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Title: The Rule of Law in the Wake of Clinton by Roger Pilon, Cato Institute ISBN: 1-930865-03-1 Publisher: Cato Institute Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: An introduction to the real Clinton scandals
Comment: This book is a collection of essays drawn from a conference in July 2000 held by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C. Needless to say, the contributors have a pretty low opinion of the accomplishments of the Clinton Administration in regards to the rule of law, civil liberties and the Bill of Rights. Each chapter serves as a good introduction to the various assaults by Clinton on privacy, free speech, gun rights, and so on. As a primer, the book succeeds. It was nauseating to read of Clinton relentlessly championing unlimited government and the rule of man over the individual, freedom and common sense. Unfortunately, no chapter is able to go into depth on any of the subjects so one will have to go elsewhere for an in-depth expose on any of Clinton's appalling attacks on freedom that occurred regularly throughout his reign as head of Leviathan.
Of interest is the fact that a couple of the essays are written by people currently in the Bush Administration, including Ted Olson (currently Solicitor General) and Bill Pryor (appellate court nominee). Only time will tell if they were sincere in their respect for the rule of law, after they held the reigns of power.
Hopefully (and sadly) this will be the first of many such books, each one examining the latest administration?s attack on the Constitution. It certainly looks like the current administration is off to a rousing start with the USA PATRIOT Act.
Rating: 3
Summary: Inconsistent - some great chapters, some poor
Comment: I'd have to take exception with the review below written by Steve Shaw. This book is not filled with big worded, mumbo-jumbo as he suggests. He may be good at reading Homer or Shakespeare. But apparently, he understands little of legal analysis, which is precisely the subject of this book.
That said, perhaps the book is not for the average reader. I have a law degree, so I find the legal analysis to be easily readible. Others may not.
But as a critical thinker, one certainly comes away from this book wanting better, less biased analysis. Some of the chapters are very well written and very well argued.
Others, however, are downright sloppy ... not worthy of a first year law student. One particularly poor chapter is written by none other than Ted Olsen - President Bush's Solicitor General (the person who aregues on behalf of the U.S. Government before the Supreme Court). This is disturbing, as it demostrates that Bush appointed a Solicitor General who so clearly has an ax to grind against Clinton, that his bias blinds him to the many gaps in logic in his own analysis.
In fact, Olsen's chapter is so poorly reasoned, I'd go so far as to suggest it was intentionally misleading. If Olsen wins any cases before the Rehnquist court, the "legal realist" will have much case law to support their beliefs.
The same critique particularly can be lobbed against the poorly written chapters by John Yoo and Daniel Troy, those others are also lacking.
But the initial chapeters in the book are both well written and well reasoned, which in some ways only makes the contrast with the mentioned chapters more stark.
One only hopes that after the Bush Presidency, the Cato Institute similarly puts out a book on "The Rule of Law in the Wake of Bush." For if the arguments are applied consistently and without bias, readers would come to learn that Bush is far more like Clinton than Al gore ever likely would have been! If Bush is held to the same standard to which the Cato Institute holds Clinton, then intellectual honesty would demand that they conclude that President Bush is doing far more damage to respect for the rule of law than his predecessor.
Rating: 1
Summary: Ego stoking mumbo jumbo.
Comment: When I purchased this book I thought I was in for a treat. Being an avid reader on political/social issues, I have been treated to many great books. This is not one of them.
From the first page the book bogs itself down with many, many obscure words, and places them in sentences with many other obscure words. In the first 20 pages you will frequently ask yourself: "What in the world did I just read?". I found myself often re-reading pages over and over again to figure out exactly what the author's point was. Unfortunately, after 60 pages I gave up on trying to extract a point, and set this book aside.
Remember that pseudo-intellectual crowd from college? You know the ones...they rattle off endless strings of words that were pulled from deep, dark pages of a thesaurus, in an attempt to make themselves seem more intelligent. The essays in this book are all pseudo-intellectual babble. No insight. No challenging thought. Just pure ego stroking.
You may be saying: "The reviewer might...not have the capacity to handle material like this." Unfortunately for the author this is not the case. I have read everything from Homer to Shakespeare and Lao Tzu to Hemingway. I have a deep appreciation for literature, writing and critical thinking. I love good analysis spread across pages using elegant and clear text. This book is not clear. This book is horrid and unreadable, and virtually pointless.
If you want to get better acquainted with you thesaurus, please buy this book. If you want to learn about 'Law in the wake of Clinton', seek out other authors because you will find nothing decipherable here. The essays are not written to be read, they are written to impress. Obscure prose serves no one, for the meaning in context is easily lost. Be prepared to read, re-read and lose interest.
If you want a good book on life in the post-Clinton era that is well written and insightful, read 'The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America' by Philip K. Howard. It will motivate you to learn more. 'Law in the wake of Clinton' will will only cause eye-strain and brain drain.
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Title: Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years by Rich Lowry ISBN: 0895261294 Publisher: Regnery Publishing Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty by Randy Barnett ISBN: 0691115850 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $32.50 |
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Title: Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One by Thomas Sowell ISBN: 0465081436 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 11 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse by Gregg Easterbrook ISBN: 0679463038 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 25 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror by Richard Miniter ISBN: 0895260743 Publisher: Regnery Publishing Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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