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What are the best books out there on why socialism blows?
me | 11-1-08 | Houmatt

Posted on 11/01/2008 6:13:42 AM PDT by Houmatt

I have a friend who is talking about how socialism "works." She needs to be taken down a peg or two but I don't know where to start. Any suggestions?


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: socialism; taxes
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1 posted on 11/01/2008 6:13:42 AM PDT by Houmatt
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To: Houmatt
Ayn Rand's “Atlas Shrugged”

Miton Friedman's “Free to Chose”

2 posted on 11/01/2008 6:14:51 AM PDT by wintertime (Good ideas win! Why? Because people are NOT stupid)
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To: Houmatt
I've got this edition...

The Road to Serfdom

3 posted on 11/01/2008 6:15:29 AM PDT by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: Houmatt

“The Road to Serfdom” by Hayek


4 posted on 11/01/2008 6:15:47 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: mewzilla

GMTA


5 posted on 11/01/2008 6:16:11 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: Houmatt

Easiest solution: “Animal Farm”


6 posted on 11/01/2008 6:16:43 AM PDT by LRS (Just contracts; just laws; just a Constitution...)
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To: Houmatt
Tell them to go live in France or England for six months.

Cheers!

7 posted on 11/01/2008 6:16:47 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Houmatt
Well, this will be fun. The list is long. But I think too few people are aware of Armando Valladares’s book AGAINST ALL HOPE. It tells of how Castro turned Cuba into an inhuman disaster. Another great book that too few people have read is Paul Johnson's MODERN TIMES. Reading it will give anyone a great understanding of the 20th Century and the horrors of the state, especially when the state is in the hands of what Mr. Johnson refers to as the “gangster statesmen.” I look forward to seeing some of the other suggestions on this thread.
8 posted on 11/01/2008 6:17:49 AM PDT by elhombrelibre (Obama ready on day one to bring Kenyan style democracy to America.)
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To: wintertime

Fredrich Hayek “Road To Serfdom”

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Serfdom-Documents-Definitive-Collected/dp/0226320553/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225545286&sr=8-1

An unimpeachable classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars, and general readers for half a century. Originally published in 1944—when Eleanor Roosevelt supported the efforts of Stalin, and Albert Einstein subscribed lock, stock, and barrel to the socialist program—The Road to Serfdom was seen as heretical for its passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production. For F. A. Hayek, the collectivist idea of empowering government with increasing economic control would lead not to a utopia but to the horrors of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

First published by the University of Chicago Press on September 18, 1944, The Road to Serfdom garnered immediate, widespread attention. The first printing of 2,000 copies was exhausted instantly, and within six months more than 30,000 books were sold. In April 1945, Reader’s Digest published a condensed version of the book, and soon thereafter the Book-of-the-Month Club distributed this edition to more than 600,000 readers. A perennial best seller, the book has sold 400,000 copies in the United States alone and has been translated into more than twenty languages, along the way becoming one of the most important and influential books of the century.


9 posted on 11/01/2008 6:17:53 AM PDT by angkor (Conservatism is not a religious movement.)
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To: Houmatt

What book? Just show her Russia. That is the next step beyond Socialism.

And I mean pre-Putin Russia. Pre-Reagan Russia. Where there is seperation of church and state and the “stupid Christian right” didn’t have any kind of hold on the government. Most lefties applaud that. But also point out that NO religion was tolerated. They think communism and socialism is some sort of Utopia, but nothing comes without a price.

My parents paid my bills growing up, but part of the trade off of that was “As long as you live under my roof...” and I had to obey.

Now ask if they want that from an unescapable government. You can’t move out if you don’t like the rules. Part of communism is that they own you and don’t take kindly to losing their property. That’s another thing that the “I want my money” socialists don’t realize. What is the difference between communism and slavery? Well, not much.


10 posted on 11/01/2008 6:17:55 AM PDT by autumnraine (Churchill: " we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall never surrender")
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To: Houmatt
The Gulag Archipelago.
11 posted on 11/01/2008 6:18:27 AM PDT by Paul Heinzman
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To: Houmatt

“Darkness at Noon” Arthur Koestler


12 posted on 11/01/2008 6:18:55 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: autumnraine

Whitaker Chambers “Witness”


13 posted on 11/01/2008 6:19:13 AM PDT by ballplayer
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To: ClearCase_guy

LOL. I’m having a good brain day :)


14 posted on 11/01/2008 6:20:10 AM PDT by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: Houmatt

Eat the Rich by P.J. O’Rourke. It’s very funny and accessible to the general reader.


15 posted on 11/01/2008 6:20:34 AM PDT by denydenydeny ("[Obama acts] as if the very idea of permanent truth is passe, a form of bad taste"-Shelby Steele)
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To: Houmatt

You don’t need her to read anything. Just skip right to her point: ask her to share all her money with you.

Most leftists, particularly the celebrity type, only want to redistribute OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY.


16 posted on 11/01/2008 6:22:03 AM PDT by Taliesan
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To: grey_whiskers
Tell them to go live in France or England for six months.

You're not kidding. I spent six months out of the country back in '86. Best thing that ever happened to me. I was still a flaming lib for quite a while afterwards, but looking back at it I can tell you that's when the seeds were sown for my conversion to conservatism.

17 posted on 11/01/2008 6:23:34 AM PDT by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: Houmatt
“Vision of the Anointed” Thomas Sowell
18 posted on 11/01/2008 6:23:36 AM PDT by CrazyIvan (If you read only one book this year, read "Stolen Valor".)
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To: mewzilla; ClearCase_guy

I just bought that one. Is it tough to get through or an easy read?


19 posted on 11/01/2008 6:24:02 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: Houmatt
"The Road to Serfdom" by Hayek

"Atlas Shrugged", and "We the Living" by Ayn Rand (who lived in Russia and experienced the aftermath of the Russian Revolution before her family got out)

20 posted on 11/01/2008 6:26:10 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 ("In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell)
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