2009, ISBN: 9780199933914

When CNBC reporter Rick Santelli angrily called for a ""tea party"" from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in February 2009, the specific target of his wrath was a new governme… Meer...

When CNBC reporter Rick Santelli angrily called for a ""tea party"" from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in February 2009, the specific target of his wrath was a new government program to help distressed homeowners with crushing mortgages. Yet there was also a more general target:the government''s increasing involvement in the economy following the 2008 financial crash. By spring 2009, the state had extended its reach deep into the nation''s private banking system, assumed control of a significant portion of the auto industry, and passed a stimulus plan of nearly a trilliondollars. Advocates of limited government saw this as disastrous, and Santelli''s impassioned rant captured their reaction perfectly. Santelli was also drawing from an American political tradition with deep roots. Popular hostility toward an overweening state extends back to the nation''s founding, with critics of the state always seeing it as an enemy of liberty. In the mid-twentieth century, this longstanding impulse evolved intoboth a coherent political philosophy and a political movement: libertarianism. Most tend to associate libertarianism with a two central principles. The first is the sanctity of personal freedom, a concept which encompasses everything from reproductive rights to drug legalization to gay rights tobanning military drafts. The second is the superiority of free market capitalism over all other forms of economic systems. For such a system to function effectively, the role of the state in the economy must necessarily be minimal. Yet as Jason Brennan shows in this highly engaging and wide-rangingprimer, libertarianism is far more than this. He covers its history, its philosophical tenets, disputes within the movement, the views of its critics, and its current political fortunes. He also focuses on specific issues like altruism to immigration. Finally, he looks beyond the U. S. and shows howlibertarianism has attracted followers in liberalizing states throughout the world. In the last few years, libertarianism''s popularity has grown at an explosive rate. In a recent CNN poll, 63 percent of Americans agreed that the government is doing too much and that more issues should be left to individuals and businesses. In that same poll, 50 percent said that government shouldnot try to promote traditional values. Ron and Rand Paul''s success and the Republican''s dogmatic opposition toward all forms of government intervention also speak to libertarianism''s increasing influence. For anyone interested in the philosophy and the movement, Libertarianism: What Everyone Needsto Know is the perfect introductory overview. | Libertarianism by Jason Brennan Paperback | Indigo Chapters Books > History > Politics P10103, Jason Brennan<

2013, ISBN: 9780199933914

Historically, Americans have seen libertarians as far outside the mainstream, but with the rise of the Tea Party movement, libertarian principles have risen to the forefront of Republican… Meer...

Historically, Americans have seen libertarians as far outside the mainstream, but with the rise of the Tea Party movement, libertarian principles have risen to the forefront of Republican politics. But libertarianism is more than the philosophy of individual freedom and unfettered markets that Republicans have embraced. Indeed, as Jason Brennan points out, libertarianism is a quite different--and far richer--system of thought than most of us suspect. In this timely new entry in Oxford's acclaimed series What Everyone Needs to Know, Brennan offers a nuanced portrait of libertarianism, proceeding through a series of questions to illuminate the essential elements of libertarianism and the problems the philosophy addresses, including such topics as the Value of Liberty, Human Nature and Ethics, Economic Liberty, Civil Rights, Social Justice and the Poor, Government and Democracy, and Contemporary Politics. Brennan asks the most fundamental and challenging questions: What do Libertarians think liberty is? Do libertarians think everyone should be selfish? Are libertarians just out to protect the interests of big business? What do libertarians think we should do about racial injustice? What would libertarians do about pollution? Are Tea Party activists true libertarians? As he sheds light on libertarian beliefs, Brennan overturns numerous misconceptions. Libertarianism is not about simple-minded paranoia about government, he writes. Rather, it celebrates the ideal of peaceful cooperation among free and equal people. Libertarians believe that the rich always capture political power; they want to minimize the power available to them in order to protect the weak. Brennan argues that libertarians are, in fact, animated by benevolence and a deep concern for the poor. Clear, concise, and incisively written, this volume explains a vitally important philosophy in American history--and a potent force in contemporary politics. Books Jason Brennan|Paperback|Oxford University Press Inc|31/01/2013, Oxford University Press Inc<

2012, ISBN: 9780199933914

Oxford Univ Pr, 2012. Paperback. New. 232 pages. 8.20x0.70x5.50 inches., Oxford Univ Pr, 2012, 6

2013, ISBN: 9780199933914

What Everyone Needs to Know®, Buch, Softcover, [PU: Oxford University Press Inc], Oxford University Press Inc, 2013