Author: Steven Cord

 ISBN: 0971174245

The following review was contributed by: Paul Lappen: CLICK TO VIEW Paul Lappen's Reviews 

In some ways, America has never had it so good. There is more prosperity, less
discrimination and great scientific advances. But, America has to deal with
involuntary poverty, crime, drug use, violence in the media and falling school
standards. While these problems have surface causes, the fundamental cause is a
radical change in attitudes, specifically ethical relativism. It asserts that
what is right and wrong depends on the person and the day of the week, that
ethics is little more than personal opinion.

According to the author, it cannot be proven valid, because it asserts that "no
ethical standard" is an ethical standard. Also, any society which preaches that
ethical standards are personal opinions has to expect social problems, since it
imposes a weak restraint on people who disrupt society.

How to prove that everyone has a right to life, liberty and property (equal
rights)? We should treat things as they are, as an end in itself. Since we have
the right to be free to do what we should do, then we have the *provable* right
to be free. Once that happens, we can prove everyone's equal rights to life and
property. The author also shows how this can be used to change American society
for the better (it starts with totally changing the tax structure, to tax land
value instead of production).

Be prepared for a mental workout. The book is written for the layman; I would
change that to "the layman with more than the usual amount of knowledge of
ethics, and philosophy in general." It is very thought-provoking, and well worth
reading.