Short Answers to the Tough Questions: How to Answer the Questions Libertarians Are Often Asked

By: Mary J. Ruwart

Narrated by: Marie Rose

Do you have questions about the libertarian philosophy? Do you want to explain it to family and friends in a short but compelling way? Do you want examples of how liberty works in the real world rather than just an ivory-tower theory?

In Short Answers to the Tough Questions, Dr. Ruwart has compiled hundreds of questions and her short, succinct answers from her 15-year web column with The Advocates for Self-Government.

Short Answers is a great resource for libertarians, candidates, and those who are exploring what libertarianism is all about. Dr. Ruwart's award-winning book, Healing Our World, which is available on Amazon, makes a great complement to this audiobook.

©2012 SunStar Press (P)2015 Listen and Think Audio

The book we all need

One of the biggest problems in spreading Libertarian ideas is they are often counterintuitive. This book give short answers to address most of the common questions we get when promoting liberty.

Great guide for spreading the ideas of liberty!

After finishing this book you will be better prepared to confidently respond to challenges to libertarianism in a well reasoned manner.

A direct and honest approach for Libertarian answe

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, if they wanted to know more about the Libertarian ideals, as I did.

What did you like best about this story?

The question and answer format works in terms of organizing the vast material (from animal rights to gun control and every issue in between.) The narrator, too, was an asset to the material.

What about Marie Rose’s performance did you like?

Her voice. Intelligent and warm. Her narration flows excellently with a smile in her tone. It's arresting to listen to and I never got tired of it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, I listened in sections, on my morning commute.

Any additional comments?

A well done audiobook and I learned a lot. I didn't agree with all in it but I could see the reasonable theory behind almost all of the issue as discussed in the book. I'm glad I got it - it widened my understanding about what the word "Libertarian" really means.

Nice book. Tough narration.

I purchased this book to explore libertarian thought. Because this is basically an audiobook of questions and answers from a forum type post the content is short and sometimes repetitive. I felt it gave me a lot of food for thought though so I did not regret the purchase.

About the narrator: I feel that this is a tough format to narrate well. However, for the first several minutes I seriously thought Microsoft Sally was reading this book. Considering this is back-and-forth questions and answers it also might of been helpful to have a male voice read the questions and a female voice read the answers. Or have the narrator use different voices for the question and the answer.

A very well narratred primer of libertarian ideals

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, any of my politically-minded friends who are Independents, some Republicans, and Libertarians would find this to be an excellent audiobook. I would also recommend it to the political novice seeking more information about liberty and politics. I don't think Democrats would particularly agree with the vision in this work, however. The audiobook offers a wealth of information and good insights on virtually all topics as to how we could approach our lives, civic relationships, and government with a libertarian This audiobook lays out very clear, very accessible information about what Libertarians actually believe, from the source, with grace and even some humor. There are also roadmaps offered for how to practice more libertarian lifestyles, although some of it seems difficult to achieve unless EVERYONE is on board with this philosophy.

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed listening to the Questions and Answers at a good pace, not to slow and not to fast. The narrator's voice is perfect for this and she kept my attention throughout the listen. I was a little sorry when it was over because her tones are soothing and also interesting to the ear.

What does Marie Rose bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I have listened to this narrator in other books and this is a departure for her in terms of the non-fiction subject matter. But Marie Rose's inflection was spot on and gave off just the right vibe - friendly, knowledgeable, not preachy, not hard sell. She conveyed the subject matter in a sensible, light and pleasant way that didn't come off as bossy or argumentative. When people discuss politics they can be sometimes condescending, but the narrator thankfully avoided being heavy-handed with the political opinions in the book.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

I learned a lot more about Libertarianism from listening than I ever thought I would. The notions that Libertarians have on animal rights and animal conservation, for example, was not something I had thought about before. I'm still digesting all of the thoughts and information in this book; it definitely gave me not just food, but a whole banquet for thought.

Any additional comments?

I was given this audiobook in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thought I was a libertarian before listening

First, the narration us pretty monotone (like some of the better voice synthesizers, and it seems slightly static-y, but neither was a big enough issue to stop listening.
My bigger issue was the lack of support for many of the answers. Often, unsupported answers are taken as gospel, and even when a reference is given, it is often outdated and no longer applies. True, I did think this was a more recent publication, so I cannot completely fault the book for being old. However, most of the completely unsupported responses use words like "may," "could," "should," etc. and are far from definitive. I could not help think those teaching opposing philosophies like socialism and communism, saying that they should lead to a utopian society (as long as everyone abandons human nature). I wanted more.
I purchased this book hoping it would help me better articulate my libertarian ideas when debating friends, but their were too many unsubstantiated points that I could not accept. For example, I believe a libertarian society could have a smaller military, but I don't believe it would never need to defend itself from its neighbors, even if they are trading partners. Too many wars have arisen from religious disagreements, petty jealousy, or just from one side doing the math and deciding it is cheaper to conquer than trade. The book proposes a donation-funded military, but somehow I can see privately funding even a single carrier strike group (think $30B+) in the decade or more before it is needed. During an attack, desperate people might me willing, but then it is much to late. Even harder would be funding R&D for defenses against neutron bombs or EMP attacks, which many of our neighbors could potentially use if they wanted our land and resources. I don't see it happening. The same goes for police, and especially the courts. Since any unresolved grievance would end up in mediation and then civil court, I am not convinced the court system wouldn't have to be larger than it is now. Without top-level law enforcement, how do local communities not turn into a feudal system where the wealthiest control the strongest police groups? Many more questions like these popped into my head while listening.
Finally, the author mentions a number of times that almost every libertarian idea has been put into practice by some group and some point in history, and they have been very successful. If so, why did they turn back, or at least choose not to implement additional libertarian ideas? It seems like if there were so many unqualified successes throughout history, libertarianism should be the leading philosophy in many nations, or even the whole world, by now.

The "Good Neighbor" Philosophy

Would you consider the audio edition of Short Answers to the Tough Questions: How to Answer the Questions Libertarians Are Often Asked to be better than the print version?

Probably, because I don't have the print version. It was easy and pleasant to listen to, though. In fact, it was a very enjoyable "read" (listen)-the writer definitely put forth a powerful argument on the benefits of Libertarianism! The only part that was a stretch for me were the answers on Fascism and Terrorism-I think they might be a bit unrealistic

What other book might you compare Short Answers to the Tough Questions: How to Answer the Questions Libertarians Are Often Asked to and why?

I'm not sure, as this was a one-of-a-kind book!

Have you listened to any of Marie Rose’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No-this was my first

If you could give Short Answers to the Tough Questions: How to Answer the Questions Libertarians Are Often Asked a new subtitle, what would it be?

An Argument for Libertarianism

Any additional comments?

I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review

Informative but repetitive

This book is great for what it is and I enjoyed listening to it. My only real gripe is the author using the same examples in multiple questions and that made it easy to lose focus on the original questions asked while I was driving. I have a feeling this is more of a problem with the medium of audiobooks than it would have been if I read it.

All in all, this is a great resource for learning how to boil down some of the hard to explain philosophical points of libertarianism into digestible sound bites. 8/10 would listen again

good one

maybe not the book for swaying a non libertarian but a great rescource for existing or those wishing to learn more. not representative of all libertarians which author points out. the performance was good but given the subject matter it may come off snudy to some.

Good content but robotic sounding narration

Very well thought out answers for the most part. There were only a handful of answers I felt were glazed over. I am an experienced student to the philosophy of Anarchy and I did enjoy the book. I would recommend it to anyone trying to become more confidant in answering the questions freedom minded individuals get bombarded with.