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A book about the socially constructive power of freedom and the perils of its suppression. Gets to the root of democracy's failure and validates the so-called apathy of voters.
From anthills to rainforests to galaxies, everywhere else in the cosmos things successfully organize from the bottom up. Yet we continue to expect that the top-down approach of government by force will bring humanity anything more than increasing strife and taxes. This refreshing book focuses upon the incredible and often invisible power of freedom - and the perils of its suppression in our society.
Why is it that the states that we expect to nurture and protect us are themselves the greatest root cause of disorder and strife? Whether confused, bemused or abused by the state of the world, Uncommon Sense will re-assure you that politics is not even the primary game in town, though it may sometimes look like the only one. Funny and convincing, non-violent and hard-hitting, startling and optimistic.
Uncommon Sense is not about politics; it is about not politics.
Excerpt
Without the state, who will run the emergency services, educate our children, set speed limits and so forth? This is the first thought that usually springs to mind. The former rulers of the Soviet Union and the current rulers of China cannot imagine how a nation could feed itself without the state regulating the situation. For seven years after the end of World War II, Britain maintained food rationing because its rulers had become so used to it, that they could not believe such a complex and important function to society would be able to somehow self-organize all on its own. They have a point - it seems that only chaos theory can explain the miracle of how all the interacting factors in cities the size of London, Bombay, New York or Mexico City conspire to feed all of the inhabitants according to their own tastes and means on a daily basis without any central organisation or planning. It is government from the bottom up, by the people. It is true democracy. Though we rarely recognize or acknowledge the invisible natural government that arises in a free food chain, it keeps our bellies and larders filled with whatever we desire.
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