ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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Many thanks to the individuals and organizations which helped me prepare
this book each with direct assistance or informal advice. These individuals
include Amy Belson, owner of
Let me state a special tribute to the writings of many other authors, not all of them well known, whose work adds so much to the intellectual and cultural foundation of liberty that I take up in a most personal way. These authors include Herman Wouk, Paul Rosenfels, Joseph Steffan, David Boaz, Charles Murray, Randy Shilts, and Jonathan Rauch.
Since the manuscript is lengthy and detailed, I have kept the writing somewhat informal by relaxing the strictest rules concerning contractions, spelling out of numerals, and so forth. Books, or publications intended to be perceived as books, are shown in footnotes with underlines; periodicals and motion pictures, with italics; and individual short articles and television programs, with quotes.
My "manifesto" is a gritty and detailed offering. I want to walk the reader though the incredible maze of arguments and issues that bear on individual rights and responsibilities. While moral principles may seem like they ought to be simple, their fair implementation in any reasonably democratic political system is difficult, complicated and always controversial. I have tried to be as thorough and fair as possible; I have specifically avoided the usual practice in most commercially successful political books from major houses of leaving out difficult and distracting details. I give the reader a microscope because she does need to be told everything. One needs to understand the trees to know the forest. In college, I was once required to write an annotated bibliography to discuss the information sources for a term paper to be written later that semester. Some of my detail will help the reader evaluate my sources and place them into a reliable perspective. I urge the reader to go back to some of my sources, either at the library or by purchasing copies of them, and study them carefully. It is not my intention to compete with anyone else writing on these subjects today. I have my own message.
The book is protected by federal copyright, dated
This book is intended for adult use, by persons eighteen or older or by minors of high-school age with parental (or teacher) consent. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 contain a very small amount of sexually explicit material. I intend this material to reinforce and illustrate certain political or moral arguments being advanced.
This book does contain unusually candid discussion of sensitive issues such as sexual orientation, race, religious faith, and cultural identity, some of which may be disturbing to some people.
All opinions and conclusions stated are, unless otherwise specifically noted, strictly my own. I do not speak for any specific organization. I am not an attorney, and the reader should always consult an attorney as to the specifics of a given problem.
The book does identify by name certain public figures and authors of copyrighted works. Other than these, all other persons are referred to by fictitious names (or left unnamed) in order to protect their privacy. I will never disclose personal facts about anyone not already publicly known to anyone. No member of the Armed Forces has ever made a statement to me indicating that he or she has violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice. No person since 1975 has made any statement to me indicating the possibility of having committed a crime.
The content of the text of this book was closed on
The first printing of this book was in 6x8-3/4, 10-point format, as typeset
by
May, 1997
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