Seize Freedom!: American Truths and Renewal in a Chaotic Age (Culture of Enterprise) [Hardcover]

Thaddeus G. McCotter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 8, 2011 | Series: Culture of Enterprise

From a rising star in Congress—the wise and wisecracking conservative Thaddeus G. McCotter—comes this spirited and bold plan for renewing America in these chaotic, ideologically charged times. McCotter shows how a free people must seize freedom to transcend the quartet of transformational challenges we now face.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

“In God’s name, I beg of you to think”

Right now, parents suffer sleepless nights worrying that they will lose their jobs, their homes, and their hopes for their children. Citizens struggle to make sense of an increasingly perverse society disdainful of—and destructive to—the traditional culture of faith, truth, virtue, and beauty. Government—under both parties—has swollen to grotesque proportions, racked up staggering debt, and become a threat to Americans’ freedom.

In the aftermath of a historic election, fueled by citizens willing to stand against a government seemingly aligned against them, U.S. Representative Thaddeus McCotter makes a spirited cry for sanity in a chaotic age. Seize Freedom! boldly confronts the quartet of generational challenges that too many leaders ignore or belittle, and charts the path of truth and renewal for America.

So many of our problems, the author shows, have been exacerbated by ideology, which John Adams aptly called the “science of idiocy.” With incisive thought and wicked humor McCotter attacks the idiocy that pervades Washington. He wisely calls for ridding ourselves of ideology as the first step to transcending our great challenges, which include:

• The social, economic, and political upheavals of globalization: McCotter points the way to a free, prosperous, and humane twenty-first-century economy
• A world war against evil enemies: Seize Freedom! shows why we are engaged not in a War on Terror but in a War for Freedom
• Communist China as a strategic threat: The author explains how the United States must contain this repressive, expansionist regime
• Moral relativism’s erosion of our self-evident truths: McCotter reveals why faith, family, community, and country remain cornerstones of America’s greatness

In ancient Athens, the patriot Demosthenes pleaded with a prideful and pampered people to confront threats to their liberty: “In God’s name, I beg of you to think. The Athenians refused to listen, falling sway to demagogues who dismissed the dangers. Soon their civilization was crushed.

Seize Freedom! is a guide for those concerned citizens and committed conservatives who wish to put an end to the ideologues’ simplistic solutions and false comforts. Well, that, and for anyone who wants a remedy for the usual ghostwritten claptrap that passes for “policy” or “campaign” books. This book won’t make you happier, but it will make you smarter.

About the Author

Thaddeus G. McCotter is the U.S. representative for Michigan’s Eleventh District. He has written for the American Spectator, the Detroit News, Human Events, and Andrew Breitbart’s Big Hollywood, among numerous publications and splenetic websites. McCotter, who graduated summa cum laude from the University of Detroit and earned his J.D. from the University of Detroit Law School, lives in his hometown of Livonia, Michigan, with his wife, their three children, and his Stratocaster.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Intercollegiate Studies Institute; 1 edition (February 8, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935191667
• ISBN-13: 978-1935191667
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #984,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Seize This Book July 18, 2011

By davilch

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Conservatism is the negation of ideology. In his brilliant and accessible Seize Freedom, Mr. McCotter articulates how his conservative philosophy informs his diagnosis of, and prescriptions for, the challenges of a "chaotic age".

Quickly, because you should be reading his words and not mine.

"While it is easy to identify left-wing ideologues by their superior airs, economic collectivism, moral relativism, and terminal Europhilia, it is far harder to spot the 'cosmopolitan conservatives' who are, in fact, ideologues. These Gucci-loafered globalists consider America an international shopping mall, not a sovereign nation-state. Economic Darwinists, they are advocates of "creative destruction" for everyone but themselves."

In the Chapter "Too Free To Fail" he describes our "Servile State" with "big government and big business colluding to manipulate free people." He quotes Bobby Kennedy from 9/17/66 when he "tallied the human toll of 'centrism' (the force behind the as-yet-unnamed ideology of "too big to fail") as McCotter describes how a "humane, innovation-empowered economy" centered on decentrism should be our vision for the future.

I'll stack my political cynicism up against most anyone and I am sitting here dumbfounded at how Mr. McCotter has so effectively spoken to my dreams and aspirations for our country. Am I delusional thinking that a man could go in his garage and produce something that could lead to fundamental change? Well, you might think I am nothing but a hound dog but I will sit here listening to Mr Jobs Ipod, typing on Mr Dells laptop, posting to Jeff Bezos website, using Bill Gates operating system and wondering if it's still true that all you need is love or if Mr. McCotter was Born to Run. I also wonder if the Egyptians know more about affecting REAL change than we do?

"Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim
The walls of my room are closing in
There's a war outside still raging
you say it ain't ours anymore to win
I want to sleep beneath peaceful skies in my lover's bed
with a wide open country in my eyes
and these romantic dreams in my head" - from "No Surrender" by Bruce Springsteen

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars PUT THIS AT THE TOP OF YOUR READING LIST! September 3, 2011

By Pete

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Seize Freedom! by Thaddeus McCotter cuts through all the nonsense and maps out a clear path for our country. It is well-written and McCotter excels at explaining concepts and principles philosophically as well as relating them to current events. He also quotes many other writers to support his points, which gives the reader an even better understanding and base of knowledge to draw from in the future. Please read this book and spread his name around so others can hear his message and take it or leave it. We must stop big government and moral relativism from eroding our great country anymore than it already has.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! December 16, 2011

By Steven M. Gliebe

Format:Hardcover

McCotter delivers a thoughtful and provocative book. He is a true American patriot, both optimistic and principled. His book is a call to conservatives; a call to take our civic involvement to the next level.

The chapter on China was particularly enlightening. And in the chapter entitled "Cherished Life" McCotter unapologetically defends the life of the unborn. God Bless You, Congressman.

The most alarming subject to me was the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It is an initiative every American parent should understand with all its terrifying ramifications. I am a children's minister and educator; I strongly believe in the God-given privilege and responsibility of parents (Deut 6:4-9). The Left and the UN would love nothing more than to strip parents of their rights to raise their children and to teach them their faith and values. BEWARE!

Every America-loving-conservative must read Seize Freedom and must heed its warnings. McCotter's exhortation does not leave us with the option to sit passively in the sidelines. We must defend and fight to preserve what his father once called "the greatest nation on earth."