Arguing with Idiots, by Glenn Beck

I happened upon this book by accident; it is my spouse's, but any book in sight is fair game in my view. I wasn't sure what to expect: Beck is demonized by the left as a nut-case, and I don't have any real experience of his views. To my surprise, I find my self agreeing with everything he has to say.

Beck does a great job of pointing out the insanity of the nanny state, where the combination of inane legislation and the fear of litigation causes people to abandon common sense for their own protection. Even worse, to abandon common decency because to act on the public's behalf is a significant risk these days.

I particularly liked his chapter on the Second Amendment. Beck points out:

1. We oughtn't be confused by the preamble, which mentions a militia (which at the time consisted of the whole set of able bodied men). Notice, for example, that Congress has the power "to promote the Progess of Science and the useful Arts" by enacting copyright and patent laws. That doesn't mean that every copyrighted work must promote scientific progress and useful arts, because we don't limit copyright and patent protection only to things that so promote. [p38]
   
   
2. The point of the Second Amendment is, "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Why is this less important than the First Amendment, "the right of the people peaceably to assemble," or the Fourth, "the right of the people to be secure... against unreasonable searches and seizures," or any other Constitutional guaranty?
   
   
3. And many other points that are too numerous and common-sense obvious for me to even type here, although it seems that most Democratic politicians are comfortable rejecting this Amendment and most of the media salutes in the brainwashing of the day.
   

The chapter on teachers' unions was similarly great. Actually, all the chapters were great.

Beck may be a nut-case, but he's a libertarian, common sense nut-case, and those are the kind that I relate to best.