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Andrew P. Napolitano
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It Is Dangerous to Be Right When the Government Is: The Case for Personal Freedom Hardcover – Oct. 18 2011

by Andrew Napolitano (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 165 ratings
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DOES THE GOVERNMENT EXIST TO SERVE US OR TO MASTER US?

If the government exists to serve us, and if freedom is part of our humanity, how can the government take freedom from us?  Is human freedom in America a myth, or is it reality?  The United States of America was born out of a bloody revolt against tyranny.  Yet almost from its inception, the government here has suppressed liberty.  Within the pages of It Is Dangerous To Be Right When The Government Is Wrong, New York Times best-selling author Judge Andrew P. Napolitano lays out the case that the U.S. government, whose first obligation is to protect and preserve individual freedoms, actually does neither.

The judge offers eye-opening, sometimes frightening examples of how, time and again, the human liberties we are guaranteed in the Constitution are vanishing before our eyes.  He asks: where does freedom come from?  How can government in America exercise power that the people have not given to it? What forces have collaborated to destroy personal freedom? This back-to-basics on freedom addresses hard questions:

  • What is a Constitution, and do we still have one?
  • What are the limits to government power in a free society?
  • Why does the government attack, rather than defend, our rights?
  • If our rights are inalienable, how can the government take them away?
  • Do we really own any private property?
America is at a fundamental crossroads.  There are stirrings in the land and a cry that enough is enough.  The stories within these pages are told to help reawaken the natural human thirst for freedom-to point out government interference with natural order and the disastrous consequences that follow.


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  1. Print length
    320 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Thomas Nelson
  4. Publication date
    Oct. 18 2011
  5. Dimensions
    15.24 x 3.05 x 23.11 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1595553509
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1595553508
  8. See all details
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Product description

About the Author

Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is Fox News Channel's senior judicial analyst, currently seen by millions of viewers weeknights on The Big Story and The O'Reilly Factor. Napolitano is the youngest person in New Jersey history to receive a lifetime judgeship. He is bright (graduate of Princeton and Notre Dame Law School), articulate (four times voted most outstanding professor at the two law schools at which he taught), and broadcast-experienced (as a daily fixture on Fox News Channel since 1998). He is the author of Constitutional Chaos and The Constitution In Exile.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas Nelson (Oct. 18 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1595553509
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1595553508
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 472 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 3.05 x 23.11 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 165 ratings

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Andrew P. Napolitano

Andrew P. Napolitano

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
165 global ratings

Top reviews from Canada

michel morin
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book regarding how many constitutional laws are either broken ...
Reviewed in Canada on June 13, 2016
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This is a great book regarding how many constitutional laws are either broken or
never followed. I found it very interesting from such a deep insight author!
It keeps are eyes open!
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Top reviews from other countries

AJP
5.0 out of 5 stars The Danger Grows
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2011
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Former judge, Andrew Napolitano, is the Senior Judicial Analyst for Fox News, but don't let that stop you from reading his new book. If you don't know him and only go by the fact that he works for Fox, you'd miss the fact that he strongly spoke out against George W. Bush just as he speaks out against President Obama. He speaks out against both administrations (and others) in this book.

You see, one of Andrew Napolitano's premises is that both parties are for big government and for suppressing Natural Rights in the name of safety and the good of the people.

This book is a legal, moral, and philosophical critique of the erosion of liberties in the United States. Napolitano starts out defining such terms as Natural Law and Positivism--which to some people might sound like a yawner, but Napolitano (for the most part) writes with clarity and wit.

Each chapter takes on a Natural Right that the people have, but has been eroded, taken away, and (for some) thoroughly crushed. He goes through the likely candidates like Freedom of Speech and the Right to Bear Arms. He also touches on a topic that I wish more people would acknowledge: the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Since petitioning the government is not a topic I stumble upon very often, this chapter was the most educational. In fact, the entire book contains a great amount of information and knowledge that would be difficult to come by in the classroom or mainstream media.

I also appreciated the chapter on sound money. Of course, this is a topic brought to the forefront by Presidential Candidate Ron Paul, but the term "sound money" is given lip service by the other candidates as well; I wonder if they even know what "sound money" is. If not, they should read Napolitano's book.

A couple nit-picks: (1) Chapter 11 starts out with an overly-convoluted hypothetical that could've been edited for clarity and (2) in the chapter on war, Napolitano uses the example of "neither a submarine in the sea nor bullet in a soldier's gun produces wealth", which is true, but those things could protect the freedoms of people who do produce wealth. I think a better and more consistent example (of his argument in the chapter) would have been of a detonated bomb, which destroys materials, wealth, and lives.

Whether you agree with him or not, Napolitano's new book is a well-written and enlightening treatise on the loss of liberty and why it's important to fight and take back our Natural Rights.

5 out of 5 stars for liberty-minded folks

4 out of 5 stars for those people in another camp

AJP
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Neil Lucock
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2012
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Andrew P. Napolitano believes that government actions infringe on our rights, that the government is wrong and dangerous to liberty and property. He shows how Paine, Madison and Jefferson's intentions in shaping the US constitution to prevent despotism have been undermined by the actions of politicians over the last 200 years. His thesis is that we have natural, self-evident rights and any law that goes against these natural rights is invalid. You have a duty to disobey any law that infringes your rights; where would we be without Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King breaking the unjust laws and making a stand? Although this book is concerned with the American government and gives many examples of US government misdeeds, the lessons are valid in all western political systems. He has strong opinions about what is right and wrong and backs them up with well constructed reasoning. He's a judge and he's well-informed about the law and what it is supposed to say. I'd classify him as a libertarian, possibly an anarchist. Although he says what is wrong with government (they interfere in our lives and threaten us with punishment if we don't do what they say) he does not what we ought to do (apart from stop government taking our money and wasting it on worthless initiatives). He says that being forced by the government to wear seat belts in cars is wrong, as are government regulations on food additives and prohibitions on drug taking. Government is supposed to defend our liberties, he argues, not remove them. You may not agree with what he says, but you find yourself accepting his points as logically valid and trying to think of something that would refute them. It's a really interesting book, one you'll remember reading and you'll use the arguments yourself on other people. It's a while since I've found a book that made me think so much about what was being said. If the US government has any sense, they'll lock him away.
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Joseph J. Truncale
5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting and very informative book on how our government keeps taking your basic constitutional rights away.
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2013
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If you read Judge Napolitano's book "A Nation of Sheep" and liked it, you will love this volume. In this book the judge goes into the subject of constitutional rights much more deeply than he did in his previous books. The 283 page text begins with the author's note in which he asks, Is freedom a myth or reality? Many people pass over the introduction section of a book, which I think is a mistake. This one asks, Where do our rights come from? This sets the stage for the next 15 chapters, which deal with the following rights:

Jefferson's Masterpiece: The Declaration of Independence, The right to own property, The freedom of speech, The freedom Association, The freedom to travel, The right to privacy, Hands off: You own your body, The right to self-defense, The right to petition the government for redress, The right to enjoy peace, The right to fairness from the government, The right to sound money, The right to spend your own money, The right to be governed by laws and moral limits, and the right to reject the state.

If you are an American who believes we should adhere to the founder's belief that the constitution and bill of rights should not be trampled on by power hungry dictatorial politicians, whether they be Democrats, Republicans, socialists, progressives, liberals, or conservatives than you may want to check out this excellent book. I do not agree 100% with Judge Napolitano on all these topics, but I like him because he is a strict constitutional lawyer and not a corrupt power hungry politician. The founders did not trust a tyrannical government to do the right thing and that is why they wrote the constitution and the bill of rights. Sadly, most Americans fail to grasp the genius of our founder's when they created a document to live by, not just in their time, but in our present time as well.

Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Never Trust a Politician: A critical review of politics and politicians).
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Patrick C. Powers
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative and thoughtful; read with care.
Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2011
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I recommend this book for anyone interested in freedom and how it found.

When I say incomplete,I mean it needs a study guide or question and answer section at the end of each section to help the reader consider the proposals in each section. While many Americans might oppose failing to prohibit prostitution by law, St. Augustine, in his City God agrees with the Libertarian view. I personally agree with the Judge on legalizing drugs and severely limiting the areas of law where government can restrict gun ownership. I'm not a Truther, but I sincerely doubt that 9/11 would have played out as it did if there had been even one armed passenger...nobody brings box-cutters to a gun fight, so to speak. Indirectly, the failure to correctly interpret and protect the 2nd amendment has led us into 2 wars and the abuses of the Patriot Act at home.

Now let's consider the Judge's proposition that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is a restriction of our freedom to use our bodies as we feel best for our Happiness. As I understand it, the Act merely defines that marriage restricts the contract to that of a man and a woman (there is a lot in both natural law and Genesis to recommend such a definition). Take the case of King Henry VIII, who has two annulments, along with a number of beheadings, to achieve his marital happiness. The first annulment, to Katherine of Aragon to cement relations between England and Spain, was justified by incapacity to contract. . .Henry was only 10 years old at the time. The second annulment was justified by failure of consideration. Henry and Ann never consummated the marriage via the conjugal act. I am curious exactly how two people of the same sex can naturally perform the requisite conjugal act as consideration. I leave the reader to his own imagination as to what would constitute sufficient natural law "consideration" or capacity in the marriage contract. Perhaps a bit more discussion or definition of human anthropology would have been enlightening, esp., man's Creator and man's dignity as a co-Creator might clear up or remove some of the reservations that many in religion and even secular humanism have concerning Libertarianism.

Happily, no joyfully, the Judge declares a strong bond with "our posterity" or generational solidarity in his discussion of the limitations of freedoms we will pass to our children by long-term bonded indebtedness and excessive spending of future production.

The introductory portion of the book briefly discusses the Culture of Freedom that permeated America prior to the Declaration of Indendence. Judge Napolitano, possibly in another book, could productively discuss how the Culture of Entitlement evolved and how it can be changed. Those seeking a restoration of Constitutional freedoms no longer have the option of vis et armis for regime change in America. With the schools dumbed down, there is little hope that we can look to our educators for leadership (it's a shame the Judge lacked space to discuss the effects of the Blaine Amendments to show how religious bigotry has distorted the public school system, but that's another book, too).

I laud Judge Napolitano's discussion of wars and how they are used to limit personal freedoms both now and into the future, under a guise of patriotism. We truly do live in an Orwellian age when considering defense issues...Is it better to get a prostate exam from ObamaCare or TSA? (Yes, I did serve in the armed forces during the Viet Nam era, but did not see foreign combat. My unit was involved in the Watts riots, although I did not go to Watts).
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Customer 7
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Poor Title for a Great Book
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2014
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This is a really dumb popular-cheesy-sounding title for such a good book. I know the publisher is only concerned about money, but it's a very misleading title, because this is really "Libertarianism 101." All that the Judge does is provide a rationale for and a list of basic human rights, and explains each one, and how the government should be protecting them. I think this book could have had more lasting value if it had an accurate title, because it really shouldnt be one of those fast-furious books that sell a bunch and now its a penny at thrift stores. It's really too good for that.

This was a very eye-opening book for me as it showed how plainly and simply the purposes of the federal government have been compromised. However, the Judge left many questions unanswered:

1. How does a libertarian government (that only protects human rights) obtain funds for its survival? (Because the judge believes *all* forms of taxation are wrong - and I agree with him, but he provides no alternative).
2. The Judge argued that Natural human rights reflect basic human "yearnings" and "desires." But I think he could refine this a bit: capacities and functions. People have the right to own property, make stuff out of legos, eat food, and reproduce not simply because they *want* to, but because they were *made* to.
3. What about children? This has always been the dilemma/enigma of libertarian theory, and the Judge leaves this important question (what rights do they have - if they are neither property nor autonomous human beings like the average rational adult) aside.

Nevertheless, it's a great book that everyone should read - from the liberal to the neoconservative.
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