Hostile Takeover: Resisting Centralized Government's Stranglehold on America

by Matt Kibbe

Overview

A rebellious challenge to the "upper management" of government, who are choking American prosperity and liberty

The American enterprise grew exceptional based on the founding principles of individual freedom, decentralized knowledge, and accountable, constitutionally limited government. But our "leaders" from Washington, D.C., have systematically replaced the dispersed genius of America with top-down dictates and expensive schemes designed to expand the power of insiders and protect the privileged positions of politicians, bureaucrats, and their cronies.

Freedom, not centralization

"Decentralized freedom" has become the strategy that will return America to its founding values, breaking up centralized government's monopoly on power and returning it to where it belongs: with We the People.

Senior management has failed us. It's time to clean house.

In Hostile Takeover, bestselling author Matt Kibbe exposes the privileged collusion of Washington insiders—and maps out a proven plan for how to return power from the self-appointed "experts" back to the people. Dubbed "one of the Tea Party's masterminds" by Newsweek, Kibbe reveals how grassroots citizens can and will check the federal behemoth and restore the American enterprise to its founding principles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062196033
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/17/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	643
Sales rank:	565,583
File size:	842 KB

About the Author

Matt Kibbe is the president and CEO of FreedomWorks, a national grassroots organization that serves citizens in their fight for more individual freedom and less government control. An economist by training, Kibbe is a well-respected policy expert, bestselling author, and a regular guest on CNN, Fox News, The Blaze TV, and MSNBC. He also serves as Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Austrian Economic Center in Vienna, Austria. Kibbe is author of the national bestseller Hostile Takeover: Resisting Centralized Government's Stranglehold on America (2012) and coauthor of Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto (2010). Terry, his awesome wife of twenty-seven years, takes no responsibility for his many mistakes or frequent embarrassments.

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Hostile Takeover xi

1 The Central Problem 1

2 What Czars Don't Know 26

3 The Truth Cartel 53

4 Don't Hurt Others and Don't Take their Stuff 78

5 When America Beats Washington 104

6 Smaller Government and More Individual Freedom 124

7 Looters and Moochers 148

8 Scrap the Code 175

9 A Standard of Value 200

10 A Teaching Moment 230

11 Losing Patients 253

12 A Time for Choosing 285

13 Disintermediation Politics 312

14 The Revolution Will Be Chosen 334

Acknowledgments 343

Notes 345

Index 377

What People are Saying About This

Mike Lee

“Few understand the decentralized nature of politics today like Matt Kibbe. In Hostile Takeover, is a must read for anyone trying to understand where the freedom movement is going next.”

Geraldo Rivera

“Matt Kibbe is a warrior for the cause of limited government. He is a citizen activist who makes sense, and his well-researched and passionately argued book is a strong addition to the discussion that will eventually define the constitutional balance between government and people- power.”

Rand Paul

“Matt Kibbe brings an intellectual foundation to the national outcry for limited government. Hostile Takeover proves we come armed and prepared for battle, and that we are prepared to fight in the arena of ideas.”

Glenn Beck

“Hostile Takeover is essential reading for anyone looking to understand how individual freedom can prevail in a world of decentralized information. Matt Kibbe and this book provide us all with a roadmap on how to take back our lives, liberties, and responsibilities. ”

Andrew P. Napolitano

“If you want to know how the free market can bring about prosperity when it is free of the heavy hand of government central planners, Matt Kibbe has a gift for you. It is the refreshingly readable Hostile Takeover.”

Editorial Reviews

Hostile Takeover is essential reading for anyone looking to understand how individual freedom can prevail in a world of decentralized information. Matt Kibbe and this book provide us all with a roadmap on how to take back our lives, liberties, and responsibilities. ” — GLENN BECK

“Matt Kibbe is a warrior for the cause of limited government. He is a citizen activist who makes sense, and his well-researched and passionately argued book is a strong addition to the discussion that will eventually define the constitutional balance between government and people- power.” — GERALDO RIVERA

“Matt Kibbe brings an intellectual foundation to the national outcry for limited government. Hostile Takeover proves we come armed and prepared for battle, and that we are prepared to fight in the arena of ideas.” — SENATOR RAND PAUL (R-Kentucky)

“Few understand the decentralized nature of politics today like Matt Kibbe. In Hostile Takeover, is a must read for anyone trying to understand where the freedom movement is going next.” — SENATOR MIKE LEE (R-Utah)

“If you want to know how the free market can bring about prosperity when it is free of the heavy hand of government central planners, Matt Kibbe has a gift for you. It is the refreshingly readable Hostile Takeover.” — JUDGE ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO, Senior Judicial Analyst, Fox News Channel

From the Publisher

Matt Kibbe is a warrior for the cause of limited government. He is a citizen activist who makes sense, and his well-researched and passionately argued book is a strong addition to the discussion that will eventually define the constitutional balance between government and people- power.

GERALDO RIVERA

Hostile Takeover is essential reading for anyone looking to understand how individual freedom can prevail in a world of decentralized information. Matt Kibbe and this book provide us all with a roadmap on how to take back our lives, liberties, and responsibilities.

GLENN BECK

Few understand the decentralized nature of politics today like Matt Kibbe. In Hostile Takeover, is a must read for anyone trying to understand where the freedom movement is going next.

SENATOR MIKE LEE (R-Utah)

If you want to know how the free market can bring about prosperity when it is free of the heavy hand of government central planners, Matt Kibbe has a gift for you. It is the refreshingly readable Hostile Takeover.

JUDGE ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO

Matt Kibbe brings an intellectual foundation to the national outcry for limited government. Hostile Takeover proves we come armed and prepared for battle, and that we are prepared to fight in the arena of ideas.

SENATOR RAND PAUL (R-Kentucky)

"If you want to know how the free market can bring about prosperity when it is free of the heavy hand of government central planners, Matt Kibbe has a gift for you. It is the refreshingly readable Hostile Takeover."

Judge - Andrew P. Napolitano

"Few understand the decentralized nature of politics today like Matt Kibbe. In Hostile Takeover, is a must read for anyone trying to understand where the freedom movement is going next."

Senator - Mike Lee

"Matt Kibbe brings an intellectual foundation to the national outcry for limited government. Hostile Takeover proves we come armed and prepared for battle, and that we are prepared to fight in the arena of ideas."

Senator - Rand Paul

"Matt Kibbe is a warrior for the cause of limited government. He is a citizen activist who makes sense, and his well-researched and passionately argued book is a strong addition to the discussion that will eventually define the constitutional balance between government and people- power."

Geraldo Rivera

"Hostile Takeover is essential reading for anyone looking to understand how individual freedom can prevail in a world of decentralized information. Matt Kibbe and this book provide us all with a roadmap on how to take back our lives, liberties, and responsibilities. "

Glenn Beck

FreedomWorks president Kibbe (Rules for Patriots, 2010, etc.) attempts to make the Tea Party case for smaller, less expensive government. The author's primary target is the "unholy alliance between big business and big government." While this sounds much like a grievance of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Kibbe contends that OWS differs from the Tea Party because of the former's lack of respect for private property rights and because OWS advocates using government to curb business, an approach doomed to failure because it "ignores the political power of big business to effectively lobby government for favors." In a jaunty style replete with pop-culture references, the author presents critiques of progressivism and of such standard conservative bugbears as the Federal Reserve, the Internal Revenue Code and the Department of Education. He marshals compelling statistics and diverting anecdotes that effectively portray his targets as examples of an expensive and unaccountable government run amok. His solutions, however--a return to the gold standard, a flat income tax, more school choice, etc.--are utterly predictable, and the text is liberally larded with right-wing cant, unsupported contentions and tired tropes like "We the People." Though he promises to show how the Tea Party will "return power from self-appointed 'experts' back to the people," this is no trumpet call for specific popular action. Even elections are apparently not really critical; "real change," writes Kibbe, "isn't really about political power anyway…It's about the paradigm shift, from the top-down to the bottom-up." The author suggests only that readers "embrace the beautiful chaos of citizen action and, by our movement's success, prove that freedom works." A rambling exposition of Tea Party grievances with the tone of preaching to a rather bored choir.

Kirkus Reviews