Lies the Government Told You

By Judge Andrew Napolitano   Copyright 2010

In this book, the author claims that the government lies and betrays the libertarian values promised to the American people in the US Constitution. But readers who hope to find an intelligent indictment of the federal government's infringement on the values of freedom and liberty, are likely to be disappointed. The problem is the author is very selective about which government lies he objects to. And then he tells his own lies to defend his viewpoint. He also tends to dwell on marginal issues, while failing to effectively communicate a broad, positive vision of how a libertarian America should function.

He professes to revere the US Constitution, but then he lies about, or perhaps doesn't understand, one of the most fundamental issues surrounding it. That issue is the "Incorporation Doctrine." Advocates of this "Doctrine" claim the US Constitution guarantees individual citizens specific freedoms and rights. But the fact is, there is no Incorporation Doctrine in the Constitution, other than the 5th amendment's right to procedural due process. The Constitution, as written, only applies to the Federal Government. The Supreme Court invented the Incorporation Doctrine to expand its power. So the Incorporation Doctrine is the government's biggest lie, but you won't find an honest discussion of it in this book. That's because Judge Napolitano needs that lie to support his views.

A true Constitutional-Libertarian-American believes in freedom of association and democratic self-government. That was the beauty of the Constitution as written. It guaranteed the free migration of individual citizens to live in any state they wanted. Each state was suppose to have unique laws, and within each state there were individual counties and cities, that ideally were also to have their own unique laws. This type of arrangement allowed everyone to live in a community with a government which reflected the beliefs they valued the most. 

If someone valued freedom most highly, they could choose to live in a state with libertarian laws. But if someone valued certain social controls, or welfare, or communal ownership of property above freedom, they could choose to live in a state with socialist laws. The only role for the Federal government was to regulate trade between the states and protect people's right to citizenship in any state they choose to live.

However, Judge Napolitano believes the Federal government is suppose to impose libertarian values within every state. He believes in a powerful centralized government ruling over all Americans, rather than a federation of nation states with individual citizens freely submitting themselves to the laws of their own chosen nation states.

He also has a rather odd definition of a "lie." And many of his allegations of government lies, seem to be lies themselves. For example, he claims the government told people that Social Security was suppose to be temporary. Perhaps some politicians made that claim, but generally speaking, government imposed old-age pension systems were always understood to be permanent. He also claims the government lies about the Federal Reserve being controlled by Congress. In fact, the government claims the opposite. The Fed, we are told, is independent to keep the Fed's decisions free from political influence.

In this book, Judge Napolitano supports the usual libertarian ideas of free speech, right to own guns, right to use any drugs you want, strong limits on the powers of government to investigate alleged crimes, protection of private property, the original interpretation of the inter-state commerce clause, and a military for defense of national territory only. However, if someone wants to live in a local jurisdiction that bans guns or drugs or imposes an income tax, Judge Napolitano wants the Federal government to interfere and deny them the right to live in a democracy. (Although, in all fairness, he would support their right to collectively buy private property and live a communal life with those types of rules governing their own private community, but that's not the same thing as a democracy.)

But ultimately, this book is a waste of time. It is a hodge podge of Judge Napolitano's political views presented in a scatterbrained manner. It is over-written and is a poor presentation of libertarian ideas.

And the audio version, which is narrated by Judge Napolitano himself, makes the book even more awful. Listeners get a sense of the author's personality and character from his voice presentation. And in this case, the author is a loud-mouthed blowhard. His obnoxious and self-righteous attitude and his New Jersey accent are all very grating, and listeners will quickly tire of listening to him.

The Roots of Obama's Rage

By Dinesh D'Souza Copyright 2010

According to author Dinesh D'Souza, Barack Obama is angry at America and wants to "right the wrongs" the country has done around the world. D'Souza's thesis is that the roots of Obama's rage is anti-colonialism. According to the anti-colonialists, the European and American colonizers of Africa and Asia caused misery and suffering.

D'Souza supports his thesis by tracing Obama's history using stories from Obama's own autobiographies. Obama's father was African and his step-father was Asian (Indonesian). The both lived troubled lives. Obama's mother was a white American from Kansas who was obsessed with race. She apparently blamed her African and Indonesian husband's problems on colonialism.

One of the stories D'Souza discusses is Obama's claim that as a child he once felt rage when reading a story in Life magazine about a black person in America who lightened their skin color. In reality, no such story ever appeared in Life magazine, or any other similar magazine, but it highlights Obama's obsession with alleged race victimization.

Another story is about Obama's white grandfather once accusing his white grandmother of being racist because she had felt threatened on a bus when a black man was accosting passengers. And it was Obama's white grandfather who introduced him to a black socialist poet who taught Obama that all white people were racist.

There is a story about Obama travelling to Kenya in the 1980's, after his father died, to visit members of the Kenyan side of his family. It is during this trip that D'Souza says Obama decided American and European colonialism was a great evil and that it would be his life mission to seek revenge against the colonizers. But Obama knew a path to power in the US Federal government wouldn't be possible if he ever publicly said his goal was to put America on an equal footing with all countries and cultures of the world. So Obama chose to avoid commenting on the subject or on race issues. He adapted a low key, moderate manner.

This book contains many blunt and politically incorrect statements by D'Souza that are rather amusing. For example, he explains how Obama seems to revere and admire his African father, when in fact the senior Obama was clearly a complete jerk.

Also, D'Souza says he is personally thankful for colonialism. D'Souza is originally from India and he was able to be successful in America because of the culture and language the British colonizers brought to India. He was able to relate to American culture because of it. In fact, D'Souza argues that some former colonized countries are failures because there wasn't enough colonization. He uses the examples of Ethiopia and Liberia in Africa as examples. These two countries were the only ones never colonized on the continent, and the people in them suffer the most among the African people.

There is much truth in D'Souza's thesis. Obama certainly doesn't seem to admire America or its history. The irony is that Obama had a good upbringing and many opportunities, courtesy of traditional American and European culture. Yet he is intent on destroying that same traditional American culture. D'Souza makes a plausible and compelling case that Obama is motivated by a belief that American and European colonialism damaged his father and step-father's countries and lives, and it is his goal to right that wrong by humbling America.

This is an interesting book for anyone who enjoys politics and wants to better understand Barack Obama.