• "Well written, well researched, and the thesis put forth is well argued.... Woods has opened up an area of historical analysis that should invite further study."
    -Journal of American History

  • "During these times that challenge our freedoms there is no one more qualified to make U.S. history relevant to the fight against big government than Thomas Woods."
    -Barry Goldwater Jr.
    Former Member of Congress

  • "I strongly recommend Woods's work."
    -The Honorable Ron Paul,
    U.S. House of Representatives

  • "Written with great clarity and fluency, making the complex philosophical and theological concepts approachable."
    -Journal of American Studies

  • "A must-read."
    -Barron's

  • "An excellent reading source for anyone interested in financial markets, and much more so for anyone interested in learning about capitalism without all the misinterpretations being thrown about in the financial media."
    -Asia Times

  • "Provocative, well-written, and deserves to be read."
    -Catholic Historical Review

  • "An engaging and important contribution to scholarship on the history of American Catholicism."
    -Journal of the Historical Society

  • "Woods and [co-author Kevin] Gutzman appeal to both left and right in this constitutionalist jeremiad…. The authors' exegeses of the Constitution and court decisions, heavy on original intent arguments, are lucid and telling."
    -Publishers Weekly

  • "A marvelous read. Every chapter taught me something new and unexpected."
    -Tom Bethell, senior editor,
    The American Spectator

  • "The hottest book today is Meltdown, by my friend Tom Woods."
    -Judge Andrew Napolitano, senior judicial analyst,
    FOX News Channel

  • "Should be required reading."
    -Economic Affairs (London)

  • "Woods, one of the best classical liberal [libertarian] scholars of his generation, has once more placed us in his debt with this lucid and tightly argued book."
    -David Gordon, The Mises Review

  • "Tom Woods is one of my dearest allies in the struggle against wrong-headed and dangerous economic policy."
    -Peter Schiff

Woods’ Law #2

The “progressive” Left always prefers a neoconservative to an antiwar libertarian.  That’s Woods’ Law #2.  They can overlook the support for war, the centralization of power (what “progressive” would disagree with that these days?), the encroachments on civil liberties.  That’s all fine and dandy.  But someone who opposes the initiation of violence against peaceful people?  Get him!

I am under attack from these people because I wonder if 300 million people ruled from one city is the most humane way to live.  Don’t I know I am not supposed to ask such a heretical question?

I predicted exactly what these people would say about me when my book Nullification came out.  I nailed it to a T.  Here’s my actual background, since you won’t learn about it from them (an oversight, I’m sure).  And I’m pretty sure my Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, which they haven’t read but are sure must be terrible, survives the two neoconservative attacks they cite against it.  See my “Replies to Critics” on this page, and decide for yourself who has the better of the argument.

The fact that the Claremont Institute, which awarded Donald Rumsfeld its 2007 Statesmanship Award, doesn’t like my book is evidence to a progressive that you’re not supposed to like it.  How clueless can you be?  (Natch, they leave out that Claremont did like this book.  Probably just an oversight.)

The progressives who are after me are the worst kind of all.  If California decriminalizes marijuana, they will be the first to call for locking people up in government cages anyway.  For how dare they resist their wise overlords in Washington!  What’s that, comrade?  “Question Authority,” you say?  Wherever did you learn that?  What are you, some kind of “neo-Confederate”?

These “progressives” favor centralized government, they insist, because it’s so good for minority groups.  Oh, it’s super.  How great the federal drug war has been for blacks!

You know what all this calls to mind?  My Interview with a Zombie:

Unlearn the Propaganda!

  • Phil W

    Let me know when the 3 minute “hate Tom” sessions begin. I need a good laugh.

  • http://www.fascistsoup.com Michael Suede

    I think it is clear that the only way a country can prosper is by looting people at gun point.

    If someone has money, they are probably a capitalist and therefore should have their money confiscated so it can be put to work doing good for humanity instead of evil.

    For example, a capitalist would sell shoes for a profit, thereby depriving people of their money. If the State takes this evil capitalist’s profits, it can then use that money to do good things, like blowing up brown children in foreign countries.

    Only through violence can a society hope to achieve peace and prosperity.

    Praise Mao, and may Stalin expropriate your home to build a green energy windmill farm.

  • http://www.aviewfromthefence.com/ John Lambert

    I think Bob Murphy should be nominated for an Oscar. ;-)

  • Kieran

    Mr. Woods,

    Would you leave a link to Woods Law #1, please? I looked through your previous blog posts, but I couldn’t find it.

    I have finally begun reading Nullification, and I’m enjoying, as usual, your wit and intellectual insight.

    Keep up the great work.

    Respectfully,

    Kieran

  • Jack

    Kieran, Woods’ Law #1: “Whenever the private sector introduces an innovation that makes the poor better off than they would have been without it, or that offers benefits or terms that no one else is prepared to offer them, someone—in the name of helping the poor—will call for curbing or abolishing it.”

    Tom, have you had any direct communication with Martha Dean about this?

  • Kieran

    Thanks, Jack! That’s great.