What It Means to Be a Libertarian

Rating:
Summary: Convincing Case
Review: This book is a quick gloss over of political topics and the justification of Libertarian principles applied to these topics. This is the book that converted me from a hardcore Republican to moderate Libertarian.

The book addresses several hot topics including:
Education
Health Care
Prostitution
Drug Policy
Environmental Issues

As a follow up to this book, one can read �Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal� (CUI) by Ayn Rand. CUI will provide a moral justification for Capitalism rather than just a pragmatic justification as �What it means to be a Libertarian� does.

Rating:
Summary: excellent discussion of personal political views
Review: This is a really interesting book, written in a non-academic way (no footnotes, Murray declares at the outset) in order to attract general readership, that seeks to define the political meaning of libertarianism so as to bring it our of the political gadfly department of American politics. Murray's essential argument is that much of what government has done over the past century (in the century known as the era of the "welfare state") can be supplanted by returning to a base governmental structure with the strong reinforcing mechanism of values, beliefs, and norms guiding public and private lives and actions. This book is extremely convincing at times and considerably weaker on the debate over race-based politics, where most of the controversy will stem (based on Murray's previous book with Richard Hernnstein, the infamous The Bell Curve). But if you are looking for a general treatise on the role of government in society -- no matter your current political views -- this is an excellent book that is easy and interesting to read.

Rating:
Summary: Misleading title, but has some good points, an easy read.
Review: Though Murray claims only to be a "small 'l' libertarian" and hasn't bought into the complete Libertarian way of thinking, I believe that he either doesn't have a true understanding of what Libertarians believe about government - or just plain neglected to rationalize his reasons for differing from those beliefs.

He deviates far from libertarian thought with his plan for education - the area he believes that the Federal government should play a major role in. I have to wonder if he *really* understands where money comes from when he talks about "government funded" schools. Hasn't he figured out that that's OUR money he wants the government spending - and spending badly?! He also is under the mistaken impression that the Federal government will be handing out this (our) money - yet not having a say in how it is spent.

I would still have bought this book if the price were right, though I was hoping for a book that contained what the title implied. Murray has quite a few Libertarian beliefs, but should not have passed his thoughts off under the title "What it means to be a Libertarian" - even if he does add the disclaimer "A personal interpretation." There is entirely too much of that in politics today.

Rating:
Summary: Good but a Tad Misleading!
Review: When I was a libertarian who didn't realize I was a libertarian (I figured I was just a conservative who was smart), this was the book that gave me my diagnosis - "You might be a libertarian if...". This book does and does not serve that purpose.

Charles Murray, infamous co-author of The Bell Curve, writes with clarity, simplicity and understanding about libertarianism. He gives us a cost/benefit understanding of libertarianism, i.e., how much does the program cost vs. how much benefit (in relation to the program's non-existence) do we derive. The more centralization, the less benefit is generally derived and the more the cost is increased. As I said, clear, simple and insightful.

There's one problem - this is not always known as libertarianism. Murray tells us the libertarian rule of thumb is "The more local control, the bettter." No, that's anti-federalism, which tells us that government that is local is best. Libertarianism, by contrast, tells us that government that is minimal is best. A socialist town could please and anti-federalist but not a libertarian. By contrast, a large country with a small centralized government might do the opposite. I am both an anti-federalist AND a libertarian. Still, when reading Murray's book, beware of the difference as he doesn't explain it.

Despite that flaw, I highly reccomend this book to those who are not sure what libertarianism is, are curious whether they are libertarians themselves, or are new libertarians and want a good read with good clarification. A better read (in addition to or in place of) is "The Libertarian Reader" edited by David Boaz. A collection of essays, the reader accurately conveys the diversity of libertarian thinkers better than this book does.