The Sovereign Individual by James Dales Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg begins ominously, stating “The coming of the year 2000 has haunted the Western imagination for the past thousand years.” At that point the author goes on to state that the computer revolution is sure to subvert and destroy the nation state as globalization and cyber-commerce (not to mention cyber-currency) will slowly but surely diminish the power and influence of governments as regards taxation, politics, lobbyists and labor unions. Furthermore, the author states that even regulated professionals will lose their authority as talent becomes “democratized.” The workplace environment will give way to telecommuting, while citizenship will become obsolete. However, Davidson’s prophecy for the technology-fused future doesn’t end there. He also predicts that the 21st century (and onward) will produce its own medieval merchant republics that will form their own legislative proposals, mafias, covert agencies and criminal gangs.
Author James Dales Davidson isn’t ranting about doom though-he actually offers a very in-depth analysis of the world scene today-a world taken divided between financial freedom and financial control, all facilitated by the information age. In his book he writes on a possible societal transformation hauntingly reminiscent of the America of ancient days: the Roman Empire. He also compares the advent of digital technology to the revolution of gunpowder. The theme of it all? The rise of Sovereign Individual and the death of mass democracy as well as the welfare state. James Dale Davidson is the author of this controversial but politically piercing book about the dire effects of the informational age.
James Dale Davidson may already be known to you as an American investment newsletter writer, as well as the author of other issue-oriented books like The Great Reckoning and Blood in the Streets. He has co-authored all three books with William Rees-Mogg. Professionally, Davidson is the founder and former head of the National Taxpayers Union, and worked on the Arkansas Project against President Bill Clinton, as well as being an investor in NewsMax.com. Davidson went from graduating Oxford University and working as an assistant to serving as a chief financial officer and now a best-selling author. Indeed, the Sovereign Individual spawned a group called the “Sovereign Society” dedicated to individual financial freedom and libertarianism.
While Davidson’s book certainly has dark undertones, it is not a book of doom. The focal point is on how to survive and profit from the digital revolution-how to invest, find tax shelters, avoid criminal enterprises and even promote one’s own business on the Internet. “The Sovereign Individual” is Davidson’s most critically acclaimed book. The Library Journal calls The Sovereign Individual “visionary…strongly recommended for academic libraries.”
Readers have also expressed their appreciation for Davidson’s work, calling his book a must-read book for anyone that wants to avoid the coming crises and remain financially independent. Touchstone originally published this book in 1999 and now its predictions, once far-fetched, are gradually becoming a very real possibility, especially in lieu of the financial collapse of many banks in the USA and around the world.
You can still order The Sovereign Individual online (of course…who buys anything from a brick and mortar book store these days?) and see what all this 21st century hype is about!
