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Here is the list of books Rick and I spoke about this afternoon.  I can’t remember if it’s comprehensive, since we covered so much ground in the two segments, but these are the books that I think are important from the discussion.

Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift, by Paul A. Rahe, examines the works of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Tocqueville, specifically the dangers they saw in the newly formed republican governments in France and America.  Tocqueville, in his essential work Democracy in America, predicted in the future a kind of soft-despotism, where the state “does not break wills, but softens them,” and “finally reduces each nation to nothing more than a herd of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.”  Rahe’s book looks at how this prediction has played out in both Europe and the United States.  For those who would like to read the philosophers in their own words:

You can buy Spirit of the Laws, by Montesquieu here, or download it for free here.

You can buy The Social Contract, By Rousseau here, or download it for free here.

You can buy Democracy in America, By Tocqueville here, or download it for free here.

Mark Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny likely needs no introduction.  It is a clear and accessible introduction to conservative principles, and is rightly sub-titled A Conservative Manifesto.

John Gibson’s book How the Left Swiftboated America is an excellent run down of the lies the American left spread during the Bush presidency in an effort to de-legitimize the President and his efforts in the war on terror.  Bonus: Massive trashing of John Stewart and Keith Olbermann.

Robert Heinlein is considered one of the grandfathers of science fiction, but is also one of the great unappreciated conservative authors.  His book The Moon is Harsh Mistress is a re-telling of the American Revolution, with a future lunar colony standing in place of the United States and a United World Government representing the British.  Short, easy to read, a great introduction to one of the greatest sci-fi authors of all time.

You can buy The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, By Robert Heinlein here.

You can buy Starship Troopers, By Robert Heinlein here.

Clint Patterson is a writer and martial art instructor who lives in Western Colorado.  cpatterson@quantumconservative.com.