The Declaration of Independents

How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America

Contributors

By Nick Gillespie

By Matt Welch

Formats and Prices

Price

$21.99

Price

$28.99 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. Trade Paperback $21.99 $28.99 CAD
  2. ebook $9.99 $12.99 CAD

Everywhere in America, the forces of digitization, innovation, and personalization are expanding our options and bettering the way we live. Everywhere, that is, except in our politics. There we are held hostage to an eighteenth century system, dominated by two political parties whose ever-more-polarized rhetorical positions mask a mutual interest in maintaining a stranglehold on power.

The Declaration of Independents is a compelling and extremely entertaining manifesto on behalf of a system better suited to the future–one structured by the essential libertarian principles of free minds and free markets. Gillespie and Welch profile libertarian innovators, identify the villains propping up the ancien regime, and take aim at do-something government policies that hurt most of those they claim to protect. Their vision will resonate with a wide swath of frustrated citizens and young voters, born after the Cold War’s end, to whom old tribal allegiances, prejudices, and hang-ups about everything from hearing a foreign language on the street to gay marriage to drug use simply do not make sense.


  • Kirkus, May 5, 2011

    "An enthusiastic, entertaining libertarian critique of American politics, brimming with derision for the status quo and optimism for the future and confident of the right direction.”
    Marginal Revolution, May 20, 2011

    “This is the up-to-date statement of libertarianism.  Not warmed-over right-wing politics, but real, true-blooded libertarianism in the sense of loving liberty and wanting to find a new path toward human flourishing."
    Washington Examiner, June 26, 2011

    “An important book and lively read.”
    Forbes.com, July 4, 2011

    “A fun and ultimately positive look at how anti-authoritarianism, entrepreneurship and independence have led to one revolution after another in the way we think about the world, the products we buy, and the jobs we end up getting (or creating for ourselves)…. It's a good book, a well-written, easily accessible manifesto on how libertarian ideas and anti-authoritarianism can help change the world, and how they will one way or another, whether we like it or not. Just as importantly, the book is uplifting, optimistic and full of energy.”
    RealClearPolitics, July 5, 2011

On Sale
Jun 26, 2012
Page Count
304 pages
Publisher
PublicAffairs
ISBN-13
9781610391009

Nick Gillespie

About the Author

Nick Gillespie is the editor-in-chief of the websites Reason.tv and Reason.com and Matt Welch heads up the print edition of Reason, which since 1968 has been “a kick-ass, no-holds-barred political magazine” (New York Post) whose “refusal to carry water for the Republicans or Democrats is deeply refreshing in this age of partisan bickering” (Folio).

Learn more about this author