Tagged: politics
The Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, 5/5
In these 85 essays, originally published in 1787-88 by New York newspapers, three Founding Fathers use the pseudonym “Publius” to argue passionately for the ratification of the newly-proposed Constitution of the United States. Blow by blow, the authors address and dismantle the most popular criticisms of the day, occasionally stooping to empty rhetoric and snide remarks, but more often establishing logical and convincing rebuttals, based on common sense, the events of history, the practices of other nations, and a clear-eyed appraisal of human nature (recognizing both its positive and negative tendencies). It was a strange and refreshing experience to encounter in-depth and nuanced arguments, presented with respect for the everyday reader’s intelligence and belief in their sincere desire to form an educated and fair-minded opinion. Almost two hundred and forty years later, it is easy to be cynical and pessimistic about the future of our country, but it is no exaggeration to say that reading this book, in combination with the actual Constitution, re-kindled my love, pride and admiration for the grand experiment that is the United States of America.
Why I read it: A free copy showed up in my mailbox, completely unsolicited. Unfortunately, I peeled the mailing label off to read the back cover and now can’t recall what organization sent it.
A Modest Proposal and Other Satires
A Modest Proposal and Other Satires by Jonathan Swift, 4/5
Swift combines wit, humour and venom in this collection of satires that attack everything from organized religion to politicians and fellow writers. The 18th-century language and references to now-obscure people and issues do not hinder this book’s continued relevance and, in my opinion, even enhance the timelessness of Swift’s observations–one of my favourite parts of reading very old literature is realizing how little people’s basic natures change with the passage of time.
Why I read it: One of Dad’s coworkers cited “A Modest Proposal” as his all-time favourite piece of literature, which made me curious to read it. Also, I’ve been meaning to read Gulliver’s Travels for quite a while and I thought it was in this collection (which it wasn’t).
I made a couple picture quotes for this book:
Democracy–The God That Failed
Democracy–The God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order by Hans-Hermann Hoppe, 2/5
This series of essays starts out strong, with the author daring to question the hallowed concept of democracy and finding it severely lacking in several easily demonstrable ways. However, common sense and strong opinions can only take you so far when it comes to formulating complicated theories of politics and economics. As Hoppe’s ideas became more and more bizarre, I became increasingly angered by his failure to provide convincing supporting arguments or hard data of any kind. I couldn’t figure out why an obviously intelligent academic would present his opinions so insultingly, through shallow reasoning, cheap rhetoric and gross oversimplification. After quite a lot of teeth gnashing, I finally realised the problem was identified right in the first sentence of the book’s introduction: the essays were originally speeches written for Libertarian conferences. The whole point was to fire up sympathetic audiences, not necessarily to convince anyone of anything. I wish I’d known this ahead of time, because maybe then I’d have been spared the prospect of Hoppe’s horrifying “solution” to the problem of democracy: an “anarchic” private law society, overseen by military-grade private insurance corporations.
[Why I read it: it came up in conversation with my brother.]
OmniRambles 