This book is about contrasting models of government in the United States. As the title suggests-- one of those models leads to liberty, the other to tyranny.

Levin is well-versed in American History and law, and Liberty and Tyranny contains numerous citations and references that are all footnoted and documented accordingly. He brings a breadth of understanding and context to questions that are on the minds of many Americans today. For this reason, Liberty and Tyranny is highly recommended.

Levin discusses the historical path of federal government deviation from the template handed down from the founders of the nation. Some might consider that those who have tinkered with their free, limited-government model in the last 100 years or so have done so to make things better for some. Levin makes the point that these things bring about what he calls a "soft tyranny" (because freedoms and choices are taken away) that also has other insidious side-effects. Among these are creating dependency upon government, short-circuiting the free market and giving expanded powers to elected politicians who are elected to serve and represent the electorate, not rule over them. The founding fathers created a free nation with a limited government, not a controlled nation with an authoritarian government-- but increasingly this is what the United States has become. Today we stand at a crossroads where many wish to expand this control and authoritarianism to drastic and unprecedented levels, all in the name of "change." But "change" does not mean "improvement."

Frankly, most Americans I know are so accustomed to this soft tyranny that we don't even recognize it. We are the "frog in the boiling water." Others of us have been persuaded that the government can somehow be omnipotent and right all wrongs. But even if it could "right a wrong" in one area it would have to "wrong a right" in another. Too many look to the government instead of freedom for deliverance, and in so doing we condemn ourselves to more and more of this soft tyranny.

While this topic might engender a lively debate among American citizens today, anybody who has been part of an authoritarian, control-oriented church can readily see the similarities between the soft tyranny of a government and the soft tyranny of a control-based church. He can also see the utter folly of trusting a tyranny to bring the fruits of freedom. Tyrannies exist for their own benefit and agendas, not for the benefit of those whom they claim to serve-- and we of all people ought to know this from personal experience.

Levin uses the term "statist" for those who would expand the powers of government at the expense of freedom. Levin shows over and over (both abstractly and with examples) how the statist incrementally takes away freedom to gather power for the state and its custodians. Concluding a chapter discussing this point, Levin cites C.S. Lewis:

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with approval of their own conscience (p. 22-23).

Levin also discusses the "civil society," which is rooted in truths reflected in the Declaration of Independence, appealing to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" and "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Levin explains why abandoning this Natural Law of God-given freedoms "is the adoption of tyranny in one form or another, because there is no humane or benevolent alternative to Natural Law" (p. 26). Concerning faith in this matter, Levin writes:

...faith is not a threat to civil society but rather vital to its survival. It encourages the individual to personally adhere to a dogma that promotes restraint, duty, and moral behavior, which not only benefit the individual but the multitudes and society generally. As George Washington wrote in his Farewell Address, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable results... And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion" (p. 34).

If rights are granted or rationed by the state, they are no longer God-given and our society is built upon the shifting sand of the state's interests. And if religion can be cast aside because it does not fit the values of the statist, then the government's dogma becomes the state religion-- a religion that demands adherence and primacy over all others. Again-- we have two choices-- liberty or tyranny.

Levin does an outstanding job of showing the reader the history and the proven track record of statist regimes and programs, both here and abroad. For example, we might recall that the Soviet Union began as a utopian, idealistic society where central government was to control everything for good; within a generation it turned into an impoverished, brutal, totalitarian society like none the world had ever seen before.

This is not about partisan politics; both major political parties have contributed to eroding the freedoms of our nation and pushing us towards an emerging statist society. Proponents of statism seek to get us to trade our freedom for its care, but if we look at areas where statism has been attempted we can see how it has largely failed.

The United States is in a battle now-- an internal battle for freedom or tyranny. In my lifetime, I have seen the great struggle with the communist Soviet Union escalate and then end with its collapse. I have seen China retain its communism and authoritarianism but yet adopt capitalist ways because its communism brought poverty. How tragic and unbelievable that my country would defeat authoritarian statism in these and other places (including Germany and Italy in WW II), only to consider adopting it within a generation! This can only happen when people forget or are ignorant of their recent history.

Freedom and the kindness of the American people have brought much greater prosperity for more people than these attempts at state-managed utopianism. This is the path the United States should continue to choose. Levin quotes Ronald Reagan to close the book:

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what is was once like in the United Sates when men were free (p. 205).

Tyranny and Freedom is a valuable resource in educating Americans about their own history of freedom and equipping them to resist the tyranny of statism as it raises its head on numerous fronts today. And those of us with experiences in authoritarian, controlling churches will doubly benefit in seeing the parallel in the spiritual realm- how spiritual freedom beats spiritual tyranny every time as well.