Customer Reviews
"You say you want a revolution..." - By: B. Chandler, 11 Oct 2008 
Warning this book is the equivalent of waking from "The Matrix" (1999), & seeing the true nature of reality. From the prolog forward to the very end Ron Paul holds nothing back & for those few folk being introduced to this reality & how we have strayed from the constitution, can be a real eye opener.
The message is simple but it is the implantation that can get a bit complex as there are no two sides to this story as those that manufacture politics today.
The real strength of the book is that even though one day the details may be dated that we go beyond theory & point to real situations & existing people instead of just theories & what ifs.
I bought the book; I also bought the CD's as they help enforce the book during my daily commute. We also use them for discussions at work.
This book has many truths that are not just for the radical or inspired & will be a useful reference for your libraryin the years to come.
A few related & complimentary ideas can be found in:
The Constitution of the United States of America, with the Bill of Rights & all of the Amendments; The Declaration of Independence; & the Articles of Confederation by Thomas Jefferson, Second Continental Congress, & Constitutional Convention
For a New Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard
The Capitalist Manifesto by Louis O. Kelso & Mortimer J. Adler
The Constitution of the United States of America, with the Bill of Rights & all of the Amendments; The Declaration of Independence; & the Articles of Confederation
For a New Liberty
The Capitalist Manifesto
Interesting solutions for America's difficulties - By: M. McManus, 15 Jun 2008 
Ron Paul's argument is a simple one. The US is suffering from economic & diplomatic problems because it is ignoring its Constitution & the traditions of its founding fathersin both domestic & international dealings. The US has abandoned its traditional principles of small government, & is instead spending ever more on larger & more intrusive & bureaucratic government departments & schemes. It has also abandoned its non-interventionist foreign policyin favour of pre-emptive war.
Ron Paul is known as a non-consensus politician. He explainsin the book this is not because of a desire to seek attention or be contrary for its own sake. Rather, he charges the Republicans & Democrats as being carbon copies of each other & therefore someone has to break the mould, & that might as well be him.
To solve this Paul suggests two things. Firstly, he argues the foreign policy can be changed quickly, so he proposes an end to the warin Iraq, & a strategic withdrawal of US troops stationedin Cold War bases that are no longer threatened. This would save billions of dollars, & would repair America's diplomatic standingin the world.
He rejects this is isolationism. He has no particular problem with military action overseas, providing the full facts of the threat are debated, & the war is properly declared by Congress, not by Presidential executive order. Indeed, the reader will learn the last time Congress declared war wasin 1941. Every war since was by Presidential decree. Paul believes this smacks of dictatorship.
He concedes that the elaborate social security schemesin America cannot suddenly be stopped overnight because too many people depend on them. So, he argues a phased reductionin their scope, using money saved from troop withdrawals to fund this transitionary phase. Long term, he envisages dramatically scaling back US central government, & returning power & decision making to individual states.
Ron Paul also talks about his belief that the war on drugs is a waste, & makes the case that soft drugs should be de-criminalised. He also argues that Americans should be allowed to use precious metals like gold & silverin financial transfers, as these commodities are more secure than paper currency which can dramatically changein value.
The book is not without its weaknesses. For a British reader, there are many terms & issues he brings up which are not particularly relevant or easy to understand. As a former doctor, he write extensively on plans to reform the US health care system, yet this is so complicated, no one outside the US would properly understand it. His chapter on the Federal Reserve & monetary policy was also rather confusing to anyone not well versedin the jargon of economics.
Allin all, Paul is a rebel figurein American politics, & his book is well worth a read. It is a little inaccurate to describe anythingin this book as revolutionary, but it is certainly thought provoking.
Soundly argued. - By: S Smyth, 14 Jun 2008 The fundamental arguments contained within this book by Ron Paul are sound. Some of the comments with regard to the policies pursued by former administrationin respect of WW1 & WW2, etc., are debate to the extent that a diversity of opinion exists by the likes of A. J. P. Taylor, Hans Herman Hoppe & Erik von Kühnelt-Leddihn, for example. But such writings can be added to the suggested reading list for consideration & discussion, as opposed to being a contradiction of Ron Paul's arguments.
It occurred to me, at least, that a successful & peaceful revolution greatly depends on encouraging the armed forces & bureaucrats with guns to get on side. For without their unquestioning support--as we seein Zimbabwe--the administration will have to resort to reasoned argument to justify & defend their policies. With thatin mind, it is interesting to note that the top contributors to Ron Paul's campaign were armed forces' members,in service, or retired. As Lt.Col. Tim Collins is cited as saying to his troops before entering Iraq (and I paraphrase): 'Remember this, your mum has to queue at the supermarket. So be mindful abut who & why you open fire.'
Hilary Clinton chose to spice up her campaign by claiming that she had to dodge sniper fire, but it is improbable,in the extreme, that she and/or her colleagues will be taking up the sniper's rifle with which to conduct a counter-revolution :-)
Manifesto for a world revolution - By: Jack Maturin, 05 May 2008 As a Republican presidential candidate, Ron Paul is understandably a man concerned primarily with the United States, rather than with England or the rest of Europe. However, the ideas expressedin his book, The Revolution: A Manifesto, can be globally applied given a preliminary understanding of the original American revolution & the later construction of the US constitution. The world is suffering from a surfeit of statism, posits the Good Doctor; we have exploding financial bubbles, endless wars, dissolving currencies, & diminishing civil liberties, racing like the four horsemen of the apocalypse across the entire world. With astonishing clarity, Ron Paul exposes how these inter-linked beasts are related & how they can be tamed via the use of a simple ingredient the United States once used to believe in; freedom. The Republicrats of America must hate him for exposing their carefully spun fallacies behind central banking, foreign policy, fiat currency, & the welfare/warfare state. So, if you want to understand what is going wrongin the world & how it can get fixed then you must read this book, especially if you want to know what America should do to become the beacon of hope it once used to be, rather than the imperial aggressor it has unfortunately become. Personally speaking as a Rothbardian anarcho-capitalist, & a follower of Professor Hans-Hermann Hoppe, I feel that the Good Doctor places a little too much reliance on the ability of any constitution to restrain any government. However, he has written a beautifully crafted piece of work which it is possible to readin one sitting, despite its comprehensive coverage of the entire remit of western world government. The text will also help you understand the basic tenets of Austrian economics, a political philosophy based upon peace, prosperity, & freedom, which may help you remove any scales of state indoctrination from your eyes, if you feel inflicted with the fuzzy feeling that somebody has been hiding the truth from you, for most of your life, about how governments really work. In brief, I believe this book could help save the world as we know it. I hope it does & I hope this review has done it the truly magnificent justice it deserves. Go Ron Paul.
