Customer Reviews

Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries

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It is about time that the subject of liberty, justice, and the silenced American Rebel was brought to public consciousness and discussion in this way. Many Americans are longing for a restored understanding of what true democracy looks like and means, and in this book, Wolf persuasively shows what can happen when normal people, ordinary citizens like you and I, truly engage in the democratic process as originally intended, and how we can use the system in every aspect of our lives and politics. I highly recommend this book for a clear, well thought out, intelligent approach to key issues facing our government and governance today.

I read Give Me Liberty cover to cover in one sitting. It's scary. We should all be very concerned about the increasing loss of American liberties Naomi Wolf so eloquently writes about. Raising awareness is the first step and Wolf did this beautifully in the best-selling The End of America. What makes Give Me Liberty different and even more powerful is that while it reminds Americans that we are in a precarious political moment, it also reminds us that all of us - you, me, the next door neighbor, our teachers, our students, our mothers and fathers - the everyday citizens going about our lives are powerful and influential agents that can, and should take action. Wolf writes, "history shows that when an army of citizens, supported by even a vestige of civil society, believes in liberty -- in the psychological space that is "America" -- no power on earth can ultimately suppress them."

What I loved best about Give Me Liberty is that it shook me out of my apathy and motivated me to believe again not only in the psychological space that is America, but in the idea that I could actually do something to protect my own freedom and the freedom of the people I love. Wolf's book is timely. It is engaging. It is passionate and it is mandatory reading for every citizen who cares about America and considers themselves a patriot. We need to reestablish our civil society based in liberty immediately and Wolf clearly shows us, step by step, how to do this. This book - this call to arms - should be a staple in our schools and required reading for every American citizen.

"Handbook" is a good description. After making a convincing argument that it is our duty to make some noise and get involved, Wolf gives specific advice and resources to have our voices heard. One thing lacking is addressing the importance to really be informed. It appears to me that the people who know the least are the ones who talk the most and have the strongest opinions. Emotions run high and it is hard to have productive deliberation with people. Addressing this would have added an important element to the conversation.

It is scary to me that most people I talk to are willing to accept our government's lawlessness because they somehow think that it secures their safety. After reading this book I have a firmer belief and understanding of the meaning of rule of law and why our safety lies within the rules instead of the rulers.

Wolf outlines how to be a revolutionary in ways that may land you in jail and therefore gives advice for what to do if you are arrested. I don't think I will be taking to the streets in protests, but I am much more motivated to understand our constitution and become more involved in understanding what my representatives are doing in Washington. If government knows that "we the people" are watching closely, it will probably generate better behavior in government. Even though I am not willing be a revolutionary to the extent that would risk imprisonment, this book has motivated me to get off my duff and at least be present.

Naomi Wolf does it again! Instead of sitting and getting frustrated while you watch the non stop 24 hour "news" reports read "Give me liberty" - Wolf not only explains so many of the issues that threaten our democracy she outlines what we as ordinary citizens can do to make it right again. A must read for anyone that truly wants to reclaim American values!

Ms. Wolf has a knack for being ahead of the crowd and with this book, she maintains her position in the vanguard of American political activists.

This work, coupled with her last book, are an effective call to arms for Americans to act aggressively and effectively as citizens who are frustrated with the past 20-30 years trend in American political life. Citizens in a democracy have the responsibility to act and participate in the civic discourse and Ms. Wolf challenges all of us take this responsibility seriously. This would be a great book for high school and college students as well as adults.

And instead of a mere rehash of the usual liberal complaints, Ms. Wolf nails the real issues on the head and then gives the reader a full menu of options and activities. At their core, her recent works send the message that the clock is ticking on saving the American Experiment and that it is high time that citizens take back their government by action. The time for complaining are over. It is time for civic action, action that works and that has results. And that is what Ms. Wolf lays out effectively in this new book.

She has given us a much-needed practical and down-to-earth read on the situation that faces us as Americans. And Ms. Wolf has provided us with a civics lesson (when was the last time you heard civics being taught in school?) about our responsibility to act. Not our responsibility to complain and grumble, but our responsibility to act.

Naomi Wolf's latest book is timely and informative. In an election season when many voters complain of media-induced fatigue, Wolf offers an inspiring book that will motivate readers to get engaged - civically.

Naomi Wolf's pamphlet is one long cry for freedom and its political expression `democracy', which is the only means to defend individual liberty, the right to be safe against unreasonable searches of bodies, houses, papers, computers and possessions and against illegal spying.

Analysis
N. Wolf rightly states that `life without freedom is not worth having it'. The US founders did not create liberty for America, but America for liberty.
Today, in the face of the `war on terror', liberty is portrayed as a threat to security. Those in power want blind loyalty, unconditional support for US militarism and commercial imperialism, a tyranny of Christian fundamentalism and the silencing of dissent.
They encourage people not to vote, because the `government is the problem. It can't solve problems. So, don't bother to get involved.' As former President Jimmy Carter remarks: `the US voting system is flawed with severe discrimination against poor people.'
More, the population is conditioned `not to think'. The information channels are gagged. As some journalists say: `there is direct intervention in news gathering and reporting.'

The whole US society risks to become a new version of a closed society controlled by a wealthy oligarchy (Plato revisited).

What to do?
People should not be recipients of the deliberations of an elite.
The rulers must respect the rule of law and should not reign according to a faith-based ideology.
There should be a rigorous wall between the State and the Church. No religion should be demonized.

People have to know that `votes trump money'. Voting fraud should be made impossible by all means.
N. Wolf asks for the introduction of national referenda like in Switzerland.
She also provides useful information for enhancing the democratic process through the creation of non-profit organizations and political movements and the organization of protest demonstrations or the writing of petitions.

This book is a must read for all those who want to live in a better and more human world.

After reading this book it has become very clear that we are truly entering a crisis in American Democracy. It is our patriotic duty to educate our friends and neighbors about Democracy and what it means to "fight for our freedoms". If we, the people who are aware of what is happening, don't spread the word to others we may wake up one day and the last tipping point will have been reached and it will be too late. This important book should be read, as the subtitle reads, as "A handbook for American revolutionaries". Now is the time to stand up and strongly defend the Rule of law and the Constitution of the United States. This book will give you everything you need to know, as well as the confidence, to boldly be a true American Patriot. Naoimi Wolf is the modern day Paul Revere.

This is the first book I've read by Ms. Wolf and I found it equal parts inspiring and saddening. Having just wrapped up my first political campaign, her section on how difficult it was for a common citizen to run really struck home. I would recommend this book to anyone who is hoping to rekindle their sense of civic duty.

The book comes in three parts, the first two by the author, the third a collection of well-chosen pieces by others.

I am totally engaged by the idea that liberty is a state of mind, that America the Beautiful is a state of mind, not to be confused with the Wall Street greed and two-party tyranny that is killing the Republic.

The author has done a moderately good job of reviewing the history, and that which she shares is most valuable. I especially like her quoting Robert F. Kennedy on how each generation must win its own struggle to be free, and later in the book, she cites one of the thousands across the country as observing that we have abdicated our citizenship.

The state of mind theme is carried on in a discussion of the difference between a free society and a fear society, and throughout parts I and II we see documented evidence of how America has become a fear society and how the Global War on Terror (GWOT) has been a virtual seizure of power by quasi-fascist mind-sets who may have the best of intentions but in fact have executed a "paper coup" or as the author also puts it, following a long (LONG) summary of restrictions on everything from permits for free speech to travel to voting rules and regulations, "civic death by a thousand cuts."

Although the author is not to my knowledge tied in to the complementary literature and movement represented by such books as The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All, All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (BK Currents (Hardcover)), Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People, or Conscious Evolution: Awakening Our Social Potential, her own contribution is magnificent in its own right and every bit the equal. I have also noted her offerings via the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, and post Event notices for that organization at Phi Beta Iota, the Public Intelligence Blog.

QUOTE: Key Enlightenment beliefs of the colonial era are these: human beings are perfectible; the right structures of society, at the heart of which is a representational government whose power derives from the consent of the government, facilitate the continual evolution; reason is the means by which ordinary people can successfully rule themselves and attain liberty; the right to liberty is *universal*, God given, and part of a natural cosmic order, or "natural law"; as more and more people around the world claim their God-given right to liberty, tyranny and oppression will be pushed aside. It is worth reminding ourselves of these founding ideas at a time when they are under sustained attack [today].

QUOTE: We need a strategy for a new American uprising against those who would suppress our rights; we need what Lincoln would have called "a new birth of freedom." As readers of Tom Paine's Common Sense had to realize, we are not declaring war on an oppressor--rather, we have to realize that the war already, quietly, systematically, been declared against us.

The above are fighting words, and rightly so. I attended a "transpartisan" séance at which there were about representatives from around thirty major league non-profit organizations representing various issues, and I left shaken with the realization that they LIKE the two-party tyranny for the simple reason that they have invested decades in that tyranny, and are loath to destabilize the hand that feeds them scraps from the high table.

The author has some gifted turns of phrase throughout, for example, stating that the Declaration of Independence "is about our continual duty as Americans to rebel," going on to say that the Declaration is a MANDATE to continually confront abusive power in all its forms.

The author also correctly interprets "happiness" as the fulfillment of one's gifts and potential, not as free-riding joy.

FALSE PATRIOTISM CHAPTER QUOTE: I find that true patriots seem driven by a personal burning sense of responsibility to act in the face of a great wrong. True Americans--domestically or globally--seem to take it personally when faced with injustice; they burn. They can't sit in the bleachers even if they want to, even if it would serve them. A violation of the American premise is not abstract to them. It sticks in the gut.

I am so totally there on the above. I submit as my own contribution to this fight Election 2008: Lipstick on the Pig (Substance of Governance; Legitimate Grievances; Candidates on the Issues; Balanced Budget 101; Call to Arms: Fund We Not Them; Annotated Bibliography) and Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace edited by PhD (abd) Mark Tovey.

FALSE DEMOCRACY CHAPTER QUOTE: With enough conditioning of Americans to comply with ever more onerous permit requirements, fees, hurdles, and ever-more-sinister-crowd-control techniques, the anti-citizen interests of the nation have put in place a system that lets them finally ignore Americans' speech rights altogether.

I am very impressed by the author's survey of the vanishing access points for actually engaging in democracy, from the loss of civic education to vanishing voters to vanishing public space. The book has a wonderful section on gatekeepers and the obstacles to actually running for office, while pointing out that MA, VT, CA, and Iowa are examples of doing it right.

In NYC free speech is a "special event" that requires a permit.

Easier to get into the military than to exercise democratic rights here at home.

I am impressed by her praise and references to two of Mark Crispin Miller's books, Fooled Again and Loser Take All: Election Fraud and The Subversion of Democracy, 2000 - 2008.

Add to those Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny and Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It.

I've reached my Amazon limit. At Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog I will list the seven principles and also the twelve step program from Mark Crispin Miller that ends the book. Click on the cover above to see the table of contents of the book.