leaders, our successful involvement in the 20th century's two world wars discredits such isolationism. Scheuer, like many administration critics, considers the comparison false. If we had responded to 9/11 the way we did to Pearl Harbor - with "a thorough, north-to-south military flaying of our Islamist enemies in Afghanistan," as Scheuer puts it - and had stopped there, the analogy, at least to World War II, might hold. The problem, and Scheuer's chief complaint, is that Bush didn't complete that mission, and instead diluted and bastardized it into a campaign to create the Middle East of his fantasies.

Scheuer derives his view through a painstaking historical account drawn from hundreds of sources, including numerous al Qaeda statements and actions - a record so public that Scheuer can't forgive political leaders for not reaching the same conclusions. First, he argues, American actions in the Middle East - by all three recent presidents - have sent Muslims an unintended but consistent message: The United States does not understand the shifting dynamics of modern warfare, and is unsuited to win its battles. His examples begin with Vietnam and continue with the former Bush administration's failure to "destroy Saddam's state when they had the chance," President Clinton's failure to act on repeated CIA warnings about terrorists and their plans, and the current President Bush's half-fought wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Furthermore, bin Laden's record from 1993 forward suggests, as Scheuer has long argued, that President Bush completely misunderstands al Qaeda's aims. The group is not fighting America's democratic values, or even our pop culture exports. It is fighting America's policies throughout the Middle East. "The Islamists' indictment sheet against the U.S.," Scheuer writes, "has been precise, limited, and consistent for more than a decade."

One of those indictments concerns our protective approach to Israel, a policy that has only recently come under harsh scrutiny, such as in John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's book, "The Israel Lobby." In both "Marching Toward Hell" and "Imperial Hubris," Scheuer argues that Israel enjoys a level of American financial and diplomatic support far beyond its strategic value to the United States and far beyond what we extend to Arab countries.

That imbalance, Scheuer writes, has long energized al Qaeda's recruitment efforts. So have the presence of U.S. troops on holy Muslim soil (not just in Iraq and Afghanistan but also in Saudi Arabia); U.S. support for countries that, he writes, oppress Muslims (especially China, India and Russia); "U.S. exploitation of Muslim oil and suppression of its price"; and "U.S. support, protection, and funding of Arab police states."

Unfortunately, Scheuer doesn't fully grapple with the implications of some of these arguments. If Islamists object, for instance, to our support of Israel, would they be happy if the United States dropped that support and its support of the Arab "police states," too? Can we then stay out of the implosion this might cause, given that Israel is the region's military heavyweight, with its stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction? To Scheuer, as long as the United States is not threatened, other nations' wars are their own responsibility; all we should do is help the survivors get back on their feet.

There is a logic to Scheuer's worldview, beyond American self-interest. It's similar to the approach taken in Iraq (of all places) by the highly respected Marine Maj. Gen. James Mattis. After the 2003 invasion, Mattis, according to Thomas Ricks in his book, "Fiasco," visited Iraqi leaders in every area where he had troops. "I come in peace," Mattis told them. "I didn't bring artillery. But I'm pleading with you, with tears in my eyes: If you f- with me, I'll kill you all." This is tough love, international style.

Even if America's Middle East policies were to change, aiming for some mutually respectful boundaries, Scheuer believes that two other measures should take precedence. The first is hard-nosed U.S. border security - namely, fences, trenches, watch towers, armed soldiers, even minefields. Politically awkward? Too expensive? Scheuer counters that "the billions of dollars Washington has spent to install electronic- and bio-detection gear at official border crossings, ports and airports is of use only if the Islamists are stupid enough to walk through an official entry point [...] carrying explosives [and] al Qaeda identification cards."

Second, Scheuer argues, the United States must concentrate, full bore, on finding alternatives to foreign oil, ideally through a government-sponsored research and development campaign reminiscent of the Manhattan Project (the national race, in the 1940s, for the first nuclear weapon). Until the United States is completely energy independent, Scheuer points out, the slightest trouble in the Middle East requires American interference, if only to maintain our economic stability. Because of that dependent relationship, he writes, "it is foreigners who will decide when the United States goes to war, and to add insult to injury, today's political environment tends to label Americans who object to this reality as less than loyal."

As should be apparent by now, the fact that CIA professionals' analyses have been either twisted or unheeded for many years now does not sit well with Scheuer. The result, for a reader, is two-sided - one bad, one good. The negative side is that, in the course of three books, Scheuer sometimes gets stuck repeating his old arguments and old news. And, occasionally, his fervor leads him to editorialize in ways that overstate or oversimplify his case. Unfortunately, the editorializing afflicts this new book far more than "Imperial Hubris," which was an almost uniformly solid body blow to America's habit of pursuing unrealistic foreign policies. Still, most of Scheuer's insights would help correct this syndrome and thus bear some repeating.

The pure positive in Scheuer's work is that his frustrations, leavened by his decades of experience and razor-sharp intelligence, yield some unusually clever pages in "Marching Toward Hell" where he frames the terrorism challenge in entirely new ways. One example is a 19-page section, written as a memo from al Qaeda's intelligence chief in Washington ("and we can be sure there is one") to al Qaeda headquarters, composed in CIA style.

The memo is simultaneously humorous and believable, embarrassing and galling. "In this country, thanks to God, criticism of Israel is not allowed," the hypothetical operative writes. When it does occur, "men are called anti-Semitic and their careers are ruined." (This is no joke. Witness the near blacklisting of Mearsheimer and Walt.) At another point, the operative says the Americans' "will is cracking, Brother, and even President Bush's father's friends - the Iraq Study Group - told him that the mujahedin are beating America. ... Bush has rejected the group's conclusions. ... He has now sent five more brigades to Iraq. Fifty brigades would have been a problem for the mujahedin, but five will make no difference." In Scheuer's view, al Qaeda almost pities our constant flow of mistakes. Paramount among those is the way U.S. leaders continue to follow al Qaeda's playbook, the central (non-satirical) principles of which are: "Bleed America to bankruptcy" and "Spread out American forces."

Another clever Scheuer foil is a running scorecard, which describes and tallies al Qaeda's successful actions against the West since 1996, and the West's successes against al Qaeda. The score, as of 2005: the West, 77; al Qaeda, 130. (Scheuer's most updated list is not in this new book, but in the paperback version of his first, "Through Our Enemies' Eyes.")

Scheuer is not optimistic about the future. He believes Islamist victory will occur first in Europe, largely because of its precipitously low rate of native population growth - 1.4 live births per woman, which is a third below what's needed for population replacement. By contrast, the birth rate in surrounding Muslim countries is a bustling 3.7.

For this reason, and some others, Scheuer sees immigrant Muslims as increasingly ascendent across that continent. For our own continent, Scheuer's predictions aren't much better.

"This war has the potential to last beyond our children's lifetimes," he wrote in "Imperial Hubris," "and to be fought mostly on U.S. soil." This warning, written nearly four years ago, has mostly been ignored. No wonder Scheuer wanted to update the indications of our oblivious march toward hell.

Todd Oppenheimer is a winner of the National Magazine Award and author of "The Flickering Mind: Saving Education From the False Promise of Technology." ( www.flickeringmind.net)

This article appeared on page M - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

[LibertyEagle]

bump

[zakkubin]

Freakonomics

Through the eyes of our enemies

Imperial Hubris

Dying to Win

Who wants to be a terrorist and Why

The Art of War

---
Coming Soon:

The Revolution: A Manifesto

[manny]

Some good books mentioned so far.

Over the last year I've finally got into Murray Rothbard and found it a revelation. I had read the "standard" pro-capitalist books by Friedman and Hayek but never any Rothbard.

If anyone wants a taste before purchasing a book check out the Rothbard File on lewrockwell.com

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard-lib.html

- articles on almost every subject. I'm saving up money to buy his "Austrian perspective on the history of economic thought" - anyone read it?

I used to believe 100% that we could get a credit-based currency to work perfectly - I am now far more sceptical!

On the subject of books I've started to use them to "convert" people to the freedom philosophy. I tend to start with the more "mainstream" titles - many of my friends who are even half-way conservative have received "Capitalism and Freedom" and "The road to serfdom" for Christmas and birthday presents! And it seems to work. So often it is presented by the MSM that conservatism represents merely a weary pragmatism or even a relishing of cruelty and harshness, while liberals are the intellectuals, with theories of state and plans, who actually care etc. Letting friends read the opposite, written by true academics, I have found is a very powerful tool.

I'm going to try to pester my local library into stocking Ron's new book too. Hopefully a kid will pick it up one day out of curiosity...

[shrugged0106]

How could we forget "Atlas Shrugged"?

[nullvalu]

federalist papers

Remember, the Federalist Papers were only ONE SIDE of the story. You also have to read the Anti-Federalist Papers to get the full picture.

I believe most of us would find we feel more aligned with the Anti-Federalists (Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson) than the Federalists (Andrew Hamilton, James Madison).

[yongrel]

The Law - Frederic Bastiat

On Liberty - John Stuart Mill

The Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith

On the Wealth of Nations - PJ O'Rourke

Free to Choose - Milton & Rose Friedman

The Constitution of Liberty - FA Hayek

The Grasshopper Trap - Patrick F. McManus

[krott5333]

Economics in One Lesson: http://files.meetup.com/516057/Economics%20in%20One%20Lesson.pdf

Atlas Shrugged: http://files.meetup.com/516057/Atlas_Shrugged.pdf

Federalist Papers: http://files.meetup.com/516057/Federalist%20Papers.pdf

Anti-Federalist Papers: http://files.meetup.com/516057/Anti-Federalists%20Papers.pdf

Freedom Under Seige: http://files.meetup.com/516057/freedomsiege.pdf

The Road to Serfdom: http://files.meetup.com/516057/upld-release93pdf.pdf

The Law: http://files.meetup.com/516057/Bastiat-The_Law.pdf

[shrugged0106]

The Complete political works of Thomas Paine

[smtwngrl]

The Making of America: The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution-W. Cleon Skousen

The Real Thomas Jefferson--National Center For Constitutional Studies

[american.swan]

Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell.

In fact, I might go so far as to say it is one of the most important essays to read when trying to understand modern politics.

http://www.linktv.org/programs/orwell_deceiving Orwell was wrong! :)

[american.swan]

Homeschooling...

"Lies My Teacher Told Me"

[Conza88]

erhmmmm guyss....

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=79751
~~~ Must Read Books ~~~

add to them all here. List been going for quite some time.

[icon124]

Economics in One Lesson: http://files.meetup.com/516057/Economics%20in%20One%20Lesson.pdf

Atlas Shrugged: http://files.meetup.com/516057/Atlas_Shrugged.pdf

Federalist Papers: http://files.meetup.com/516057/Federalist%20Papers.pdf

Anti-Federalist Papers: http://files.meetup.com/516057/Anti-Federalists%20Papers.pdf

Freedom Under Seige: http://files.meetup.com/516057/freedomsiege.pdf

The Road to Serfdom: http://files.meetup.com/516057/upld-release93pdf.pdf

The Law: http://files.meetup.com/516057/Bastiat-The_Law.pdf

wow add 3 more books to the ones I'm currently reading...so thanks to you I'm reading 5 books at once... :)

[Fields]

I was at Borders today and a book on the shelf popped out at me that I had to buy:

Marching Towards Hell by Michael Scheuer

[Agent CSL]

World Changing - A User's Guide for the 21st Century by Alex Steffen, forward by Al Gore

Why am I suggesting this book? It's a big bible, if you will, on the globalist agenda. It's not a 1000 page bore. It's written so well that teenagers can understand it and it has pictures. It's a scary look into what's going to happen in the next century if the globalists give their way. Please see my topic about it to learn more:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=120112

[icon124]

bump

[forsmant]

The Road to Serfdom

Economics in One Lesson

Crash Proof

I just read all of those books!;)

[Bradley in DC]

The Road to Serfdom

Economics in One Lesson

These are excellent foundational books requiring no prior knowledge. See some of the others in my signature, especially Mises' Liberalism (our kind ;)) :)