August 28, 2017
Radio host Levin (Plunder and Deceit) asks a provocative question—what would the Founding Fathers “think about today’s America?”—in this dense, thoughtful book. If the book “can open a few eyes it will have served its purpose,” Levin writes, and to that end he quotes generously from “philosophers and thinkers,” including Cicero, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Thomas Jefferson. Even readers unfamiliar with the author’s show or with his previous books (which he refers to frequently) will quickly realize that Levin’s answer to the question he poses is a decidedly conservative one—that the Founders would be outraged by the extent of the federal government’s interference in everyday life. Right- and left-wing readers may disagree on the wisdom of his policy prescriptions, but they are likely to agree that the presentation is erudite and sometimes challenging. Discussing market capitalism, for instance, Levin writes that it has been addressed primarily “in the context of Marx’s material historicism” and continues by writing that in his view “private property is the material manifestation of the individual’s labor.” He also throws out some heady discussion points: “What do we mean by human and individual freedom?” This is an educational, if often long-winded, policy primer.