I came across “The Place to Stand” almost by accident, and based on the initial information on the site (http://soverindi.com) was keen to read and review it. It is a substantial work, at 455,000 words, and I would classify it as a thriller, but one that gives a libertarian perspective.

The immediate surprise to me was the quality of the writing. The author expresses himself clearly and coherently, and develops some very complex ideas. Although you can download the entire work for free, this is a top quality read that I would have gladly paid for. This is in contrast to something I read by another independent libertarian author (who will remain nameless) which I found to be rather trite and pompous.

In summary, the story is set in the present day and follows a number of characters, but is centred around Clinton Randolph, the richest and most intelligent person on the earth, who is targeted by a shadowy conspiracy and who decides to found a new free nation on some leased land. This is immediately successful, since it is based on free market laissez-faire capitalism. The existing powers are not happy with the loss of their most productive citizens, and soon target the fledgling nation with destruction.

Politically, I would classify this work as minarchist – advocating a very minimal form of government – rather than market anarchist. The operation of a minarchist government and the constitution is carefully developed and detailed.

One quite amusing part of the work was the thinly disguised references to real people and companies, such as “Microshaft” – a major computer software firm that produces “WinDose”, George Plant, a former president, and Lord Ruffson, an international banker. My only issue was that sometimes I lost track of all the characters.

Several important libertarian themes are explored. Firstly, the author discusses the right of free people to defend themselves by owning weapons. He doesn’t advocate a siege mentality or advocate aggression – just self defence. At a state level, he supports a strong defensive capability, based on immediate retaliation, not against citizens but directly upon the members of a government who order a strike.

One other theme is that governments act as if they “own” their citizens, and see any change in the status quo as a threat. Of course, this is the case in real life as shown by the attempt for the US to tax citizens on worldwide income and to confiscate wealth of anyone who renounces citizenship. In the novel, vested interests are offended at the loss of total control and manipulate the states to act against the new nation.

Governments are not shown as omnipotent or even sensible – in this story they are defeated by much smaller and more nimble opponents who are in touch with reality and who are better informed and smarter. Brains beat brawn every time – the free people develop amazing defensive and intelligence gathering capabilities to protect their way of life.

This novel highlights the role of the media in deceiving the population. It doesn’t pull any punches in describing the immoral and self righteous actions of the mainstream media in putting a spin on events for their masters.

Whilst I’m not a conspiracy theorist, this work does explore some ideas that make me more willing to consider that there is an invisible hand that is responsible for the gradual loss of liberty that I see. In this story, the conspiracy doesn’t care about the political system – communist or “socialist – capitalist”, they are interested in building the power that they have carefully nurtured over generations in order to enslave the entire world.

This work brings out a more human face of libertarianism. It is easy for the statists to claim that we don’t care about people because we don’t endorse their inefficient and ineffective welfare schemes. This book highlights the benefit to ordinary people of a free market economy, and also shows the flipside – the way that the public are drained and crippled by the heavy taxation that a free system sets aside.

Interestingly, it also explores the impact that a Libertarian Party dominated Congress would have in restoring freedom in the United States.

In summary, this was a great read. I enjoyed the interplay of ideas and the thought that went into expressing and expanding on them. Whilst ideologically pure, it was also very enjoyable. Whilst it is fairly long, do yourself a favour and read it.

“The Place to Stand” by Robert Lukens can be downloaded for free in several formats from http://soverindi.com/

Tags: book review, fiction, libertarian book

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 25th, 2007 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Book / film reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.