Lawson for Congress

Here are some of the books that have been most influential in my family’s life:

• The Bible, by God. Whether you just read it as allegory, or appreciate it as the revealed Word of God, it is full of timeless lessons that provide inspiration and guidance in a challenging world.

• Constitution & Declaration of Independence, with introduction by Roger Pilon. I’m ashamed it took me as long as it did to read these as a thinking adult, but once one reads our founding documents, the realization of how far we’ve strayed from our Founders’ vision is clear.

• The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution, by Kevin R.C. Gutzman. Pound for pound, one of the best books on American political and judicial history I've ever read.

• Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins. Autobiographical account of the often counterproductive world of international development through the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

• The Chastening, by Paul Blustein. Historical account of the 1990s Asian Financial Crisis the the role of international development through the International Monetary Fund.

• Free to Choose, by Milton & Rose Friedman. Their faith in free markets and freedom is eloquently articulated in this classic.

• The Next Great Bubble Boom, by Harry S. Dent, Jr. While I wouldn’t use this book to time the markets, he does a good job at identifying some demographic mega-trends that you can ignore at your own peril.

• Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment, by George Leonard. Life-changing book that focuses on the importance of the journey, as opposed to the destination, and the need to seek continuous, iterative improvement along the way. It's not the position, it's the direction.

• Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt. Great book that illustrates the fallacies of economic interventionism and the “law of unintended consequences”.

• Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish, by G. Bruce Knecht. Entertaining but disturbing novel about the unsustainable way we are treating our oceans through commercial fishing. Illustrates the economic principle of the Tragedy of the Commons — if no one owns the ocean, no one protects the ocean. Visit www.perc.org to learn how respect for private property and market-based solutions can protect the environment.

• The Way to Wealth, by Benjamin Franklin. My favorite quote: “It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth part of their time, to be employed in its service.” Dear God, please let me find such a hard government!

• Hug Your Customers, by Jack Mitchell. If you are in business for yourself, read this book.

• Beating the Business Cycle, by Lakshman Achuthan and Anirvan Banerji. If you’re living in an inflationary environment with monopolistically-managed liquidity and fractional reserve banking, you really should read this book. (Hint: that would be you.)

• Boomernomics, by William Sterling and Stephen Waite. Why’s everybody always talking about the Baby Boomers? Read this well-documented book to learn how the Boomers and demographic trends in general affect our economy.

• The Fed, by Martin Mayer. Another great “Inside the Fed” book that looks at the Fed’s role in our modern economy.

• Money, by Lawrence Ritter and William Silber. Classic book on the nature of money and its role in economic growth. Does a good job contrasting different economic schools of thought, and asks prescient questions about the future.

• What has Government Done to our Money?, by Murray N. Rothbard. Available at www.mises.org , the classic text on free-market monetary systems.

• Maestro, by Bob Woodward. A non-so-critical assessment of Greenspan’s management of the Federal Reserve (written before the 2001-2003 recession). Great historical and political insight into major events during Greenspan’s tenure.

• The Seven Sisters, by Anthony Sampson. History of the birth and maturation of the oil industry, and how we started down the slippery (no pun intended) slope of defending national security, to national interests, to corporate interests.

• The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism, by John Bogle. Great book that cautions and challenges us to live up to our responsibilities as the owners of the nation’s public corporations.

• The Richest Man in Babylon, by George S. Clason. Common sense personal finance.

• And finally, Total Money Makeover, by Dave Ramsey . Debt free == Freedom.