OK, here is what I’m going to try to do. I’ll give what I feel is an objective and brief summary of what I read, set up the goal for next week and we’ll use the comment area for discussion. Please help me revise the summary in the comment area and join in the discussion.

Fourth Edition Forward:

Bettina B. Greaves appears to be an economics scholar affiliated with the Austrian school who edited this edition. I couldn’t find out much other info about her (him?). The forward does a nice job summing up the gist of the book and references things we won’t hit for weeks. It’s nice to know where it’s going.

Third Edition Forward:

Contains some updates and thank you’s by Mr. Mises. He talks about his usage of the terms psychology and liberal and mentions how nicely the book is bound. Too bad I’m reading it online.

Chapter 1 - Acting Man

• Action is defined as something someone does consciously and purposefully.
• It is easy to distinguish between conscious and unconscious action.
• Actions are measurable.
• We can’t get too mired down in worrying about what caused the actions or tacking value judgments onto those actions.
• People often act to decrease their uneasiness but human goals are very complex.
• There is a bunch of things other economists and scientists do that I’m not going to do.
• Without causality we couldn’t function in the world so it is fair to assume that most humans use the idea of causality to interact with other humans.

Next Installment: Both Forewords, Introduction, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 for Sunday 6/14. Once you finish Chapter 1 feel free to add your input to this thread of comments.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/…

Tom Woods blogged about people starting book clubs, and yesterday Revolutionaries in Maryland had their first book club meeting. I was in attendance, and it was everything I hoped for and more.
Ron Paul’s message was discussed as an abstract philosophy and as it applies to certain issues. The meeting lasted about 3 hours and the last half-hour or so was spent discussing what we do next. It seemed that everyone was in agreement that this is a long-term movement that will go well past November, and also everyone felt strongly that education of our fellow citizens was extremely important; not coerced education - but a presentation of the ideas of the movement at every opportunity.
We’re going to meet monthly, choosing books from The Manifesto’s extensive reading list. Next up, I am pleased to say, is Rothbard’s “What has Government Done to Our Money?” published by the Mises Institute.

This is good to hear. Hopefully the idea spreads. The biggest thing to come out of the Ron Paul Revolution has been the social component. From the Meetup groups to moneybombs and driving crossing state lines to canvas and rally. The libertarian movement really didn’t have that before and most people need that sense of belonging in order to stay focused and not get discouraged. The stereotypical libertarian is the rugged individualist who’s likely introverted. The rugged part is generally way off but we do tend to be self motivated. This is a fairly small component of the population. That’s not to say that libertarianism only appeals to that minority. I think historically you can show this isn’t true. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense got the Colonists all worked up and it’s a very libertarian work for the time. Perhaps you could say that it was just the anti-King rants that got them going but it would seem to me it wouldn’t require Paine’s help in order to do that. There was something more about it. The idea that every man is a sovereign. The common man does believe in liberty they just need to be reminded of it. This revolution is made up of the common man and the social networks that are being created are both a sign of that and also means to sustain them. Or maybe the technology we have now makes herding cats easier.

Whatever the case it seems to me this movement has more staying power then similar ones before it. The participants are often younger and the belief in freedom rarely fades the way other political fads do. The Free State Project is showing us that even a very small percentage of the population being active on behalf of freedom can make a obvious differences in the political and apolitical spheres. Now we will bring that nationally through organizations like DownsizeDC, Free Talk Live, the RLC and maybe even the LP. And of course through the actions of dedicated individuals at their local levels.