Good political writing, whether the reader agrees or disagrees, should make the reader thirst to read more. It makes the reader not content with what is on the pages of one single book, regardless of how well written it is. It makes the reader either question some of his convictions or makes him stronger in them, sometimes both at the same time. “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto” by Mark R. Levin is one of those books.

Among friends and family, many of whom are nowhere near as interested in politics as I am, I'm considered very knowledgeable by those who agree with me, and probably insane by those who disagree. To both those groups, I humbly admit I am little more than a “back bencher” at best and a “big dope” at worst. For those who don't listen to Mark's show, those are two terms he frequently uses.

Throughout his book, Levin refers to America's founding documents (the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution), the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers, as well as such great thinkers as Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, Alexis de Tocqueville et al to discuss the type of government our system was intended to be. To illustrate how we got to where we are now, he quotes Karl Marx, Saul Alinsky and even several of our Presidents and other officials of both Democratic and Republican stripes, showing the steps that destroyed the firewalls of the Constitution.

Levin calls to task many politicians for their role in promoting “Statism” and the “soft tyranny” that exists in today's government. He lashes out at Democrats for their role in growing the bureaucracy, but also calls many Republicans to task for the same. Many of his ideas challenge the status quo that has been promoted by both major parties – the “progressive” income tax and federal involvement in education just to name two – in an attempt to get people to think independently.

As I read, I found myself checking out the bibliography at every single footnote with the thought, “I definitely have a lot more reading to do.” I've read, listened to and watched people of various opinions in the media talk about how things ought to be, but few if any have delved as deeply in my opinion as Mark Levin.

I found myself more convinced than ever before of the dangers of the ever growing federal government, and of the constant surrender of states' rights that has transformed them from the entities that created and should be the biggest check on federal power to mere appendages of the bloated administrative state in DC.

I found myself in disagreement with some of the finer points of his arguments on foreign policy, but believing more firmly in the damage we have done to ourselves as a nation by swinging between three extremes of isolationism, interventionism and globalism. All have, in one way or another, weakened us as a nation.

This big dope enthusiastically recommends “Liberty and Tyranny” to all, not as a be all and end all of political thought, but as a springboard to greater knowledge of government as it is and as it was meant to be. As for me, I have a great deal more reading to do.