I just finished Ron Paul’s latest book, Swords into Plowshares: A Life in Wartime and a Future of Peace and Prosperity. I would have to give it 5 stars. Pick up a copy ASAP. You won’t be disappointed.

I was surprised at how the book invoked an emotional response. I literally shed tears three times while reading this wonderful tome. Ron Paul masterfully and articulately presents the most cogent anti-war publication I’ve ever read. It’s probably the best one ever written in modern times.

I think I’ve read every book he has written. Many of his books reiterate his main points which are well known already by those of us who have come to know and love Ron Paul. I expected this one to be the same, but I was wrong. It was so fresh and so clearly presented, it was a very easy read. In a way, however, it was difficult to be bombarded with so much truth. I wish more people were hungry for pure unadulterated truth. This book would be more of a best seller than it already is.

Probably the most compelling argument he makes is that the people should reject the propaganda and nationalism on either side which entices people to send their children to be sacrificed for the powerful elite without questioning the motives for war. Going all the way back to the War of Northern Aggression, the reasons for war have always been to enrich the powerful and elite. This is not speculation or hyperbole, but simple fact.

Another point expounded on is the banker’s roles in war. All the wars that the US has been involved in in the last 150 years could not have been waged without the money printers. Paul correctly points out that the government is able to wage war without the express consent of the people because of the ability of the central bank to finance the wars. If the wars had to be financed by direct levying of taxes on the people, the people would in most, if not all, cases reject the reasons for engaging in war.

The most beautifully moving part of the book was the story of the Christmas truce. This was truly telling about basic human nature. We are after all made in the image of God, so this should not be surprising. Outside of the political machinations that drive the hawks to send other people’s flesh and blood to be killed, these young men would have had nothing against the ones they were shooting at and being shot at by. They would have been friends.

There is also the story of Charlie Brown, a B17 pilot who’s plane was shot up and half his crew was dead or wounded, trying to get back to the base, when German pilot Franz Stigler flew along side. Rather than shooting Brown down, Stigler chivalrously saluted and pointed Brown in the right direction and took off. That story is so heart-warming it brings tears to my eyes when I think of it. These men became friends many years after the war.

Paul ties it all together with an urging to deny the warmongers our bodies and our money. Without those things, they would be unable to wage these unnecessary wars that cost us our blood, treasure and probably most importantly, our liberty. He also correctly points out, that when the US government is in bankruptcy, this will happen by default. Which may not necessarily be a bad thing.

Another surprising aspect of the book is the autobiographical nature of it. We learn much about Ron Paul’s early life and how his world-view was formed. He understood what central monetary policy and price-fixing did to an economy. He lived through it. He dispels the myth that war is somehow good for the economy and the war ended the depression. That myth is nothing more than schoolroom propaganda and he does a wonderful job debunking it.

Please read this book and share it with your friends. I’ll end the post with the ending sentence in the book. “There’s every reason to believe that a philosophy that strips government of all its arbitrary power will provide the world with its best chance for achieving peace and prosperity with AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME.”