No Liberty for License: The Forgotten Logic of the First Amendment
| By: Dr. Ted Baehr; ©1999 |
| Dr. Baehr reviews the book No Liberty for License: The Forgotten Logic of the First Amendment by David Lowenthal. He describes it as “one of the most important books of the last hundred years,” and says that it reveals how the U.S. court system has “been unraveling the work of the founding fathers.” He further says that this is a “must read” book especially for Christian leaders. |
NO LIBERTY FOR LICENSE: THE FORGOTTEN LOGIC OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT
(a book review by Dr. Ted Baehr)
No Liberty for License: The Forgotten Logic of the First Amendment, was written by David Lowenthal (Spence Publishing Company, 1997)
Almost everybody recalls Prof. George Santayana’s statement that, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” However, few remember that Prof. Santayana made this profound statement while explaining that primitive societies could not progress in terms of civilization because they could not learn from their mistakes.
The founders of the United States of America learned from the mistakes their ancestors made in Europe and created a wonderful experiment called the American Republic. These were men of strong faith and values, clear convictions and deep understanding of political and philosophical issues. Regrettably, for the last 75 years, the courts in the U.S. and in particular the Supreme Court has been unraveling the work of the founding fathers.
Many people have touched on this serious problem and complained about the Supreme Court’s deliberate deconstruction of the free exercise of religion and free speech clauses of the First Amendment. Now, David Lowenthal in his superb book, No Liberty for License, carefully exposes the confusion of the courts and shows clearly where and how the court erred and why we need to return to the principles of the founding fathers as expressed in the Constitution so that we can progress as a civilization.
There have been several reviews of this book which have missed the point. Some of them have been outright lies, showing how powerful this book is. Mr. Lowenthal does not advocate censorship, but rather an accurate reading of the First Amendment, which will achieve the goals and affirm the foundations of our Republic.
This book is one of the most important books of the last hundred years. Having studied law at a prestigious top ten law school and worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York, I usually read fast and don’t mark anything. Here, however, I found myself treasuring every page, marking large portions of the book and trying to memorize great passages for future use in my work.
Every member of the Supreme Court should read No Liberty for License: The Forgotten Logic of the First Amendment. Every concerned American should read it. And, every Christian leader should read this paradigm shifting book. It is more than a must read. It is a book that can return us to the right track so that we can go forward to a better future.
Please direct your comments to:
Spence Publishing Company, Dallas, 1997 www.spencepublishing.com
