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Healing Our World: The Other Piece of the Puzzle

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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.

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.

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.

Healing Our World has a bold beginning -- that we rely on threats and force in our everyday lives. Her offer of peaceful solutions -- instead of coercive ones -- makes sense and, morally, is the only choice. This book is easy to read and gets right to the point, bringing a fresh outlook to the many problems facing society today.

"Honoring our neighbors' choice is the political manifestation of universal love."

Ruwart explores the key missing ingredient to our societal struggle for mutual understanding: The idea that aggression never becomes acceptable merely because the majority ask for it. All people, as represented by the smallest minority, the minority of the individual, will be best protected when people are willing to honor their neighbors' choices in life.

Please read this book if you have not. It may change your perspective fundamentally and permanently.

Dr. Ruwart's book is inspirational. It defines and explains the world problems that touch us all. After reading this book, you'll look at the solutions to today's problems in a very clear and different light. I hope you read this book and share it with a friend.

I share the opinion of one of the reviews on the back of this book who believes that this should be required reading in every school. This book describes in great detail what seems to be the only reasonable way we all can coexist peacefully. I am also amazed at how well the author communicates this message. Read it, it will probably change your life.

Well, maybe just the young idealistic legislators. The career legislators will probably pooh pooh the idea that we might be alright making our own decisions.

I read this book in the mid-90's when I had just discovered libertarianism. Seeing this here after so many years, I think I might pick it up and read it again! I loved it, and it had a monumental, paradigm-changing effect. Those were heady times, when I knew I'd finally found my political/moral bearings, and was voraciously reading everything I could find that touched upon Constitutional history, American Revolutionary history, Federalism, libertarianism, free-market economics, objectivism, etc. I've always thought of this book as the "moral reasons" for libertarianism, and while effective in persuading all types, it would be most effective in eroding the calcified stubborness of neo-liberals; it might resonate most with them, and speak to their "good intentions matter" philosophy. (but I truly don't know anymore. In the past 15 years, the landscape has changed...political typecasts don't fit so well anymore... "conservatives" agitate for empire and hegemony in the spirit of Truman Democrats, and progressive-liberals too rally around Obama's wars...no body is anti-war or anti-force anymore it seems. Things are scary polarized...). I've always thought that one should be armed with a good "moral reasons" book for libertarianism, for loaning-out to open-minded thinkers, who show the barest inclination to assess and possibly embrace the libertarian philosophy/legal arguments. This is that book. It is a "kinder, gentler" philosophical approach than, say, Ayn Rand (not to in any way compare the two! It's just that for beginners, being loaned a book by Ayn Rand---e.g., "The Virtue of Selfishness" or "Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal" would be misunderstood and turn them off.). This book is more about the saneness, peacefulness, logic and morality of using persuasion and voluntary trade to obtain one's objectives, in stead of force---democratic or otherwise.
And one should likewise be armed with a good "practical reasons" book is useful for those who pooh-pooh the "theory of libertarianism, that looks good on paper but wouldn't work in real life"---a la Henry Hazlitt's "Economics in One Lesson,".

It's been a few years since I read this book, but I remember feeling gipped after reading it the first time.

The concepts and examples are very simplistic. It reads at maybe a Jr. High school level.

The book is also quite wasteful of paper due to the horrible formatting. Usually about half the page is left blank, vertically on the left or right side depending on the which way the page faces. I guess the publishers didn't want folks to realize what a lightweight book they were buying.

If you want to introduce a kid to Libertarianism, this might be a good book for it. But for anyone serious about digging in to the guts and philosophy of Libertarianism, skip this book. It contains nothing new.