Clint Bolick has therefore made a very thoughtful choice in titling his new book Leviathan. In his telling—which effectively mixes general statistics about state and local governance with compelling cases of political heavy-handedness— individual freedom is menaced by powerful states and localities, coiled around its choke points and ready to strike, as well as by much of the nation’s judiciary, which has twisted the original meaning of federalism to subvert liberty rather than protect it.
If the reader picks up this volume expecting a handbook on how to advocate limited government within state and local politics, he will be disappointed. Perhaps someone should write such a book, but Bolick did not. He argues that electoral politics will not likely prove to be the most successful response to state and local tyranny. The political system generates rent-seekers, perfidious politicians, and voters suffering cognitive dissonance.
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