�������� There are several questions that I think will probably occur to any intelligent reader who reads this book and I will attempt to answer them here. The first question will probably be who is this author? When I am deciding whether I want to read a book I will always read the biographical blurb on the jacket first if it is available. For this reason I will tell you, the reader, a little about myself. I was born in 1931 and raised on a farm where I worked for my father till I was twenty-four. After leaving the farm I sold milking machines, worked as an airline station agent, worked for the Federal Aviation� Agency, owned a grocery store for eleven years, sold life insurance, sold real estate, worked in construction, flew as an ag pilot for thirteen seasons, owned a flying business and worked at a few other jobs at various times.
�������� I graduated from high school and, at the age of forty, attended college for one year. Between graduation from high school and my one year of college I married a woman who is a much better wife than I deserve and we had five children. If you feel that there is nothing in my education and work experience that would qualify me to write a book on the origin of liberalism I have to agree with you. My only qualification as an author of such a book is that I have always been interested in history and in politics, in the broadest meaning of the term. For decades I attempted to understand the seemingly irrational behavior of our Presidents and our Congresses and our government in general. I feel that I have discovered the true story of how our government functions. I have written this book about this matter because to the best of my knowledge no one else has made an attempt to fully explain it. It is probably easier for me to write such a book than it would be for someone with impressive credentials. Historians, for example, jeopardize their careers when they deviate very far from the generally accepted view of history. Political observers would have nothing to gain and everything to lose by considering the true nature of liberal political ideology. And finally anyone who has achieved recognition in any field who wrote a book explaining how a few super-wealthy Americans have reshaped our nation's culture for the worse would be almost universally branded a kook and would probably find that his career would come to a screeching halt. He would be derided by everyone from Rush Limbaugh to Dan Rather� and having alienated that much of the political spectrum his supporters would be few indeed.� Having achieved no recognition and having no career to be put at risk it is easy for me to write such a book but also easy for readers to disregard it.
������� Is there any reason why you, the reader, should take my book at face value? No, there is not and I do not expect anyone to do this. On the other hand,� the conclusions I have drawn are logical and rational and most of the facts that I used to arrive at those conclusions are available to anyone who is interested enough to look at them. My sole objective in writing this book is to stir the reader's interest in liberty and therefore lead him to attempt to understand, by means of his own intellect, the true nature of liberal political ideology. To aid the reader in doing this I have included, in the appendix,� some books that the reader will find useful.
������� For readers who, like myself, are not computer literate I would like to point out that the names of the chapters in the table of contents are links to each chapter. To go to any chapter simply click on the name. To return to the table of contents click the back function of your browser.

����������������� Continue to Chapter 1 What Is Liberalism? ������������������������ Allen R. Larson,� August 25, 2000