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5.0 out of 5 stars
Political philosophy meets Sci-Fi, Dec 20 2003
F. Paul Wilson is my favorite author (and Repairman Jack is my favorite fictional character) so I have made it a point of late to seek out older, out-of-print works by Dr. Wilson to read between his new releases. I was fortunate enough to find a used copy of this book through Amazon and have thoroughly enjoyed the read. For those of you familiar only with Paul's current works, this book answers the question of how things might be if humankind abandoned its socialist/statist tendencies and embraced a philosophy of true freedom. This is Peter LaNague's lifelong goal. It is also the kind of world in which Repairman Jack (and I, for that matter) would prefer to live. Imagine a time when the planets of "occupied space" are loosely confederated according to their common economic and security interests, but without the central control and coercion we have in today's world (in every country, to a greater or lesser degree). Government (such as it is) takes no more than 5% of income, and in return does only that which it should do, which is very, very little. Free trade and market forces determine outcomes (as should be the case) rather than government policies. There is no legislature, because people should not be making rules for each other. Citizens are bound by a social contract among themselves. The LaNague Chronicles is must reading for political scientists, politicians (not that they would change their evil ways), and all of us working stiffs who keep the world turning despite well-meaning (?) meddling by the powers that be. If you believe in true Freedom, you will find yourself at the end of this book wishing that you could step into F. Paul Wilson's future world. By the way, this book is also top-notch science fiction. It contains the best explanation I have read in fiction of why time travel is not possible without corresponding space travel. After all, everything in the universe is constantly moving. If I went forward or back in time even one nanosecond, I would not still be sitting at this keyboard. I can't believe that I didn't think of that until reading Paul's explanation. Duh! One final note: I am not an anarchist. Still, if Jefferson and Madison were alive today and saw what their heirs had done to the great experiment in limited government they began, they would wonder why they bothered. If they had known what indignities would be imposed upon Americans under the Constitution they wrote, they would have walked out of the Constitutional Convention. If you think you live in a free country, read this book.
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