Book Review: Selected Salvos from the Loose Cannon Libertarian
Selected Salvos from the Loose Cannon Libertarian is a collection of political, social and cultural articles written by fellow Libertarian Examiner Garry Reed.
Mr. Reed begins with an article about a lesson taught by a comic strip about Scrooge McDuck which shows how free markets reward productivity and punish corruption, as well as offers an explanation for why currency debasement is not helping to fix the economy. In the next article, Reed presents a solid case for how government is the cause of most of the chaos present in daily life, rather than the barrier keeping disorder at bay, as is the common delusion.
Next, Mr. Reed explores some hypothetical future news stories which have yet to happen. While the stories are plausible, they lower the credibility level of the book and feel out of place.
The following article considers the faith-based initiative during the Bush administration and the media’s reaction to it. Predictably, they focused on the matter of separation of church and state but ignored the replacement of charity with the distribution of stolen goods through government welfare programs, an injustice perpetrated by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Next, there is a foray into the subject of jury nullification. While a good article, it is somewhat incomplete from a historical perspective, failing to mention the Supreme Court decision Sparf v. U.S. (1895), which led to the current lack of information given to juries about the option, as well as Bushell’s Case (1670), in which the practice of jury nullification was firmly established in English (and hence American) law.
Another article concerns the failure of government-run public transportation, as well as how a free market in such services is more efficient, but it reads more like a petition than a logical case against government services.
The next article purports to explain libertarianism to the uninitiated, but really only succeeds at explaining what libertarianism is not. A philosophical approach to libertarianism must be found elsewhere, and Mr. Reed even admits as much, begging the question of why it is included in the book.
Several articles following concern a libertarian, non-interventionist (but not isolationist) approach to foreign policy, and how failing to follow such policies has incited hatred and violence against Americans. Mr. Reed recommends a few measures that are not purely libertarian, such as maintaining a state-run military and offering rewards (presumably tax-funded) to intelligence-bearing defectors from other nations, he does deliver a mostly sound criticism of current foreign policy, and even manages to sound a bit like Harry Browne at times. He also explores the civil liberties issues of the PATRIOT Act in standard libertarian form.
Mr. Reed then turns his attention to the judicial branch, and some of the reasons why it has failed to protect Americans from the overreaches of the legislative and executive branches. Toward the end of this section, he recommends the correct solution: make the state irrelevant by disobeying and nullifying its laws.
Next up is a humorous piece with a multitude of pork references concerning multiple manners of government interference in the affairs of peaceful people. While a good read, it feels out of step with much of the rest of the book.
Mr. Reed finishes with criticisms of the War on Drugs, adeptly pointing out the logical fallacies of government anti-drug ads, as well as the truth about where drug cartels and terrorists get much of the money they need to cause havoc (spoiler alert: it is stolen from American taxpayers and handed over by the US government).
Overall, the book has high points but is lacking in details and depth, and Mr. Reed’s self-deprecating sense of humor in some places can become tiresome. This could be a possible starting point for those interested in libertarianism, but better introductions can be found elsewhere.
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