Campaign for Liberty Member here!

Miscellaneous Newbies
1

Hello everyone! My name is Adam, and I have a liberty problem.[:P] I was told that this was a great place for rehab.[;)]

A little bit about myself: during the 2008 election, I was like any other mindless college student–a big government Obamabot who didn’t know any better. My support for Obama came from the deep hate that I had for George Bush (who could blame me?). Though I did a lot of media watching and reading, I had no idea that I was doing nothing more than living in a Matrix that the establishment wanted me to stay in.

During a trip with my older cousin, my mind began to open up in terms of Obama being a fraud. Still, I never believed (for that that time, of course) that I would ever trust a Republican, or any type of conservative.

After I returned home from my trip, I decided to do some research into the people who were running for president. Just for the heck of it, I decided to do some research into the Republicans. It was because of that curiosity that I came across the name of an individual who would forever change my life: Ron Paul.

At the time, I didn’t who Ron Paul was. I had seen one political ad supporting his name, and had never seen him talk on any of the major political stations. My first thoughts were: “Who the hell is this guy?” I had assumed that he was just another Republican who supported the typical ideals of a Republican. Still, I was curious, so I decided to go on Youtube, and look at some of his videos. I selected a short one–five minutes in length–and had the mindset that I wasn’t going to hear or see anything amazing. I don’t think I couldn’t have been more wrong. By the time the video was done, I was floored. Constitution? Non-intervention? Sound money? At first, I thought the guy was from Mars!!! Long story short, the video was the beginning to the truth for me. A few weeks after I saw the video, I picked up Revolution: A Manifesto. One memorable thing that I remember was sitting in a doctor’s office, and reading the book during Obama’s inauguration.[:P] I thought: “Here’s a nice middle finger to the establishment.”

Since that day, I have become involved in the liberty movement. I am an active member of the Campaign for Liberty, and have become a full-blown Infowarrior. In other words, I am a follower of Alex Jones, and a daily visitor to Infowars.com.

I hope to learn a lot here! I would like to know about some of the books that I can read that help me know more about this great economic system.

-Adam

2

For a New Liberty by Murray Rothbard and if you want a good, easy-to-understand intro to Fractional-Reserve Banking, End the Fed by Ron Paul.

3

“Omnipotent Government” or “Liberalism” by Ludwig von Mises.

4

Economics in One Lesson.

The book: http://store.mises.org/Economics-in-One-Lesson-P33.aspx

Interview series they did right here at the Mises Institute about the book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD28vNVovow (3 hours long, going through all the chapters). Also a nice way to get to know the people.

5

Welcome to the forums. What is your interest? Economics? History? Political theory? Philosophy? Answering this would better help individuals trying to recommend you some reading material.

6

Welcome to the Matrix.

Download these pdf’s and read. Or download the mp3’s and listen. You may need alcohol or another chemical relaxant at some point, or a punching bag.

For A New Liberty

And then read this one first: Planned Chaos

Then this one: Omnipotent Government

And of course, they all can be purchased from the Mises book store at very reasonable prices.

7

My interests are economics, political theory, and history.

8

In that order or just generally speaking?

9

Sigh. So good up until that point.

At any rate I really do believe that For a New Liberty is pretty much unparalleled. You should also pick up the complete works of Friedrich Bastiat (available on this site) and economics in one lesson by Henry Hazlitt. The Mises Audio stuff is also extremely informative.

If you would like some good fiction then pick up Atlas Shrugged.

Hope that you learn as much from this site as I have.

-TLAR

10

Do what I did during Christmas and get:

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt

An Introduction to Economic Reasoning by David Gordon

For a New Liberty by Murray Rothbard

The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve by G. Edward Griffin

11

For economics, since you’re probably just starting out here are some fast reads/listens:

Tom Woods: Monetary Lessons from America’s Past http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91OIBnrjzLU

Irwin Schiff’s “How an Economy Grows and Why it Doesn’t” http://freedom-school.com/money/ (second link from the top)

Lilburne’s “Human Action Comics” http://picasaweb.google.com/Lilburne2

Then onto the books: Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson, Thomas Woods’s Meltdown, and Gene Callahan’s Economics for Real People

Eventually the book to read is Mises’s classic tome Human Action

–

For political theory, check out Anarchism to Minarchism in Ten Easy Steps From Minarchism to Anarchism in Ten Easy Steps: A Guide for Constitutionalists

If you don’t like the natural law arguments, instead of Rothbard’s For a New Liberty, David Friedman covers similar ground in The Machinery of Freedom, but from a consequences-based - rather than objective ethical - perspective.

If you’re not sold on the whole anarcho-capitalism idea, check out John Hasnas’s works on common law, starting with The Obviousness of Anarchy (best article on political theory I’ve ever read). It really amounts to the same, but the argument seems far more realistic.

–

For history, I don’t have enough knowledge to recommend anything. I like Tom Woods a lot, but I’m sure others can give good recommendations.

12

Pretty much this. For something a little more radical, try The Ethics and Economics of Private Property by Hans Hoppe.

13

Nah, that’s all good. It’s just that Jones is unaware that he’s a praxeologist.

Eventually the OP will become aware that the conspiracy element is unnecessary and instead logic and sound arguments are much more helpful in converting others, instead of ‘watch this doco’.

14

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt is an amazing book for beginner Austrians. It is a quick read and I usually refer back to it often, it is like a handbook to prove your points (for me at least). Also, if you are looking for a more detailed and advanced look at Austrain economics, For a New Liberty is a text I have read and it is available via PDF on Mises.org. It is very insightful and does a great job of explaining anarcho capitalism, and how things like the justice system, police, and infrastrucutre can be privatized. Most people are skeptical on those issue and I was also at a point. So yea I suggest those.