A Necessay Evil by Garry Wills

Even though this book has a copy right of 1999, it is still worthy of being read and considered even in the twenty first century. We still have government and that is what Wills refers to as a necessary evil.

It was Henry David Thoreau who said, “that government is best which governs least.” That is because the more power we allow the government to have the less personal liberties we, the people, retain. We can see that in our loss of a liberty when it comes to health care. If we allow the government to provide our health care as to what we can or cannot receive, we lose.. If we hand the power to have in our possession our guns, all our liberties are gone.  As the states cede power to the central government, tyranny impends.

You see, the size of government inevitably decreases freedom, is something Wills contends.

On the other hand, we the people, must know the facts before we react. Become knowledgeable, not reactionary. This book can be a starting point for researching. You don’t have to agree with all things presented. But ignorance is not acceptable. You may not like the author. Tough. Grow up. Read both sides and form your own conclusions. Garry Wills is a good teacher  and presents the facts in an easy to digest way.

But we do need government to provide the protection for the common defense. Wills Talks about some myths we have grown up with. He exposes some of our early leaders from Washington to Martin Luther King Junior, to the SDS. He talks about the insurrectionists and the vigilantes, to name a few areas handled in this book.

Facts. Become knowledgeable. Know what you stand for and the ground you stand upon.

This is a good sound history of the American Distrust of Government. Read it.

It is published by Simon & Schuster.