The traditional approach to making the basics of a middle class life more widely available is to increase the resources devoted to dysfunctional public sector institutions, to increase the number of regulations, and perhaps to create new public sector institutions in the hope that they will escape the sclerosis that plagues older ones. This approach hasn't turned out very well.
Note, however, the trajectory of various other consumption goods: appliances, automobiles, and amenities; personal services in domains that are not burdened by licensing restrictions; the cost and quality of housing in regions that aren't severely capacity-constrained by zoning restrictions and other regulations.
Somehow libertarians and conservatives need to connect these threads, as Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch try to do in their The Declaration of Independents: the assumptions need to flip so that voters start wondering why the public education system isn't offering higher quality at lower cost, in marked contrast to, say, fast-casual dining chains or the manufacturers of consumer electronics or the purveyors of coffee.
Over at The Huffington Post, Jigar Singh, CEO of The Carbon War Room, declares the book "fascinating." The Libertarian Party of California deems it "an awesome volume, sure to guide you to a more libertarian future….an entertaining manifesto." Bill Conerly calls it "a really fun read," and takes our implicit recommendation to buy (for free!) a copy of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. Over in Bangkok, Paul Salvette says "the book is quite enjoyable, regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum," and cogitates a bit on how it applies to "the self-publishing and indie author community." And for balance, here's a disappointed review from Alex Chiang:
Two editors from Reason magazine write a book subtitled "How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong With America", which I don't understand, because they spend a lot of time talking about case studies where non-traditional thinking was advantageous, but in my opinion, failed to connect that to any sort of concrete action about how to create a viable, politically electable Libertarian candidate. Had high hopes; I give it a B-.
