talkin' bout a revolution

I just read The Revolution: A Manifesto. I try to underline a bit so I can review and to give the next owner of the book a piece of my mind! Here are two excerpts:

Until the U.S. invasion in 2003, Iraq had never had a suicide terrorist attack in its entire history. (p20)

Saddam Hussein missed every single airplane for 12 years as tens of thousands of sorties were being flown indicates the utter weakness of our enemy: an impoverished Third World nation that hacked an air force, antiaircraft weapons, and a navy. This was supposed to be the great threat that required urgent action. (p24)

Iran, incidentally, may have noticed a pattern: if countries do have a nuclear wepon, they tend to be left alone, or possibly even given a subsidy. (…) With that kind of foreign policy, what country wouldn’t want to pursue a nuclear weapon? (p28)

For heaven’s sake, what kind of debate is it in which all sides agree that America needs troops in 130 countries? (p38)

Racism is a particularly odious form of collectivism whereby individuals are treated not by their merits but on the basis of group identity. (…) Government exacerbates racial thinking and undermines individualism because its very existance encourages people to organize along racial lines in order to lobby for benefits for their group. (p64)

(…) the military draft, an institution based on the idea that the government owns its citizens and may direct their destinies against their will. The income tax implies the same thing: the government owns you, and graciously allows you to keep whatever percentage of the fruits of your labor it chooses. Such an idea is incompatible with the principles of a free society. (p78)

The tax code excludes health insurance from taxation when purchased by an employer, but not when purchased by an individual. In addition, the HMO Act of 1973 forced all but the smallest employers to offer HMOs to their employees. The combined result was the illogical coupling of employment and health insurance. (p88)

Failure of the federal war on drugs should be clear enough from one simple fact: our government has been unable to keep drugs even out of prisons, which are surrounded by armed guards. (p131)

Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been found more effectual than that which deludes them with paper money. (p144)

In order to meet our long-term entitlement obligations we would need double-digit growth rates for 75 consecutive years. When was the last time we had double digit growth for even one year? (p159)