The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/28/09 Section: Variety

Media Credit: Courtesy Amazon.com "Liberty and Tyranny" shines light on infuriating government practices. [Click to enlarge]

Have you wondered recently how many cars the government could buy for the $13.6 billion it has given to General Motors so far? Have you wondered where that money came from in the first place? According to Mark Levin, it's yours.

In his new book, "Liberty and Tyranny," Levin shines light on some of the most infuriating practices of the federal government and advocates a systematic downsizing to solve the problems he outlines.

If you think you're apathetic to government policy, this book will change your opinion one way or another.

"Liberty and Tyranny," which came out in March, discusses the financial crisis and the opening weeks of Obama's presidency as well as problems that have existed since FDR was in office.

Levin tackles assaults on the free market, immigration, national self-preservation and misinterpretations of the Constitution and other issues in 10 chapters of hair-pulling, quotable outrages.

"Liberty and Tyranny" is almost impossible to put down, but almost impossible to keep reading at the same time.

Every paragraph eloquently identifies a problem with the government, explains how it works and how it affects every American citizen.



It begins to make you feel you're being robbed. I've never felt so righteously angry while reading a book in my life.

For example, at one point Levin quotes the president of a research company who has tallied up the cost of TARP, or the Troubled Asset Relief Program, that the government has initiated in order to keep financial institutions such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from going bankrupt.

The government, he says, "is poised to lend over $7 trillion to financial institutions."

Most people in the United States don't have a clue how much money that is, even relatively. They hear that number, and it just falls into the ambiguous "a lot" category, without much impact. Levin provides some context.

According to Levin, $7 trillion is a little less than double the cost of World War II. It's more than the cost of World War II, the Korean War, The New Deal, the invasion of Iraq, the Vietnam War and NASA, all put together and adjusted for inflation.

And it's all our money they're spending.

I acknowledge that I don't identify with either political party; I'm more of a libertarian than anything else. For me that means I hate the idea of the government taking my money because it thinks it can do a better job with it than I can.

Although the back of the book pins Levin as going to war with the Democratic Party in blustering Hannity-speak, the author manages to avoid such open partisan attacks.

Levin comes across as a wise man who has done a lot of research and is appealing to the reader's righteous indignation. It sounds like good sense.

Of course, I don't see how the government can take my money and give it to GM, a company that I wouldn't support, but that's my bias talking.

- Nathan Powell is a senior from Lawrenceville majoring in English and publication management

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