The Revolution - A Manifesto
Ron Paul

Republican conservative Ron Paul stirred the political arena when he candidated for presidency during the 2008 U.S. election. His stance on a variety of issues differ radically from the platform of his party members: bring the troops immediately back home from Iraq and elsewhere in the world, abolish the Federal Reserve, reinstate the Constitution, cut down on taxes and social welfare, dethrone the corporate tyrants, and let the free market replace government-controlled economics. During his candidacy, despite the conservative message and the unbelievable resistance met in the public media and from his party members, Ron Paul managed to attract a large audience of loyal followers among all political groups, and scored records in fundraising against wealthy opponents. "The Revolution - A Manifesto" is his political legacy and official manifesto to the world.

Paul begins by describing the recent elections in America as a charade, attacking its two-party system and the illusion of political choices presented to the American people. This clearly separates him from both parties and thus he takes the stance of an independent that is trying to reform the system from within. His goal is evident: to reinstate the Constitution through political and economical libertarianism. Paul moves on to define his political stance on foreign policy, where he distances himself from the kind of corporate globalism that has defined modern American politics since it left the Constitutional advices of not engaging in interventionism. Paul's conservative stance appears especially radical today, when America has the vision of maintaining a worldwide empire. Paul attacks the world police ideal and wants to cease all interventionism, especially in troubled areas such as Iraq, and open up diplomatic relationships with countries like Iran. In doing this, he hopes America will improve its international reputation and avoid plunging itself into another world war while withering away in debt.

The platform for all of Paul's basic values stems from the Constitution and its policies critical of governmental interference with State laws and individual liberty. He defends a typical libertarian stance, but rooted in the tradition of Constitutional rights and freedoms, which marks a difference from the modern liberal movement. Ron Paul believes in the creativity, independence and freedom of the individual, and attempts to fuse this worldview with a radical conservative perspective on main governmental problems to reduce the bureaucracy, credit booms, foreign wars and Orwellian methods of central governmental and corporate powers. By doing this he circumvents both the Democratic and Republican paradigms, while working to restore what he believes is the traditional platform of the Republican party: less government, no intervention.

Paul spends a great deal of the book clarifying his stance on economic issues, especially how the Federal Reserve system works, basic economic and personal freedom, and the vision of a free market, unregulated by the governmental body. His philosophy is also here a libertarian common-sense approach: by strengthening civil society and private alternatives to the main governmental institutions for education, welfare and environmental policies, Paul hopes to both secure personal freedom and lower taxes and spending to improve the economy. He explicitly deals with the banking system of America and describes the way in which the Fed deliberately inflates the value of the dollar, proposing America to return to the gold standard. His finale summarizes a philosophy and national "revolution" that seriously challenges the status quo of the political and economical elite in America, seeking to end the parasitic mechanisms in society by removing the system policies that allow them to prosper and gain dominance over the lives of ordinary working and middle class people.

"The Revolution - A Manifesto" is a strike right in the heart of the modern globalist politics, and a brave defence of a stable, local, free life for healthy middle class people in America. Despite giving up the presidency this year, Ron Paul clearly demonstrates that he is not going to back down anytime soon for the system he seeks to change. His platform policies can therefore rightfully be called a "revolution," in the sense that this is a true, honest attempt in trying to reform the complete fabric of a society, but doing so without any bloodshed or alienation from the general public. Ron Paul, through his intellectual honesty and intelligent message, has managed to distil the traditional Constitutional past of America into a modern libertarian uproar, and his ideas are gradually spreading out asymmetrically to third positionist candidates who realize his character and greatness. And so, despite the pressure from global super powers and the illusions of the democratic elections, one man signifies hope, courage and intelligence in an age where these things are lost as social values. An inspirational, clear sighted read for anyone remotely interested in the past, present and future of American politics.

The Revolution - A Manifesto, by Ron Paul