The Secrets to Nonviolent Prosperity: The Principles of Liberty [Paperback]

Trevor Z. Gamble (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2011

In these devastating economic times which are leaving many businesses bankrupt and individuals unemployed, each of us has a choice whether to blindly continue on this downward spiral or open our eyes to see the root of the problems. The Secrets to Nonviolent Prosperity: The Principles of Liberty guides readers through failed political ideologies and economic policies and shows the way out of our current state with the logic of property ownership and nonviolence. This is a timely message for those who want to be a part of the solution.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Trevor Z. Gamble has been driven to find the source of our growing economic, social, political and environmental problems. In his research he has been able to uncover many hidden truths about the causes - both of destitution and of prosperity - and his quest led to creating this book. He is enthusiastic about sharing what he has found – especially the core ethical and practical ideas of liberty for all.

Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 9, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1466477857
• ISBN-13: 978-1466477858
• Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 5.9 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,678,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Shows how to view our current troubles without contradicting yourself or alienating people who disagree December 8, 2011

By Non-Voter in California

Format:Paperback

A Review of "The Secrets to Nonviolent Prosperity: The Principles of Liberty"

The new book by Trevor Z. Gamble - The Secrets to Nonviolent Prosperity (published in paperback and Kindle editions, 2011) - provides a welcoming introduction to ideas that go a long way toward resolving many of our contemporary problems and the deeper concerns behind them. Like many of us, the author realizes that something is amiss in the world. Then he takes us on a journey to find out what is wrong and how it relates to our understanding (or misunderstanding) of politics, economics, human rights - and ultimately, the idea of freedom itself.

Mr. Gamble opens his book like the 12th-century thinker, Bernard of Chartres, by acknowledging his debt to writers who came before him - political scientists, psychologists, and economists who enabled him, in effect, to stand on their shoulders so that he can see a bit farther than they did. And the first thing he sees is that we can do away with the tiresome convention of thinking about politics in terms of "left" and "right" with all of the name-calling that goes with it. And it's not enough, says the author, to point to the villains of history to find out why things have gone wrong. After all, every nightmare-toting dictator in the history of the world was able to get there because he (or she) had plenty of followers willing to do the dirty work. In other words, it's not just them...

In his next chapter, Gamble identifies the concept of "human rights" as a basic source for gaining insights into and unraveling the problems that surround us. He explains and adopts the excellent definition of rights laid out by Murray Rothbard and Hans-Hermann Hoppe: self-ownership.... Consequently, he defines the most important human right as the right of ownership that one has over one's own body. Better yet, he explains that it is the only self-evident "right" that we can have, and from it, he deduces our ethical concepts of rights to personal property and the constellation of ideas that come into play with that realization. In doing so, he explores the non-aggression axiom that lies at the basis of all fruitful and peaceful human interactions - stressing, as he does so, the inviolability of all human beings as ends in themselves.

Once he has marked out this intellectual and ethical territory, he goes on to explore topics such as equality, property rights, government entitlements, collectivism, majority-rules politics, the natural environment, third-world poverty, and related issues. This would be a daunting task if he didn't do two things that make his book particularly enjoyable to read.

* First he enlivens his narrative by breaking it up with fascinating quotations from figures that loom large in literature, politics, and history. What makes his use of these quotations especially useful, however, is how and when he inserts them into the text. These quotes appear in the most unexpected places, and they call a complete halt to our thinking - forcing us to engage our minds and question our assumptions. The reader is continually shocked by the unsavory pedigree of words uttered by a number of "favorite" American icons. At other times, these quotations simply reinforce what Mr. Gamble has attempted to explain. All of them, however, are delightful in the context of the narrative and well worth the price of the book.

* Second, he ends each chapter with a section entitled "I Object!" It's the author's way of entering into a dialog with readers who may disagree strongly with the things he has been writing. By including these objections, Mr. Gamble anticipates some of the most common complaints that can be registered against his viewpoint, and he addresses them fairly. This alone sets him apart from writers who are so convinced of their brilliance that they can't imagine anyone disagreeing with them about anything.

Once we are grounded in the ethics of self-ownership and non-aggression as the bases for constructive human relationships, Mr. Gamble's remaining chapters address the following topics:

* Money, central banking, hard currency, debt, and the source of inflation and economic manipulation

* Taxes and their meaning in our lives and in our relationship with others

* The real meaning of profits, capitalism, democracy, and the nation-state

* The how and why of bailouts, price fixing, tariffs, innovation, labor unions, social security, and tax-funded undertakings

The penultimate chapter is one of my favorites. The author devotes it to dispelling a good number of commonly held myths. Among them are favorites such as the following:
* Self-sufficiency (a favorite of nationalists)
* Local buying (its good and bad points)
* Inequality and its value to us
* The idea that one person's loss is another's gain
* Free trade and its imposters
* Employers as tyrants
* The meaning of capitalism vis-à-vis communism

In his final chapter, Mr. Gamble asks a thought provoking question: what should we do? He clearly wishes to see improvements come quickly, but how are we to accomplish change? Hint: not by depending upon promises by politicians. After exploring a number of different approaches to change, he seems to choose the route that all of us are capable of enacting - changing how we ourselves interact with others and calmly discussing our insights with friends and acquaintances. This is not a call for destroying or compelling or storming or squatting. It is a call to reasoned discussion and an invitation to make changes in our own lives - including how we interact with our own children.

And that brings us back to where we began, doesn't it? After all, if we can raise a generation of children who have been respected and treated as inviolable human beings, won't they be able to stand on our shoulders and see even farther than we do? And if you are passionate about human rights and liberty (but find it difficult to express yourself), The Secrets to Nonviolent Prosperity can do your talking for you. Try it, and see for yourself.

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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A world of free choices! December 6, 2011

By Wes Bertrand

Format:Paperback

Here in the so-called United States of America, many people believe we already live in a world of prosperity. After all, mobile devices such as iPhones (and iPads) and Android smart phones provide us with a marketplace of vast information, goods and services at our fingertips. What's not to like, right? Well, how about high prices, 2-year contracts, dropped calls, spotty coverage, poor bandwidth, and horrendous customer service experiences? Of course, these are only the costs that are seen, and only in one part of our economy. What about the "unseen costs" in this sector and in innumerable others? And, more importantly, what about the violence underlying these costs, versus the would-be prosperity in a future world of nonviolence?

The Secrets To Nonviolent Prosperity is a book that focuses on the immensely harmful, typically unseen costs of the use of unjust coercion in our economy. Essentially, it's an accessible book for the layperson about ideas that can change the world in the most life-enriching ways, for both consumers and businesses. That's actually an understatement, on account of how much room for improvement there is in our world. This book explains how the concept of government and its implementation (the domination organization we know all too well) adversely affects our lives and well-being. The ruination is indeed vast. And to our further misfortune we've grown up not knowing anything different, other than the many tragic ways governments elsewhere have ruined those economies.

You'll be taken on a fascinating and instructive journey into the realm of economic thinking from a voluntaryist perspective, which means one in which your own choices and property are finally honored.... This means a respectful marketplace of entrepreneurs and traders, without the current rights-violating treatment by gangsters and banksters. On that note, you'll also discover what those in government and the banking system have done to your money, specifically to the currency that we use as "legal tender." Suffice it to say that the wealth you now possess is miniscule compared to what you'd have in a truly free market, one in which banks will no longer be highly regulated arms of the State, and monetary centralization has become a thing of the inflationary past (only discussed in wikis on economic history and its disastrous economic ideologies).

Not only will your concerns about the implications of a completely untaxed and unregulated marketplace be addressed in detail, but you'll also be invited to see the nature of the many downsides of the present statist economy, in which the initiation of force--via governmental aggression, unjust demands, and punishments--is considered permissible by most people. Economic fallacy after economic fallacy is addressed with a logical clarity you'll never get in any economics class (at least this side of Mises University).

By learning about the facts (and necessity) of self-ownership and by extension property rights, you'll be able to clearly see the tremendous merits of the peaceful and respectful remedies promoted in this book. If there's one take-away that makes it all crystal clear, it's this: the time and money taken from you via today's taxation, regulation, and fiat currency matrix could have been used by YOU instead, to pursue your own values. After all, you know best what to do with your life and property. And because of this, we all can make our lives and planet incredibly more prosperous. Perhaps more significantly, we can end the needless suffering of billions of people throughout the world by simply advocating and implementing the principles of this book. These are the principles of a free and voluntary society, one devoid of authoritarian rule. Read more ›

1 of 20 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars A weak presentation of selfish philosophy January 28, 2012

By John Senechal

Format:Paperback

I read one chapter, and could not continue. It was one after another of tedious proofs for a weak narcissistic justification of one man's resentment. The author misses several points having to do with empathy and compassion. Maybe he just doesn't get out enough, but he's saying things about other people that are not true. I was doubting some of the things he said, and when he touched on my personal area of expertise, it was clear that he uses shallow understanding to build up a complex structure of ideas. Unfortunately, the whole thing is on a shaky foundation. I skimmed the index to find out where he goes with it, but now I have doubts. I have lost the ability to wade trustingly through specious layers of rationale. The other book reviewers were so thorough, I suspect you can get the entire understanding of the book by reading the reviews.