SENATE DISTRICT 42
REPUBLICANS BLOG
REPRESENTING EDEN PRAIRIE AND SOUTHERN MINNETONKA

GOING ROGUE: An American Life -- Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, finished her memoir just four months after the book deal was announced. Palin abruptly resigned as Alaska governor over the summer of 2009 with more than a year left in her first term. She has been an object of fascination since Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, chose her as his running mate, making an instant celebrity out of a once-obscure public official. During last year's campaign, pundits questioned whether Palin hurt McCain's presidential bid by "going rogue," or defying his campaign's control. Although Obama easily won the election and Palin was criticized even by some Republicans for being inexperienced, she remains a favorite among conservatives and is a rumored contender for 2012.

INTELLECTUALS AND SOCIETY -- Thomas Sowell. Intellectuals have an enormous effect on public opinion and public policy. Intellectuals of the past successfully agitated for defective policies: for so-called protectionism, gun control, crime and punishment, and income inequality. Sowell not only examines the track record of intellectuals in the things they have advocated but also analyzes the incentives and constraints under which their views and visions have emerged. One of the most surprising aspects of this study is how often intellectuals have been proved not only wrong, but grossly and disastrously wrong in their prescriptions for the ills of society -- and how little their views have changed in response to empirical evidence of the disasters caused by those views.

ATLAS SHRUGGED -- Ayn Rand. Ayn RandThe most important event of the past two centuries is the rise of capitalism and the Industrial Revolution — a social revolution that has radically transformed human life for the better. Free markets and industrialization have produced a previously unimagined wealth, which is enjoyed not only by captains of industry but by the common man, who is able to afford luxuries — large homes, automobiles, air travel, everything down to his caffe latte at the corner coffee shop — on a scale that could not even have been conceived in earlier centuries. In this book (written in 1957), Ayn Rand explores a world where government begins to crowd out the private sector -- much like they are today in Obama's White House. What if the artists, the intellectuals, and the employers all respond to liberal tyranny by suddenly going on strike and decided they would no longer provide society with all its riches any longer?

LIBERTY AND TYRANNY: A Conservative Manifesto -- Mark Levin. Conservative beliefs in individual freedoms do in the end stand for liberty for all Americans, while liberal dictates lead to the breakdown of civilized society -- in short, tyranny. Looking back to look to the future, Levin writes "conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are our founding principles." And in a series of powerful essays, Levin lays out how conservatives can counter the liberal corrosion that has filtered into every timely issue affecting our daily lives, from the economy to health care, global warming, immigration, and more -- and illustrates how change, as seen through the conservative lens, is always prudent, and always an enhancement to individual freedom.

TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness -- Dave Ramsey. Only read this book if you're tired of the "normal" everyday cycle of being in debt - being slave to your lenders. Whether it's credit cards, student loans, car loans, mortgages, etc. Dave Ramsey lays out a plan to break the cycle, change your family tree so your children don't think living paycheck to paycheck and owing huge amounts of debts is normal. As Dave puts it, if that's normal then "be weird." Get out of debt and live in TRUE Financial Peace -- it will change your life.