Healing Our World: The Other Piece of the Puzzle [Paperback]

Mary J. Ruwart (Author), Frances Kendall (Foreword), Leon Louw (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1993

Dr. Ruwart is the author of HEALING OUR WORLD: THE OTHER PIECE OF THE PUZZLE, hailed by Visions Magazine as "what may be the most important book of the decade." HEALING applies win-win strategies to the political realm, "bridging the gap between conservatives and liberals, Christians and New Agers, special interests and the common good with practical solutions to our economic, environmental, and societal woes" ( Ron Paul, former U.S. Congressman (R-TX) and 1988 Libertarian Party Presidential Nominee).

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mary J. Ruwart, Ph.D. ([e-mail]) is a former pharmaceutical research scientist and Assistant Professor of Surgery. She has worked extensively with the disadvantaged in low-income housing and was a contender for the 1992 Libertarian Party Vice-Presidential nomination. Her scientific, political, and community activities have been profiled in several prestigious biographical works, including American Men and Women of Sciences, World's Who's Who of Women, International Leaders in Achievement, and Community Leaders of America.

Product Details

• Paperback: 311 pages
• Publisher: SunStar Press; Revised edition (January 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963233629
• ISBN-13: 978-0963233622
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,524,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why liberty is a win-win proposition, October 17, 2001

By 

John S. Ryan "Scott Ryan" (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Healing Our World: The Other Piece of the Puzzle (Paperback)

There are two books I recommend as introductions to libertarian thought. One of them is Murray Rothbard's _For A New Liberty_. This is the other.

Dr. Mary Ruwart's _Healing Our World_ is in some ways a better general introduction suitable for a broader audience, in large measure because it appeals to the better nature of everybody from conservative Christians to hippie mystics: she really _does_ mean, and quite rightly, that libertarian principles are the means for healing our world. Her essential point is that, _whatever_ our goals and beliefs, we can best serve them by honoring our neighbors' choices so long as they aren't threatening our lives or property. For when we do so, everybody wins; my gains aren't your losses, and there really is a common good at which we can both aim.

Moreover, Ruwart carefully and compassionately explains why the libertarian approach is a better way to bring about the (entirely legitimate) goals of the more modern sort of liberal: for example, improving the quality and availability of medical care (including alternative medicines), reducing pollution, saving the environment, and so forth. Readers of, say, the Objectivist/Randian literature might come away with the impression that concern for the well-being of persons other than oneself (let alone the "environment"!) is just incompatible with libertarianism. Ruwart argues that in fact libertarianism offers not only the best way to _promote_ such concern but the only viable way to put it into practice. (On this ground alone, there are probably lots of _libertarians_ who could profit from a close reading of Ruwart's book just to pick up its tone and tenor. Her example of tolerant understanding could lead more "brittle" thinkers to enter empathically into values that haven't exactly been common among libertarians.)

Lurking in the background of Ruwart's exposition is her clear sense of the "market" as simply voluntary human interaction within a framework of obligatory respect for others' well-being. This view should appeal even to readers who don't care for the term "market"; it might, for example, be attractive to various sorts of communitarian and others who worry about the reduction of social life to economic exchange. The essential point is that human society, community, is an organic network of interacting centers of voluntary activity, not a bureaucratic order that imposes mechanical top-down rules via statute or regulatory agency -- and that trying to turn it from the former into the latter is just a fancy way to destroy it.

Ruwart's outlook should delight everybody from Calvinists to Hayekians to Taoists. And there has never been a time at which it's been more important to get the word out on liberty. Get this book at once and pass out copies to your friends; Ruwart's libertarianism has something to say to people of every political and/or religious persuasion or none.

By the way, you can pre-read it online if you know where to look. Amazon doesn't permit URLs in reviews, but write me if you want to know.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heal the world, you say?, May 17, 2002

By 

Lord Chimp (Monkey World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Healing Our World: The Other Piece of the Puzzle (Paperback)

I love this book. Really.

Dr. Ruwart's political philosophy's foundation is about non-aggression. This is nothing new in the libertarian creed, and the difference is that instead of concentrating on arguments of property rights, she really drives home with the non-aggression principle. She avers that by using aggression (i.e. force) to solve our problems, we end up only worsening our lives. We create a world of zero-sum games instead of a system that respects individual choices so long as they do not harm our person or property.

What also makes this book a pleasure to read is that it its tone is very friendly and accommodating. Many people (rightly) expect books on political philosophy to be badgering or aggressively written, so I like that Dr. Ruwart ditched the popular approach. Plus, her compassionate way of writing makes it difficult to call her a bloodthirsty free-market fan -- she does care about matters like helping the poor and making healthcare accessible.

Every issue she looks at shows the failures of aggression (i.e. government) to be effective, and conversely non-aggression (i.e. voluntary, private cooperation) has been more successful. Healthcare intervention? It's aggression, and it's bad for our health (and our wallet). The Federal Reserve? Central banking is aggression that monopolizes the money supply and creates the "boom & bust" cycle. The public school system? It might be obvious that the Department of Education doesn't actually educate anyone, but the whole setup is aggressive too, and children suffer because of it.

The principle of non-aggression is also applied to pollution, crime & punishment, the FDA, gun ownership, and -- the one especially important these days -- foreign policy. Non-aggression wins every time, and very few issues go untouched.

A cool touch to Dr. Ruwart's book is that she puts tons of great, great quotes in the margins, which work wonderfully with the topic at hand. One of my favorites comes from the first chapter (about the basis of non-aggression): "...we are living in a sick Society filled with people who would not directly steal from their neighbor but who are willing to demand that the government do it for them," says William L. Comer. That's classic! There's a lot of great ones, many of which I didn't recognize.

Please, read this book. This is a world where governments keep getting bigger, and that will always mean more aggression as the State invades more aspects of our lives. Know what's scary? In Chapter 19, "The Communist Threat Is All In Our Minds", Ruwart shows that the United States has implemented eight of ten policies The Communist Manifesto declared necessary for a transition into socialism. Darn. So, getting the word out on liberty is always a good thing. Please see Scott Ryan's excellent review of this book too.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strips away the confusion and gives simple answers., January 18, 1999

By 

Michele Kubbby [e-mail] (Lake Tahoe, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Healing Our World: The Other Piece of the Puzzle (Paperback)

Dr. Ruwart explains with simple examples how all of our good intentions with legislation end up hurting us all instead of solving society's problems. A must read if you want to understand how we got into this mess and how we can get out of it.