A Winning Book For Libertarians

The bottom-line argument for libertarianism is a spiritual argument. Your spirit is free and needs you to be politically free so you can be guided to the fullest expression of life. End of discussion.

Almost as compelling an argument for a libertarian structure of society is the ethical/moral argument: people being forced to comply with the man-made dictates of those in power is, pure and simple - immoral.

But what if you find yourself in a discussion with a leftist who just doesn't care about either fullness of life or moral ethics, someone for whom the end justifies the means, and the end is his or her fantasy of a politically manipulated imagined to be "fair" economic system?

Then you might have to fall back on your arguments based on economics, right?

So it pays for libertarians to learn a few principles of economics. And it might even be beneficial to learn something of the history of economics in order to best refute the faulty premises that have become popular in this all too subjective and far from scientific field of study.

But most economics history books are tedious and boring, right?

Most, but not this one: The Making of Modern Economics by Mark Skousen, which reads like a "stranger than fiction" biography/history of economists and economic thought written by a joy-filled fun-loving author.

Imagine Skousen's smiles behind these impish Chapter titles:
1. It All Started with Adam [Adam Smith he means]
2. The French Connection: Laissez Faire Avance!
3. The Irreverent Malthus Challenges the New Model of Prosperity
4. Tricky Ricardo Takes Economics Down a Dangerous Road
5. Milling Around: John Stuart Mill and the Socialists Search for Utopia
6. Marx Madness Plunges Economics into a New Dark Age

A little about professor Skousen from his web site MSkousen.com: "known as the 'maverick' of economics for his contrarian and optimistic views, his sometimes-outrageous statements and predictions, Mark Skousen is a college professor, prolific author and world-renowned speaker. He’s made his unique sense of market and investment trends known and respected in the financial world. With a Ph.D. in economics and a focus on the principles of free-market capitalism and 'Austrian' economics, Mark Skousen has often gone contrary to the crowd in his investment choices and economic predictions — and has often been proved right."

Although this excellent biography/history by Skousen contains seemingly as many quirky stories and facts about well-known and lesser-known economists as there are random data points in some modern economist's graph of his own confusion, the underlying logic of the study of economics shines through, and the truly foolish thinking of the vast majority of influential economists is artfully exposed.

Whereas a spiritually tuned-in libertarian might use A Course in Miracles to prove the need for political freedom while an emotionally charged libertarian might use Atlas Shrugged, a libertarian who is willing to "mix it up" in the realm of economics might have a ton of fun using The Making of Modern Economics.

To understand the evil psychology of modern "liberal progressives," read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged"

"God's laws will keep your minds at peace, because peace IS His Will, and His laws are established to uphold it. His are the laws of freedom, but yours are the laws of bondage. Since freedom and bondage are irreconcilable, their laws CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD TOGETHER. The laws of God work only for your good, and there ARE no other laws beside His. Everything else is merely lawLESS, and therefore chaotic." -Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles