|  | Author: Mark R. Levin
Publisher: Threshold Editions
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Rating:  2072 reviews
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Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First Edition, Tenth Printing
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.7 x 1
ISBN: 1416562850
Dewey Decimal Number: 320.520973
EAN: 9781416562856
ASIN: 1416562850
Publication Date: March 24, 2009
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Showing reviews 2061-2065 of 2072
 Instant Classic March 24, 2009
Nova (Virginia)
385 out of 471 found this review helpful
Levin's latest sounds a clarion call to all Americans to embrace our conservative heritage. In clear and concise language, this instant classic shows how "statism" has undermined the foundations established by the Founding Fathaers and why conservatives need to become more active. A must read for anyone who is concerned with the direction of our country.
 Misinterprets USA's founding March 24, 2009
Mary E. Deane
57 out of 847 found this review helpful
Levin wants everyone to believe this country was built to honor God, that it only exists because of God. The founding fathers knew what religion and theocracy wrought on Europe, they deliberately created a country that allowed those to believe in God and those who do not to live in harmony.
This book is not about what makes America great, it is propaganda spoon fed to the far right reactionaries that are seeing their precious dominance of American culture slip away.
This book is red meat, only it is rotten, poorly cooked, poorly seasoned, and poorly researched.
Many of our founders give honor to God. As much as honor was given to God by our founders, they very wisely made sure God was not in the Constitution.
Read the Constitution our founders wrote and ratified. The Constitution does not mention God. God is not in our founding document, God is not THE FOUNDATION of this great country.
Do not misinterpret what you hear, read in books, or are taught about our history, instead read and understand the documents themselves, read the original treatises (Constitution and Bill of Rights) that are sacred to this great country.
Do not misinterpret what is in writing, what is law, with what the founders said about their own participation in the writing of it. The authors of our Constitution were careful to include the language we read today, but they were also very careful to omit language.
God is left out of our Constitution because this country is a country of the laws of man and not a theocracy, it is not a country based on the laws of any religion or subject to any creeds, canons, or divine revelations of a God.
I provide a smidgen of an argument, made from Brooke Allen, in 2005:
"Our Constitution makes no mention whatever of God. The omission was too obvious to have been anything but deliberate, in spite of Alexander Hamilton's flippant responses when asked about it: According to one account, he said that the new nation was not in need of 'foreign aid'; according to another, he simply said 'we forgot.' But as Hamilton's biographer Ron Chernow points out, Hamilton never forgot anything important.
In the eighty-five essays that make up The Federalist, God is mentioned only twice (both times by Madison, who uses the word, as Gore Vidal has remarked, in the 'only Heaven knows' sense). In the Declaration of Independence, He gets two brief nods: a reference to 'the Laws of Nature and Nature's God,' and the famous line about men being 'endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.' More blatant official references to a deity date from long after the founding period: 'In God We Trust' did not appear on our coinage until the Civil War, and 'under God' was introduced into the Pledge of Allegiance during the McCarthy hysteria in 1954.
In 1797 our government concluded a 'Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli, or Barbary,' now known simply as the Treaty of Tripoli. Article 11 of the treaty contains these words:
As the Government of the United States...is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion--as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of Musselmen--and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
This document was endorsed by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and President John Adams. It was then sent to the Senate for ratification; the vote was unanimous. It is worth pointing out that although this was the 339th time a recorded vote had been required by the Senate, it was only the third unanimous vote in the Senate's history. There is no record of debate or dissent. The text of the treaty was printed in full in the Philadelphia Gazette and in two New York papers, but there were no screams of outrage, as one might expect today."
On the Levin subject of Statism, statism is not a liberal concept or solely in the domain of "liberalism".
1. Our founding fathers created a union of states, with a federating republican government that functions as a single state for a variety of reasons, foremost to show a single unitary front to our enemies without. Our founding fathers were statists.
2. Republicans expanded the power of the federated republican state with powers far exceeding any ever implemented before (mostly assumed into the executive branch), thanks to W and Darth. This was done under the auspices of a Republican controlled House, Senate, Supreme Court, and Presidency. Republicans have instituted the most egregious acts of statism in the country's history.
3. Both parties are statist, every American (excepting those willing to commit treason or rebellion) is a statist.
4. The question is what degree of statism is acceptable, correct, whatever.... The basic difference is that liberals recognize that without a strong federated republican state then OFTEN persons acting in the free enterprise act in ways that are detrimental to the citizenry of the United States. Free, unbounded enterprise results in LOVE CANALs, strip mining, child labor, slavery, etc. The battle being waged today is very simple, liberals EXPECT enterprise to be socially responsible, to both be profitable AND to benefit ALL. Socially responsible entrepreneurship is anathema to some capitalists, as evidenced by unbridled greed (cite any number of thousands of examples if you wish) benefiting a few and COSTING the rest of us. Statism that sets boundaries, regulates the enterprise, is necessary and good. Our chosen form of statism is a representative republic, how far and wide the tentacles of the federated republican state reach is for us to decide. Conservatives want the statist tentacles to reach into a woman's womb, there is no example of statism more out-of-control than this. The statist tendencies of the conservatives is more invasive, more dictatorial, and more tyrannical than any of the liberal scenarios dreamed up by Mark Levin.
On the Levin subject of "unalienable rights":
Levin argues that the unalienable rights are God-given, I contend they are entirely man-made, man-enabled, man-defended, and, unfortunately, subject to being man-repealed.
Fact is they are only unalienable if we defend them. The fact is humans have established these rights and we are in constant defense of them in this country. The principle defenders of these rights are liberal-oriented Americans, persons dedicated to defending our civil liberties.
If they were so unalienable, using the Black's Law Dictionary definition and Levin's, why is there so much case law around protection of these rights?
If they are so unalienable, and from God, then why do we need to defend them?
[Section-by-Section Review, per requests]
A. BOOK COVER, ART WORK
"Fascism will come wrapped in a flag and carrying a Bible." ~ Sinclair Lewis, circa 1935
"Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels." ~ William Samuel Johnson, circa 1775
Conservatives used to criticize the hippies and war protesters during the Vietnam War for desecrating the US flag by putting peace signs on it, wearing US Army uniforms with peace signs as insignia, and the like. Traditionalists, those that respect the flag, reject its use as adornment, for marketing/promotion of anything not directly related to the armed forces, and incorrect display, handling, or disposal of our precious symbol of federation (stars), sacrifice (red), loyalty (blue), and liberty (white).
Our fellow American, Mark Levin, wishes to convey a message that only the words contained in this book are those of a "true american", that those that oppose anything in this book oppose what the flag stands for. However, the truth is that the flag stands for all of us, that it can still fly high and proud above a country full of people who think differently, it is the flag of all, not just the flag of the rightwing neocons. What this book cover says to different-minded thinkers is that the threat of tyranny is real, that a person (with the help of a greedy publisher) is willing to sacrifice longheld traditions and beliefs about our flag, and to desecrate it merely for personal profit.
I provide a link to the Boy Scouts of America (http://www.usscouts.org/ceremony/flagret2.asp) for instructions on the correct disposal of this book cover.
1. CHAPTER 1: On Liberty and Tyranny (to be provided, in short order)
Become a Conservative Activist. March 24, 2009
Steven Horvath (N.Y.)
81 out of 98 found this review helpful
We Americans need to have this discussion again. Why we are Americans? Why our Government is designed the way it is? I recommend to buy and read this book. Mark has proved how our principles are the principles that founded and built this country. Because of Mark I no longer cringe when I hear the word activist. The leftist mob in this country has assaulted American principles and uses words such as activist. We must become the new activists, Conservative Activist. As Mark says we are launching our own counter revolution and this book is a great way to educate and engage fellow Americans.
Conservatism defined for the 21st Century March 24, 2009
Mahatma Kane Jeeves (Virginia, USA)
147 out of 179 found this review helpful
In Liberty and Tyranny, a Conservative Manifesto, Mark Levin takes a centuries old subject and reenvigorates it for a new age. With clear, concise and interesting insight, he gives voice to the values that animated America's founders and defines their application and relevance in the age of Obama. It is a seminal work. Anyone who calls themself a conservative and doesn't read this book, isn't worthy of the name.
A "must have" for all conservatives and originalists March 24, 2009
S. F. Randolph (Virginia Beach VA USA)
60 out of 77 found this review helpful
Mark Levin has written a book that needs to sit on any bookshelf next to his earlier "Men in Black". I may not agree with every premise but that just drives me to deepen my own research. To a conservative/libertarian such as myself, I find that Mark defines the framework for those who desire to see beyond the glib words and veneer of current politicians.
Mark... well done!
Showing reviews 2061-2065 of 2072
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