Back on the Road to Serfdom: The Resurgence of Statism

'The threat of statism has reemerged in force. The federal government has seized on the economic crisis to radically expand its power through bailouts, "stimulus" packages, a trillion-dollar health-care plan, "jobs bills," massive expansions of the money supply, and much more. But such interventionism did not suddenly materialize with the recent collapse. The dangerous trends of government growth, debt increases, encroachments on individual liberty, and attacks on the free market began years earlier and continued no matter which political party was in power.

This shift toward statism "will not end happily," declares Thomas E. Woods Jr. In Back on the Road to Serfdom, Woods brings together ten top scholars to examine why the size and scope of government has exploded, and to reveal the devastating consequences of succumbing to the statist temptation.

Spanning history, economics, politics, religion, and the arts, Back on the Road to Serfdom shows:

How government interventionism endangers America's prosperity and entrepreneurship

The roots of statism: from the seminal conflict between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to the vast expansion of federal power in the twentieth century

Why the standard explanation for the economic crisis is so terribly wrong and why the government's frenzied responses do more harm

Why the European welfare state is not a model to aspire to but a disaster to be avoided

How an intrusive state not only hurts the economy but also imperils individual liberty and undermines the role of civil society

The fatal flaws in the now-common arguments against free markets and free trade

How big business is helping government pave the road to serfdom

Why the Judeo-Christian tradition does not demand support for the welfare state, but in fact values the free market

How the arrogance of government power extends to the cultural realm where central planning is just as inefficient and destructive