Peace, Love & Liberty

by Tom G. Palmer

Peace, Love, & Liberty, a provocative new book of essays edited by Dr. Tom G. Palmer on the topics of peace and war published September 15, 2014.

War is not inevitable. But peace cannot be achieved by wishful thinking alone. This book presents the evidence regarding what fosters peace, and what disturbs it with conflict. The data demonstrate that the world can continue to grow more peaceful if we limit government and foster open trade, the rule of law, and equal rights. It takes an unflinching look at the ideologies of conflict on the hard Left and hard Right -- and presents an alternative that can be the basis of a new, smart, evidence-based Peace Movement.

Essays include:

The Decline of War and Conceptions of Human Nature (Steven Pinker, Professor, Harvard University)

The Free Trade Peace (Erik Gartzke, Associate Professor, University of California, San Diego and professor, University of Essex)

The American Enlightenment’s Wariness of War (Robert M.S. McDonald, Associate Professor, United States Military Academy)

The Militarization of Policing (Radley Balko, journalist, Washington Post and investigative reporter, Huffington Post)

The Art of War (Sarah Skwire, author and award winning poet).

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Philosophy

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2014

Reviews

[Patrick Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sept. 2014 - updated, mostly for grammar and clarity on 11 Dec. 2017
A tour de force!!!!!

The first chapter (and the whole book) is a fantastic rip of those who want war and also an impassioned promotion of the peace lovers. Scholarly, yet very readable, with plenty of poetry to inspire.

I previously only vaguely remembered Hesiod from my history books, but now am a HUGE fan of his poetic theme of the beauty of commerce and domestic life over Homer's - the grandfather of all poets lionizing war, and sadly, far better known and read.

Chap. Two, by Stephen Pinker on the Decline of War and Conceptions of Human Nature. Very well done, though some is a little cryptic. He cites and takes up the theme of the pathbreaking work by James Payne's A History of Force - that there has been a long-term trend toward less physical violence in the world, despite what most people think. Pinker's expertise is in Psychology, whereas Payne's is Political Science. The two have meshed well to provide powerful facts and explanations as to how this trend is actually possible. Pinker lists some good "products of human cognition that have disincentivized leaders and populations from plunging into war" such as:
- limits on government
- an infrastructure of commerce
- norms of nonviolent cooperation
- measured responses to aggression
etc.
Unfortunately he leaves out some key insights that Mises and other economists have stressed, such as property rights, and knowledge of the benefits of free markets that economics teaches. He does mention briefly the ideology of (classical) liberalism and peace, but not strongly enough. I urge Pinker and his readers to follow-up on this hole by familiarizing themselves with works by Mises such as Liberalism, Socialism, or just about any other works of this great but too little appreciated economist.

Chapter three: The Economics of Peace: How Richer Neighbors are Very Good News!" by Emmanuel Martin. This chapter highlights the insight of classical economist Jean-Baptiste Say, and other classical economists, and their clear demonstrations that the benefits of peace outweigh the costs and any perceived benefits from war. An enlightened understanding of economics teaches the benefits of free trade and peace. Perfect follow-up to chapter two.

Chapter four: a marvelous interview with businessman Chris Rufer on his career, how he started out driving a truck and kept working to create the largest tomato processing company in the country, if not the world. His focus on the benefits of trade vs. protection, war or any government interference with honest business is such a clear statement to hear from a businessman. The difference between voluntary relationships and coerced ones is key for him. Highly recommended. Possibly my favorite chapter in the book.

Chapter five: "The Free Trade Peace" reiterates the previous economic arguments, but by a political scientist, Erik Gartzke, who brings in great data shown in graphs, as well as discussing some excellent political writers. Many good points, one of which can't be stressed too much - limiting government is key to economic development. Too few people understand the essential nature of this concept that enables freedom, prosperity and peace.

Chapter six: "The Political Economy of Empire and War" by Tom Palmer highlights why Pinker and Payne's good news facts, that peace is indeed winning, are not more widely known and appreciated. He informs the reader of several other great writers and activists who have promoted peace and made this happy trend possible: Frederick Bastiat, Adam Smith, Richard Cobden and John Bright, William Graham Sumner and a new one to me: Parker T. Moon. He also clues us in to one of the muddle-headed writers who steered us wrong: Samuel Huntington, along with faulty ideas of mercantilism, protectionism, "economic conflict" and imperialism, all with a zero sum worldview.

Chapter seven: Historian Robert McDonald on "the American Enlightenment's Wariness of War" was a wonderful read on the many advantages in ideas and leaders that America has been blessed with to be able to stay out of many (though far from all) destructive wars, to keep limited government, keep civilians in charge of the military and generally be more peaceful than warlike.

Chapter eight: "War's Declining Significance as a Policy Tool in the Contemporary Age" by Cato Institute's Justin Logan brought home the importance of the Pinker/Payne facts in additional ways. By classifying and highlighting many recent wars he explores some of the reasons why states go to war and some of the outcomes and counters to those forces.

Chapter nine: Radley Balko's "The Militarization of Policing" - considering what America just witnessed in Ferguson, MO, with snipers, armored vehicles, fully militarized police forces in this suburb of St. Louis, America is starting to see and hopefully wake up to what he points out in this chapter. It is not just the military fighting in foreign wars that America is dealing with, but also the militarization of local conflicts.

Chapter ten: The Philosophy of Peace or the Philosophy of Conflict" by Tom Palmer in an excellent, but quite scholarly, discussion of many writers over the millennia who have dealt with this subject. He does a really neat job of separating the good guys from the bad. Be prepared for his dealing extensively with the bad guys in this chapter. And the bad guys, the ones who promote a philosophy glorifying war, are from the right and the left. From Joseph de Maistre, Marx, Engels, John Ruskin, Robert Filmer, Carl Schmitt, Ernst Junger, Slavoj Zizek, Antonio Negri, Michael Hardt, John Rawls, Leo Strauss, and Woodrow Wilson and up to the present day's David Brooks, Robert Kagan, and William Kristol.

The bad ideas to watch out for: the counter enlightenment, socialism, communism, class warfare, collectivism, fascism, critical theorists, neo-conservatives, Analytical Marxists, and many others glorifying war and violence.

The good guys, classical liberals/libertarians are described too: Pinker again, John Locke, Richard Overton, Montesquieu, Bastiat again, Voltaire, George Orwell, Erich Maria Remarque and Charles Spradling.

The good ideas: the enlightenment, equal individual rights, spontaneous order, rule of law, freedom of exchange, religious toleration, limited government again, freedom of speech, objectivity, rationality, markets, toleration, etc.

Chapter eleven: The Art of War is a marvelous essay by Liberty Fund fellow Sarah Skwire. She points out several very pithy portraits of war in literature and their significance. She introduces the power of literature and poetry to move the heart and mind and penetrate the propaganda, the regimentation, the statist mechanisms that have helped make war too prevalent and destructive. Her comments are a great introduction to the following chapters:

Chapter twelve: "The War Prayer" by Mark Twain - don't miss this!!!
Chapter thirteen and fourteen: "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "Parable of the Old Man and the Young" poems by Wilfred Owen.

The final chapter, fifteen: "Peace Begins with You" by Cathy Reisewitz of Students for Liberty is a clarion call and very brief "how to" manual. Her key points are Learn, Amplify and Organize - a perfect ending to this marvelous little book.

2021-10-13 I just found this great webpage that has this book and all the others in the same series available free, with just some basic info required: studentsforliberty.org/north-america/...

[Shea Mastison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many of the other SFL publications, this book is well-edited and approaches its topics from a variety of different perspectives. The book addresses the declining mortality associated with war, its contemporary infrequency, and its sources.

As a libertarian, I am a minority in imagining that war is not 100% preventable by market forces. I feel there is a biological impulse in humanity that makes interpersonal violence reliable; and that scarcity can be a motive factor in the existence of war. However, the aims of anti-war, free-market radicals is highly admirable; it's not something I consider immediately realistic.

Check this out if you're into politics and against war.

[Miguel Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what i want in a book.

[Michael Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was very young, about third- or fourth-grade age, I, home-schooled, and my poor government-schooled contemporaries were assigned to read, as textbook, "A Child's History of the World," by V.M. Hillyer.
Fairly recently I started reading it online but got distracted.
I was reminded of it, though, when I started reading "Peace, Love, & Liberty" (the comma after "Love" is on the cover even if not listed in the title here).
In that long-ago reading, an almost-unanimous conclusion after one particular chapter was that it was boring: It was the first chapter not to be about war!
Union General Sherman proclaimed, "War is hell!" and then led his arsonists and rapists on a rampage to prove it.
Confederate General Lee, though, said, "It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."
Except for George Washington and Winston Churchill -- both of whom wrote exultantly of having bullets pass near them -- most people, especially soldiers who have actually "been there," oppose war.
Widows, orphans, and the war-maimed certainly oppose war.
Samuel Pettingill noted, "War –- after all, what is it that the people get? Why -- widows, taxes, wooden legs and debt."
Somehow, though, somehow, we seem always embroiled in war. WHY?
This excellent book offers both an answer to that question and some suggestions as to how to prevent future wars.
Contents of "Peace, Love, & Liberty" are so good, so consistently profound and important, it's difficult to single out one chapter, but I will try: Chapter 11, "The Art of War," by Sarah Skwire, whose work I have admired before, is my choice as the best and best-written, but she sure has stiff competition.
Included along with that written for this book are some classic works such as the Mark Twain "The War Prayer," which should surely jar any "patriot" into some new thinking.
Poetry by W.H. Auden is referenced and by Wilfred Owen quoted in full.
"Peace, Love, & Liberty" is another of those gems from Jameson Books, small but powerful, and so (relatively) inexpensive that a concerned parent or teacher or civic group could buy cartons of it to distribute to, for example, graduating students or, maybe better, rising seniors.
All praise to Jameson Books, to the Atlas Network, to Students for Liberty, and to Tom G. Palmer, editor and contributor.
As the subtitle tells us: "War Is Not Inevitable."

[Shabna K Salam · Rating 2 out of 5]

#qotd what is a "war" according to your definition?!
.
Well, according to me war is not just about "playing" with guns or grenades it's also about "playing" with emotions,not just two or more countries get benefited or adversely affected rather thousands of lives of people who turns out to be fathers, mothers, daughters,sons are getting "instability" as a state of life,which is a great torture with immense brutality considering our life as a human.
.
This book discusses every aspects of war.It states many examples to make us understand the importance of the title,P.E.A.C.E,L.O.V.E&L.I.B.E.R.T.Y. but mostly it describes about how trade can positively reduce the chances of war between 2 countries.
.
It really was a tough read for me,really struggled to complete it .It can be classified as a very "high quality" essay type genre which solely explains wars, free market trade etc though I couldn't agree to some philosophies mentioned as I sensed a bit of "capitalism" in specific areas
⭐⭐

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of writings on the benefits of war and its consequences over time but lacking in depth. It is hard for me to believe that the world has become less violent over time as is the consensus of the many authors cited secondary to development of free trade.

[S.G. Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays on peace and war in the context of Libertarian thinking. Thought-provoking. It made me remember the things that once attracted me to this philosophy, but now I also see what it lacks.

[Sloveneanon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Libertarian sloganeering and little else. Touches up on some genuinely interesting topics like the history of the conception of war in political economy from the 18th century to the early 21st, but is too busy feeding you Cato Institute-approved agitprop to actually seriously explore any of it.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting piece, even if you know a lot on this subject you still get to learn more. I highly recommend this book.

[Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro bastante llamativo sobre el enfoque liberal respecto a la guerra, una compendio de ensayos bastante completos. Siendo destacables aquellos en que se usan datos para mostrar la reducción de la violencia en el mundo (vivimos en un mundo mejor) como en el de Steven Pinker, así como aquellos en que se desmontan las falacias económicas sobre la guerra, el proteccionismo y el mercantilismo, y la idea de la conquista como vía de asegurar recursos, como se observa en los ensayos de Palmer, Martin y Gartzke. Como lector latinoamericano, llama especialmente la atención el ensayo histórico "El temor a la guerra de la Ilustración americana" en el que puede verse como el control civil de las milicias independentistas, así como una efectiva acción contra las intenciones dictatoriales, crearon una tradición de lealtad del ejército y un compromiso con la democracia; que contrasta con lo ocurrido en los países latinoamericanos después de la Independencia con una larga seguidilla de caudillos militares y golpes de estado. En general, la prosa es aceptable, con una traducción llana que no permite apreciar las diferencias de estilos entre los autores.

De manera personal, discrepo con los ensayos sobre la militarización policial y aquel sobre "La filosofía de la paz o la filosofía del conflicto", que llega a ser bastante tendencioso respecto a la obra de Ernst Jünger, ubicándolo prácticamente como el autor que engendró el nazismo, o al menos como si fuese él, el que cedió la pluma para crear el "Mein Kampf"

Recomendable para aquellos liberales o libertarios, que quieran profundizar en el tema de la violencia y la guerra

[Anthony · Rating 1 out of 5]

Libertarian slogans repeated ad nauseum

[Теодор Димокенчев · Rating 4 out of 5]

Нелоша книжка с антивоенни есета, с данни за намаляването на насилието през човешката история и подобни работи. Нищо феноменално.

[Davidwmolson]

I thought chapters 3 and 9 were quite good.