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‘Freedom and Capitalism, Essays on Christian Politics and Economics’

Freedom and Capitalism was written by  Dr. John W. Robbins in 2006. This volume is a collection of essays and articles that he collected and wrote over the past forty years.

Who is Dr. John W. Robbins?

Dr. John Robbins attended Grove City College(A.B. 1969) and The Johns Hopkins University(M.A. 1970,PH.D 1973). He has served as chief of staff for a member of Congress, editor of The Freeman Magazine, Economist for The Heritage Foundation, and Professor of Political Philosophy in The Freedom School.

Part One: Freedom

In this section Dr. Robbins covers the topic of  Freedom. Freedom defined is the condition of being free; the power to act, think, or speak without externally imposed restraints. I liked this section because he is so clear in proclaiming his beliefs. He backs up most (99%) of his statements with the Bible. He expounds on many  subjects that were very interesting to me. I learned about who he believes is the founder of western civilization. I used to think that Western Civilization was founded within the last two hundred years. That supposition was quickly debunked when I read chapter 1. He made it clear that Martin Luther was the Founder of Western Civilization. I never had read that Luther believed in Republican (Representative) government, Constitutional Government (I didn’t have a clue what that was before the 2008 election year) , Religious Liberty( which enables me to write about this Christian book) and others.  He also discusses the draft in Chapter 5  .While I knew that the draft was not right , I had nothing to back it up . He wrote that Exodus 20:16 ‘You shall not steal’ applied to the draft, ’stealing people’. It made sense to me but what do you, the reader, think about that?  I really liked Chapter 18 because it was just the thing to read about in 2009, even though it was written in 1996. The chapter is called, Rebuilding American Freedom. After reading about how most every thing in American is falling apart and America is heading to its fate it was so refreshing to read about how to help. He started with how different things were around 1950. I knew that Gold and Silver was somewhat backing our money but I didn’t know that the Sovereignty of God is very important  to our American Freedom because believing that God is in control of  everything make all the difference on how the government rules. Overall, this section was the best out of the two because freedom is my favorite subject and that I learned so much!

Part 2: Capitalism

Capitalism is the next section that Dr. Robbins discusses. Capitalism defined is an economic system based on private ownership of  Capital. I learned that when parents let their children put their ( parents) money into the offering box it teaches the child to be generous with other peoples money than with their own. It’s my opinion that this is the reason that the U.S. Government has so many problems and issues. They are generous with the taxpayers money and not their own. Another thing that was reinforced in my mind was the fact that when an individual breaks something that is not their own they should replace it because that teaches individual responsibility. He discusses a very interesting subject in Chapter 26. It’s about How Romanism Ruined America.This chapter was very interesting to me,because I learned that most Roman Catholics believe that the government must control the right to rest, the right to life, the right to private property, the right to food and to many others for me to list. I didn’t know Roman Catholics (most) believed that! I wonder if that has encouraged the Government to be in control to much? I don’t know, that’s a hard question for me to answer. I really enjoyed Chapter 27. It’s a story about Rep. Davy Crockett and Mr. Horatio Bruce. It’s about a certain vote Mr. Crockett voted in favor of.I had read it before and I highly recommend you not skip over this chapter. Actually, I encourage you to find a copy of  this book to read and not skip over any of the chapters!

Who is This For?

I would highly recommend Freedom and Capitalism to any one who wants to read a biblical view of Christian Politics/Economics. It was very interesting and informative for me!!