The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America - Hardcover

Gillespie, Nick; Welch, Matt

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1586489380 ISBN 13: 9781586489380

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2011

Synopsis

Everywhere in America, the forces of digitization, innovation, and personalization are expanding our options and bettering the way we live. Everywhere, that is, except in our politics. There we are held hostage to an eighteenth century system, dominated by two political parties whose ever-more-polarized rhetorical positions mask a mutual interest in maintaining a stranglehold on power.

The Declaration of Independents is a compelling and extremely entertaining manifesto on behalf of a system better suited to the future--one structured by the essential libertarian principles of free minds and free markets. Gillespie and Welch profile libertarian innovators, identify the villains propping up the ancien regime, and take aim at do-something government policies that hurt most of those they claim to protect. Their vision will resonate with a wide swath of frustrated citizens and young voters, born after the Cold War's end, to whom old tribal allegiances, prejudices, and hang-ups about everything from hearing a foreign language on the street to gay marriage to drug use simply do not make sense.

About this title

About the Author:

Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch are the editors, respectively, of Reason.tv and Reason magazine. Gillespie writes often for the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and is a regular guest on Fox News. Welch, author of McCain: The Myth of a Maverick, is a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times (where he used to work), the New York Post, Bloggingheads.tv, and talk radio around the country.

Review:

Marginal Revolution, May 20, 2011
“This is the up-to-date statement of libertarianism.  Not warmed-over right-wing politics, but real, true-blooded libertarianism in the sense of loving liberty and wanting to find a new path toward human flourishing."

Washington Examiner, June 26, 2011
“An important book and lively read.”

Forbes.com, July 4, 2011
“A fun and ultimately positive look at how anti-authoritarianism, entrepreneurship and independence have led to one revolution after another in the way we think about the world, the products we buy, and the jobs we end up getting (or creating for ourselves).... It’s a good book, a well-written, easily accessible manifesto on how libertarian ideas and anti-authoritarianism can help change the world, and how they will one way or another, whether we like it or not. Just as importantly, the book is uplifting, optimistic and full of energy.”

RealClearPolitics, July 5, 2011
"The Declaration of Independents is a refreshing political book in that it kind of, well, hates politics, and it's worth reading on this issue alone.... An important read with solid insight into today's political mess.... Gillespie and Welch are full of optimism for the future.”

Kirkus, May 5, 2011
"An enthusiastic, entertaining libertarian critique of American politics, brimming with derision for the status quo and optimism for the future and confident of the right direction.”

About this edition

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1586489380
• ISBN 13: 9781586489380
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 264