Offers a new conceptual framework to help readers engage in productive, civil dialogues about public policy, liberty, and the role of government in modern American society.

This book addresses the central question: How much government do we need to be free? This question has been at the core of the American policy-making process ever since the colonists fought for independence from Britain. In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to have calm, rational conversations about the role of government. Rather than trying to find common ground, politicians and political activists often use rhetoric that obfuscates rather than clarifies the issues of the day. In order to have productive, civil dialogues about public policy, we need a new conceptual framework. That's what The Calculus of Liberty offers: a new way of thinking through and talking about the question of when, if, and how the government should grow or shrink.