This book could well be preaching to the choir. Truth Seeker has long been sympathetic to maximizing liberty and minimizing government. However, a former editor with strong libertarian sentiments once told me, "We don't want Truth Seeker to become a Libertarian Party rag." We are independent. We discuss politics—among other things.

The book is a campaign document; the author is the 1996 Libertarian Party candidate for president of the United States. Most major candidates for president get a book out in plenty of time for the election season, and this book is no exception. However, I believe it is exceptional in that it has a good chance of outliving the election, as few such books do.

Does Browne show that government doesn't work, and does he then go on to show why it doesn't work? Let's see. Very early in the book, he identifies the key difference between government and other human activity: coercion. As the mugger knows, coercion works just fine—in the short term and in a specific situation. But people tend to resist coercion and find ways to get around it. When it is government doing the coercing, Browne points out that it is usually taking from some to give to others. The "some" will decrease as much as possible, while the others will increase without limit. The situation is inherently unstable. But it continues to grow. Why? Because, as Browne notes, each failure is used as an excuse for more government, people have a vested interest in getting a piece of the pie, and bureaucrats crave power. If people are sheep, this will work for quite a while.

Are people sheep? This nation wasn't founded by sheep. West Texas wasn't settled by sheep. Humanists, denouncing Psalm 23, insist that people are not sheep. Former Truth Seeker publisher James Hervey Johnson said again and again that people are sheep. The answer today seems to be that most are, some are not. But elections are won by majorities, even though the majority of people don't vote! So we have a government of the sheep and for the sheep but by the wolves a.k a. "shepherds," and the sheep continue to be shorn.

And it works. Three years ago I reviewed a book titled "Bankruptcy 1995." It didn't happen. There are any number of "gloom and doom" books that prophesy the collapse of overextended government within a few years. Such books quickly become obsolete or, like Jehovah's Witnesses, change the date. The ballooning tyranny somehow muddles through. The end result is a police state and megadeath, as Browne notes. He also points out that the ugliness of Hitler Germany and Khmer Rouge Cambodia is getting closer, as BATF, IRS and DEA goons get away with murder and grand theft as they go after innocent citizens. Maybe by the standard of decency it doesn't work, even as the sheep continue to be docile and obedient.

Besides the creeping growth noted above, Browne identifies four major periods that expanded government: the Civil War, the Teddy Roosevelt-Wilson era, the New Deal, and the Great Society. These have been noted in other Truth Seeker articles, some in this issue. Each period did its own damage in changing the basic structure of government away from the Constitution.

What does Browne propose to do as President? It's a long list: pardon all those convicted of victimless federal crimes; stop and punish all violations of the Bill of Rights by federal officers; remove U. S. troops from foreign countries; veto all budget bills that exceed his budget proposals (Browne notes that Reagan failed almost totally in this regard); and much more. He offers specific proposals in the major areas of health care, education, welfare, national defense, crime, Social Security. A lot of the proposals, as you would expect, involve privatization.

I agree with his assessment and would be happy to see his program carried out. Whether government "works" depends on what you mean by "work." A jaundiced or detached view would say that it does; if we want a free country with a joyful and productive citizenry, it is clear that government hasn't provided us with one, and it won't.

Why Government Doesn't Work, by Harry Browne. 1995. Published by St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010. ISBN 0- 31213623-4. 245 pp.