what is serious case review

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(as of Jan 03, 2025 01:39:20 UTC - Details)

A recent poll showed 43% of Americans think more socialism would be a good thing. What do these people not know?

Socialism has killed millions, but it’s now the ideology du jour on American college campuses and among many leftists. Reintroduced by leaders such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the ideology manifests itself in starry-eyed calls for free-spending policies like Medicare-for-all and student loan forgiveness.

In The Case Against Socialism, Rand Paul outlines the history of socialism, from Stalin’s gulags to the current famine in Venezuela. He tackles common misconceptions about the “utopia” of socialist Europe. As it turns out, Scandinavian countries love capitalism as much as Americans, and have, for decades, been cutting back on the things Bernie loves the most.

Socialism’s return is only possible because many Americans have forgotten the true dangers of the twentieth-century’s deadliest ideology. Paul reveals the devastating truth: for every college student sporting a Che Guevara T-shirt, there’s a Venezuelan child dying of starvation. Desperate refugees flee communist Cuba to escape oppressive censorship, rationed food and squalid hospitals, not “free” healthcare. Socialist dictatorships like the People’s Republic of China crush freedom of speech and run massive surveillance states while masquerading as enlightened modern nations. Far from providing economic freedom, socialist governments enslave their citizens. They offer illusory promises of safety and equality while restricting personal liberty, tightening state power, sapping human enterprise and making citizens dependent on the dole.

If socialism takes hold in America, it will imperil the fate of the world’s freest nation, unleashing a plague of oppressive government control. The Case Against Socialism is a timely response to that threat and a call to action against the forces menacing American liberty.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Broadside Books (October 15, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062954865
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062954862
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.17 x 9 inches
Reviewer: Booksguy101
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great book by Rand Paul
Review: Another great book by the great mind of Rand Paul. I wish he was president.

Reviewer: Buyer 1
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good Information for an Informed debate of Socialism vs Capitalism
Review: If you are tired of hearing a constant drone in this election year by certain candidates, and their supporters, about how wonderful socialism is this is a good read to get you up to some basic "facts" often thrown around. It seems there is an element of the population that believe, without much factual evidence, that socialism will cure all world problems and capitalism is the epitome of evil. The book covers basic points about both socialism and capitalism. It looks at examples of socialism in both despotic countries (i.e. Cuba, the old U.S.S.R) as well as the "democratic socialist" countries from Scandinavia touted by some as utopia. I don't agree with every point in the book but found it a good read and had good points for consideration for anyone that isn't so heavily invested in their love for socialism that they have lost all sense of objectivity. I saw a few poor review indicating the book was "badly researched" but they must have stopped before they noticed 30 pages of notes in the back that show the author's views are based on documented evidence vs his personal opinion. It is pretty well researched even if those folks don't like the conclusions the author came to. Read the book, evaluate the arguments, and decide for yourself.

Reviewer: jellymoon
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A trenchant and rigorous intro to the Libertarian perspective.
Review: Polarization is the name of the game in politics. But sometimes it gets bad enough that folks like me who despise electoral politics get interested in finding a way through it and reaching some sensible, philosophically, economically and mythologically relevant ground. This book talks a lot about history. And how egalitarian ideals in practice are hopelessly flawed. i agree with Rand's implication that people, young or old, make the mistake of confusing their ideology of so-called "fairness" with what amounts to the doomed welfare State. Kids want everything right now but that's merely how kids are, they come around, as Rand points out, when they have to get out of their parent's basement and earn a living. Some folks don't want to work, don't want to earn and don't want to compete. Unless it's the athletic field. Well, too bad. In other words, the ideology of getting something for nothing always proves a fantasy and impoverishes and eventually, in the worst cases, tyrannizes the polis. State ownership of the means of production results, historically, inevitably, in State tyranny because people are people with inarguable and legitimate self interests. Paul's discussion of the economic facts versus partisan-based distortion seem necessary as hell right now, especially as we witness the weaponizing and politicizing of an otherwise irrelevant and low-risk epidemiological side story. These Libertarian insights are a breath of fresh air.

Reviewer: T. Aquinas
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent critique of Socialism
Review: This book by Senator Paul clearly explains why Socialism is so disastrous; and it does so in a way which is easy to understand. Highly recommended!

Reviewer: Thomas Tansey
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: ENLIGHTENING ALBEIT WTH AN ASTERICK
Review: Rand Paul makes a compelling case against socialism in general. He cites Venezuela as an example of a socialist failed state. Despite its enormous oil reserves, that country, under Maduro abd Chavez before him, have turned the once prosperous nation into a disaster for its citizens. Its people are starving. For instance, he notes a 16 year old girl leader of a gang that fights other gangs for the opportunity to sift through garbage piles. And young men hunt dogs and cats in the street and pigeons in the plazas for food. The population as a whole has lost an average of 20 pounds of body weight. Venezuelans are fleeing to Colombia to survive.Cuba is cited as another impoverished socialist country and with strong government controls over goods, services, and paychecks. A tough country to live in despite government controlled health care.Rand disputes that the Scandinavian countries are socialist utopias. He asserts that they're not even socialist, at least not in recent decades. They are capitalist nations and with private ownership of land and of businesses, including factories. By strict definition, a socialist nation is one where the central government owns the means of production. A poignant example is Venezuela, where the government nationalized industries, including the oil industry. But Rand seems to extend that definition to privately owned land and industries that the government doesn't own but highly regulated. By that standard, all governments are socialistic, at least to some extent, in my opinion. After all, you could say that the government of New York City is socialistic as to landlords, given the rent controls, zoning ordinances, and laws that the landlords are subject to. So Rand and I part company on the definition of socialism.But Scandinavian countries do indeed provide free college and free or at least very cheap medical care. To that extent they're socialistic. But more accurately they're welfare states will very high taxes. Earn over $60,000 or so depending on the country and you're marginal tax rate is about 60 percent. I sure wouldn't want to live there.The author argues that socialism always involves violence for enforcement. He cites Nazi Germany and Russia as examples. I question his assertion on this. He also notes the totalitarian control, backed by force, of China, with its social credit scores and surveillance of its citizens. Though China is capitalistic economically, it's politically communistic.Rand strikes me as a climate change denier, though he states the issue is not decided one way or the other and is open to debate. Okay, but then he tries to make a case that global warning isn't caused by man made greenhouse gasses, like carbon dioxide. He cites the three Milankovitch cycles as being mainly involved with recent warming. Those cycles involves the shape of the Earth's orbit around the dun, the rotational precession of the Earth on its axis, and the alternating degree of tilt of the Earth from its rotation axis. But he doesn't mention that these cycles are tens of thousands of years long, from 26,000 to almost 100,000 years. And the operate at random to one another. Furthermore, global warming is happening in a much shorter time period, like over a century. It's characterized in part by sea level rises and the melting of glaciers and ice caps. The fabled Northwest Passage so sought after by European explorers of bygone centuries is now starting to develop. Eventually it'll exist year round. And this has nothing to do with Milankoviych cycles. Hello, Rand Paul.Anyway, the book is well worth reading albeit _it the caveats I've mentioned

Reviewer: Emily Whitaker
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent Condition
Review: Book looks brand new. No wear and tear on pages and even front cover barely has any blemishes on the edges. Great purchase.

Reviewer: Debra F Urquhart
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Love 💕 this book. I learned a lot. Easy reading and really makes you think about the harmful effects of socialism. They should use this in all schools to teach the young kids.

Reviewer: Marga Markiewicz
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The wealth of information in this well written book is a true eye-opener for anyone who's had only a summary high school education in history. 'The Case Against Socialism' is well stated and I highly recommend everyone to read it.

Reviewer: Peter Neaum
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This an extremely well written book, a pleasure to read. It is well sourced and argues its case effectively.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Should be required reading in all high scool and Universities

Reviewer: Harvey Burkholder
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Very good; more like this is needed.