BOOK REPORTS

Constitution in Exile: By Judge Andrew Napolitano

This book, by a Fox News guy was surprisingly Libertarian. His first book leaned a little Republican, although I must say I enjoyed his attacks on Reno.

This book must be read by all because he gives an excellent explanation of the difference between Legal Positivism and Natural Law. If nailed down, I would say that all laws are agreements between men which sounds positivist, but I believe that agreement must be on laws that do not disturb individual freedom that does no harm to others. Napolitano captures this thought of our founders. (For Libertarians, Jury Rights Day - September 5, reminds us that the jury rules on not only the facts of a case but also the law itself. If clarification is needed visit Fully Informed Jury Association - FIJA.)

My rating would be similar to the ones you can read at Amazon.com. The weakness I saw was, as in his first book, a belief that the government can demand a license for my traveling. (unless he is parsing words like the bad guys) He also seems to have missed the part in history about the founders having conventions so that the Constitution was approved not by the states but by We the People. It was the People who demanded a Bill of Rights be placed in the Constitution.



Size Matters: By Joel Miller

This book brings up all the Republican "ideas" on what is wrong with the U.S. and goes half-way in giving solutions. I will sound here like the Green guy (reviewer at amazon.com) who gave it one star when I say it points at a Social Security "problem" and the Republican solution of retirement savings accounts. Mr. Miller is young and perhaps influenced by his father Dennis Miller, who may be the "funny" guy/football commentator.

In a chapter on licensing and regulation, he writes this very true paragraph:

"By killing competition in a trade, we also remove a crucial incentive to improve quality. Once your job is safe from competitors who would happily filch your customers, it is easier to let stuff slip now and then, take it easy, stop pushing to improve and please, innovate and anticipate new customer demand. Such a lowering of quality is not inevitable, but the possibility goes up the moment competition goes down."

Four pages before that paragraph Mr. Miller ends a paragraph with this nonsense: "Given the highly specialized and technical knowledge needed to perform in some of these trades, licensing seems reasonable, even smart. License physicians? Of course!"

Mr. Miller does us one favor although by accident. He quotes Jefferson from his first inaugural:

"...[W]hat more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens - a wise and frugal government, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities...."

This part: "and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned" means no tax on labor. As income taxes are being raised on labor in cities, counties, and states, we see a transfer from slave labor to giant international corporations. Who pays for tax abatements and incentives to land new business? The workers and small business.

Since I did not see any call for banning homosexual marriages I admit this book could have been worse. Compared to his writing on Lew against the "Drug War" I found this book a let down. It gives a snapshot in time. I have thought about regulating engineers as their calculations have life and death consequences, but now they make less than teachers. (according to Paul Harvey - summer "moonlighting" not included) I give this book two stars out of five for giving Republicans something to hope for. Though we all know Republicans say one thing and do something very different.

My obvious comment: It is time the voters demanded real action. Don't vote for anyone who approved the Patriot Act or Iraq War. Congressional and Presidential candidates must favor Roberts Rules - NO LOG ROLLING! - vote one issue at a time.