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Thread: Recommend Political Books You Think Everybody Should Read Here

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    Read "The Wrecking Crew".
    It is the responsibility of every American citizen to own a modern military rifle.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Damocles View Post
    I love "The Art of War"... I've read it twice and reference it. One of the first books I downloaded to my phone's "reader" software.
    I have both books in my personal library and I review them both on a regular basis. To be fair, The art of war is written in the context of Taosim so if you have a copy of it you should have a copy of the Tao Te Ching as well.

    My understanding of the Art of War is part of why I stand for withdrawing from both Iraq and Afghanistan. We have violated so many of the fundamental principles of AoW in both conflicts.

    I actually prefer The Prince in the context of politics. The Art of War is really a treatise on strategy that applies to war, politics, business, sports or any avenue in which one must compete and apply strategy.

    Where as The Prince is specifically a "How to" manual on applied politics.
    Last edited by Mott the Hoople; 07-24-2011 at 05:15 AM.
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    With out a doubt the worst recommendation listed so far. A more accurate title should be "How to be a conservative apologist and rationalize ignorance."

    Levin's absolutism is a perfect example of simple solutions for simple minds. Not only does he factually twist and distort American history and the views of our founding fathers he also equates any dissent from his abysmally narrow conservative views as tyranny. It's purely sophistry for the anti-intellectual conservative. The manner in which Levin cherry picks American historical events which supports his thesis while ignoring about half of our history that inconvienantly contradicts his rather prosaic manifesto, particularly any information that demonstrates conservatisms well known weaknesses, is intellectual dishonesty at it's worst.

    Do your self a favor, even if your a devoted conservative partisan, don't waste your precious time reading this piece of tripe, you'll never get that time back.
    You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mott the Hoople View Post
    With out a doubt the worst recommendation listed so far. A more accurate title should be "How to be a conservative apologist and rationalize ignorance."

    Levin's absolutism is a perfect example of simple solutions for simple minds. Not only does he factually twist and distort American history and the views of our founding fathers he also equates any dissent from his abysmally narrow conservative views as tyranny. It's purely sophistry for the anti-intellectual conservative. The manner in which Levin cherry picks American historical events which supports his thesis while ignoring about half of our history that inconvienantly contradicts his rather prosaic manifesto, particularly any information that demonstrates conservatisms well known weaknesses, is intellectual dishonesty at it's worst.

    Do your self a favor, even if your a devoted conservative partisan, don't waste your precious time reading this piece of tripe, you'll never get that time back.
    I have to agree with this, unfortunately. After listening to his radio show for a couple of weeks, I wanted to tear my hair out in frustration. He got so many things wrong about the constitution that I was amazed he called himself a constitutional expert.
    A sad commentary on we, as a people, and our viewpoint of our freedom can be summed up like this. We have liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, yet those very people look at Constitutionalists as radical and extreme.................so those liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans must believe that the constitution is radical and extreme.

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    Quote Originally Posted by SmarterThanYou View Post
    I have to agree with this, unfortunately. After listening to his radio show for a couple of weeks, I wanted to tear my hair out in frustration. He got so many things wrong about the constitution that I was amazed he called himself a constitutional expert.
    Yea I was really surprised at this suggestion. There are some excellent reads on conservative political philosophy. This is not one of them by a long shot. Anyone who would buy into Levins manifesto has to be profoundly ignorant of American History and the US Constitution.

    Two conservative political books I would recommend are

    The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater, a bit topical and thus a bit dated but a great read non the less.

    The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk. This book does an excellent job of describing the conservative movement. It aslo explains how the current rise of social conservatism has created a disparity with traditional conservative in the Republican party and why traditional conservatives have in large part left the Republican party or feel alienated from it and now identify themselves as Libertarians or blue dog Democrats.
    Last edited by Mott the Hoople; 07-24-2011 at 07:56 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mott the Hoople View Post
    With out a doubt the worst recommendation listed so far. A more accurate title should be "How to be a conservative apologist and rationalize ignorance."

    Levin's absolutism is a perfect example of simple solutions for simple minds. Not only does he factually twist and distort American history and the views of our founding fathers he also equates any dissent from his abysmally narrow conservative views as tyranny. It's purely sophistry for the anti-intellectual conservative. The manner in which Levin cherry picks American historical events which supports his thesis while ignoring about half of our history that inconvienantly contradicts his rather prosaic manifesto, particularly any information that demonstrates conservatisms well known weaknesses, is intellectual dishonesty at it's worst.

    Do your self a favor, even if your a devoted conservative partisan, don't waste your precious time reading this piece of tripe, you'll never get that time back.
    You're too late. I'm too far gone.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mott the Hoople View Post
    I have both books in my personal library and I review them both on a regular basis. To be fair, The art of war is written in the context of Taosim so if you have a copy of it you should have a copy of the Tao Te Ching as well.

    My understanding of the Art of War is part of why I stand for withdrawing from both Iraq and Afghanistan. We have violated so many of the fundamental principles of AoW in both conflicts.

    I actually prefer The Prince in the context of politics. The Art of War is really a treatise on strategy that applies to war, politics, business, sports or any avenue in which one must compete and apply strategy.

    Where as The Prince is specifically a "How to" manual on applied politics.
    Yet you ignore Libya?
    Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
    - -- Aristotle

    Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto.
    - -- The Buddha

    It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
    - -- Aristotle

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    Quote Originally Posted by Damocles View Post
    Yet you ignore Libya?
    To be honest.....I'm not up to speed on the Libyan situation so I have no particular stance other then that I'd like to see Qadafi gone and us not involved.
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    I still get sick that we're not hounding Obama about his, "This will be a matter of days, not weeks"... Yet now it's been months and there is no end or any plan or exit strategy. It's grossly against what he ran on...
    Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
    - -- Aristotle

    Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto.
    - -- The Buddha

    It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
    - -- Aristotle

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    Quote Originally Posted by Damocles View Post
    I still get sick that we're not hounding Obama about his, "This will be a matter of days, not weeks"... Yet now it's been months and there is no end or any plan or exit strategy. It's grossly against what he ran on...
    What's the extent of our involvement? I'm hesitant to debate the topic with you as you pretty much have a history of taking a position that any action by government is wrong. I see this as a logical extension of Libyan policy under both Democratic and Republican administrations. I also see it was another extension of an imperial executive though certainly not to the catastrophic extent of the Bush administration and more like Clinton's involvement in Somalia. Then what about congress dereliction of duty that keeps permitting an imperial executive to get us into these entanglements? Somalia and Libya are bad enough but Iraq and Afghanistan are a stark object lesson about what can happen when a truly incompetent executive at the reigns. Congress needs to do a serious review and revision of the war powers act.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mott the Hoople View Post
    What's the extent of our involvement? I'm hesitant to debate the topic with you as you pretty much have a history of taking a position that any action by government is wrong. I see this as a logical extension of Libyan policy under both Democratic and Republican administrations. I also see it was another extension of an imperial executive though certainly not to the catastrophic extent of the Bush administration and more like Clinton's involvement in Somalia. Then what about congress dereliction of duty that keeps permitting an imperial executive to get us into these entanglements? Somalia and Libya are bad enough but Iraq and Afghanistan are a stark object lesson about what can happen when a truly incompetent executive at the reigns. Congress needs to do a serious review and revision of the war powers act.
    They won't, if they did there would never be anybody taken "seriously" when they said they didn't think he'd actually start the war they declared...
    Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
    - -- Aristotle

    Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto.
    - -- The Buddha

    It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
    - -- Aristotle

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    Quote Originally Posted by Damocles View Post
    They won't, if they did there would never be anybody taken "seriously" when they said they didn't think he'd actually start the war they declared...
    Then we have to call that what it is, moral cowardice. I have deep misgivings about the war powers act for that reason. It gives congress cover and plausable deniability for not doing their constitutional duty.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mott the Hoople View Post
    Then we have to call that what it is, moral cowardice. I have deep misgivings about the war powers act for that reason. It gives congress cover and plausable deniability for not doing their constitutional duty.
    We agree.
    Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
    - -- Aristotle

    Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto.
    - -- The Buddha

    It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
    - -- Aristotle

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    Quote Originally Posted by Damocles View Post
    We agree.
    It alsom permits an Imperial Executive wich I also have deep misgivings about.
    You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic!

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