Customer Reviews

THE THIRD REVOLUTION

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Take a populist libertarian governor, throw in some free range buffalo, mix it up with a massive federal legislative program and an incident at Sturgis, and toss in some nuclear missiles for seasoning, and you have The Third Revolution.

I fully expected this book to be the Libertarian party's answer to Atlas Shrugged, though lengthwise, the whole book (at 335 pages) comes in at 200 pages lighter than John Galt's speech alone. (Sit down, objectivists, I'm just funnin' yas.)

While it does have that element, complete with speeches from various personalities (and a horse named Cato), what I found was a pretty darn good story.

Governor Ben Kane, is a restauranteur-cum-politician who finds himself at the center of a growing storm. The federal government has enacted legislation taking the country closer to collectivism, which doesn't set well with folks, but for the most part no one does anything about it. The storm picks up strength when a National Guard unit called up to provide security at Sturgis overreacts and kills some bikers, some of whom are Montanans.

As resentment toward the federal government grows, the Montana legislature passes a Nullification law.

Inside the beltway, this goes over like a lead balloon, and the president and his advisers try to figure out a way to bring the lost sheep of Montana back into the fold. Back-channel negotiations fail to produce any results. Plus, there's a slight problem: someone has cracked the command-and-control systems for the nuclear missiles, and Governor Kane now has his finger on the proverbial button.

In the meantime, a wealthy entrepreneur sets his buffalo loose on the open range, as his land can no longer contain them, and he can't get federal grazing permits. Governor Kane allows him to run his herd over state (formerly federal) lands, which draws the attention of the Blackfeet and Crow who have been running their own small herds.

The story comes to a head in the Montana legislature, where both houses unanimously pass a declaration of secession, which Kane signs into law. He finds himself surprised by the support of other western governors and officials from both the U.S. and Canada, and we, the readers, are left to wonder, "What happens next?" So, we'll have to stay tuned for Middle America.

The criticisms I have are fairly mild, and in fact, some of them may be addressed in Middle America. The treatment of the "opposition" was a little superficial in my mind. There were some reversions to stereotype (e.g., a farmer with a John Deere hat) which isn't all bad, and I did get a little bent out of shape when it was suggested that most of the state's population didn't give a lot of thought to what the economic consequences of secession might be. While many ranchers and farmers are simple folks, that doesn't necessarily make them simpletons.

Those are pretty minor quibbles, though.

One thing that struck me was that Ben Kane has a more-than-superficial resemblance to current Montana governor Brian Schweitzer, from the "aw-shucks, I'm just one of the guys" shtick right down to the bolo tie. I can't help but wonder if Schweitzer wasn't a model for Kane.

Overall, it's a good "what-if?" story, and I did like the way that the "Third Revolution" was brought about incrementally with a series of seemingly disconnected events. That's how things happen.

I heartily recommend this book. You can read it as just a story, or as a libertarian tract, and it works in both directions. Buy it here.

If you'll pardon me, now, I have to get started on Middle America, because I need to see how Montana's going to dig itself out of this mess.

In an era when TV networks grind out Beltway-worshipping pap like "The West Wing," Anthony F. Lewis has written a novel that convincingly talks about the Real Deal: what liberties Americans have lost and how they might get them back.

You might expect lengthy John Galt-like political speeches in a novel like this. There aren't any. You might expect black-and-white good guys and bad guys. Well, there's no question who we're meant to root for in this book, but solutions aren't presented as simple, and Lewis' characters are driven as much by messy circumstances as they are by ideology. The novel's scenario is absolutely credible, its characters are well-drawn, and the suspense is nail-biting.

The United States is under control of one party. They have everything from the House to the White House and plan to use this power to save Americans from themselves. The One Nation Bill is passed giving the Federal Government complete control of the major functions of the states, including law enforcement and education.

Few people in the middle states like this, but what can they do? They don't have the votes, the money or the numbers to stop the Bill.

So the Third Revolution starts when the Governor of Montana decides he will NOT just stand around and let things happens. He decides to fight it. But while he tries to stay within the system, fighting it within the courts and the back rooms, his principles put fire back into the people of Montana. And before he knows it his ideals of freedom and liberty are being taken seriously, not just by the voters of his own state, but by millions of Americans. He has to pick between his love for his nation and his love for the founding principles that formed it.

A great book. Paced just right, good characters, interesting, realistic and funny all at the same time.

Anthony F. Lewis has provided a credible dramatic situation - predicated upon a federal governmental act that trends strongly in harmony with recent and current political developments - in which to set a number of interesting characters who respond to circumstances in a wholly believable manner.

Unlike a great many recent libertarian "wish fulfillment" novels, there is nothing particularly vituperative about Lewis' work. The bad guys - and I most explicitly count the mainstream political factions as bad guys, "Red" *and* "Blue" alike - are not demonized. They're simply described as the same sort of unthinking, uncritical, and blandly, arrogantly unethical creatures of Big Government who currently conceive themselves to be among the "favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride [the rest of us] legitimately, by the grace of God."

Lewis manages to maintain a strong plot without straining at unlikely heroics, without pornographic violence, and without strident theatricalities. He keeps his characters' behaviors within realistic limits and nevertheless brings them into action of radical character in a true novel of ideas that would (and certainly should) scare the living daylights out of the Democratic National Committee *and* the Republican Party if only these cement-heads had the wit to read it.

The Amazon.com customer reading this review is - almost without doubt - an order of magnitude smarter than the average Democratic or Republican party stalwart. You will not only understand Lewis' purpose in writing this novel, but you'll enjoy it both as good entertainment and as "a consummation devoutly to be wished."

The author has written a plausable story of the near future where "federal" government takes total control of state and local services. The main protaganist in the story is the governor ,who is also the first Libertarian elected to gov.,and how he deals with the issues of states rights verses the national government. The story is filled with little reminders of all the personal freedoms that we take for granted wich can dissappear with one signature. Yet the book does not preach to the reader. A great first book for someone wanting to understand the Libertarian phillosiphy, and escape into the land of fiction at the same time.

A great story with a libertarian theme. Well thought out and put together, I just had to keep reading to find out how it ended -- now I'm looking forward to the sequel!

This is a great book, a must read for libertarians. Save time and buy it with the sequel "Middle America." The "speeches" are much easier to read then John Gault and offer a concise, contemporary and practical argument for libertarianism. For example, "Statism has become the new religion. Instead of looking to God we have become conditioned to look to the state to provide for us. The left is doing what they continuously accuse the right of doing - trying to legislate morality - but they're doing it with public cash instead of the blue dog laws."

with the slippery slope of social/fascism upon us in present-day america, anthony lewis has penned a story about how it could all reverse itself and what is out there in "americans" that could be ignited to do just that. It is worth reading, as will be the sequel that is in the works...john kelly

I have to admit that I purchased this book on the spur of the moment. When I got it and started reading, I didn't regret it. The story got better with each chapter and, before I knew it, I had finished it in a single sitting.

My only complaint was that it seemed unfinished. Fortunately, a sequel has been written and, hopefully, will be released soon.

Ever since The Moon is A Harsh Mistress, I have enjoyed reading libertarian novels. The Third Revolution does not work for me, for several reasons. President Henderson - who just passed the "One Nation" bill - asks how America can possibly sustain the continued growth in government spending. That's totally out of character, and the conflict is never addressed later in the book. Better if the Montana Senator had asked that question.

Near the end, I don't have a clue why the Montana governor would play the nuclear card without some serious provocation ( such as a military attack ).

This book never shows that a bunch of libertarian legislators would find ways to reduce taxes and reduce government - they sound like your average GOP wannabe, talking the libertarian talk but walking the Democrat-lite walk. ( Early in the book, the governor asks about homeschooling and education, but the matter is dropped. ) Molon Labe did a better job of showing what might happen when Libertarians take the reins.

Some of the legislative speeches are great, but I wonder why nobody mentions that federalization is so enormously wasteful that, if Montana keeps and spends their own money, they're likely to get more value for their dollars, enough to compensate for losing federal revenues. To cite an example: a bridge suitable for a rural road costs about $30,000 if built by a private contractor. To build to State standards costs about $100,000. To build to federal standards costs $300,000. The bridge built with "federal" dollars is overbuilt, and appears cheaper to the municipal or state government only because of federal subsidies. If you keep the federal taxes and build to suit local needs, you'll save money. If your schools focus on teaching, instead of adding in umpty-seven federal objectives, they'll become both better and cheaper. Some of these ideas are hinted at in this book, but the implementations drop through the cracks.

I wanted this to be a good book, but sign me

Frustrated