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The Calculus of Liberty

How Much Government Do We Need to Be Free?

The Calculus of Liberty cover

The Calculus of Liberty

How Much Government Do We Need to Be Free?

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Pre-order. Available Oct 01 2026
$42.25 RRP $46.95 Website price saving $4.70 (10%)

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Description

Offers a new conceptual framework to help readers engage in productive, civil dialogues about public policy, liberty, and the role of government in modern American society.

This book addresses the central question: How much government do we need to be free? This question has been at the core of the American policy-making process ever since the colonists fought for independence from Britain. In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to have calm, rational conversations about the role of government. Rather than trying to find common ground, politicians and political activists often use rhetoric that obfuscates rather than clarifies the issues of the day. In order to have productive, civil dialogues about public policy, we need a new conceptual framework. That's what The Calculus of Liberty offers: a new way of thinking through and talking about the question of when, if, and how the government should grow or shrink.

Table of Contents

Foreword
1. Sculpting a Free Society
2. The Nature of the Clay
3. Errors, Mistakes, Slip-ups, and Magical Thinking
4. One Size of Government Does Not Fit All
5. Everyone Owns Themself. Period.
6. You Have the Right to Own Things and To Do What You Want With Them, Up to a Point
7. Equality, Inequality, and Zero-Sum Thinking
8. Governments, Goods, and Bads
9. Borders, Wars, and National Defense
10. Legacies and Liberty
11. Civil Society, Social Capital, Community, and Liberty
12. The Future of Freedom
Appendix
References
Notes

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published Oct 01 2026
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Pages 224
ISBN 9798216448822
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions 229 x 152 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Lee Cronk

Lee Cronk is distinguished professor of anthropolo…

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