Rep. Mike Kelly's Suggested Library of Recommended Reading

Suggested Reading

These volumes may be found at your local library or book store

• The Vision of the Anointed - By Thomas Sowell



This book is a devastating critique of the mind-set behind the failed social policies of the past thirty years. Thomas Sowell sees what has happened not as a series of isolated mistakes but as a logical consequence of a vision whose defects have led to disasters in education, crime, family disintegration, and other social pathology. In this book, 'politically correct' theory is repeatedly confronted with facts - and sharp contradictions between the two are explained in terms of a whole set of self-congratulatory assumption held by political and intellectual elites. These elites - the anointed - often consider themselves 'thinking people,' but much of what they call thinking turns out, on examination, to be rhetorical assertion, followed by evasions of mounting evidence against these assertions.



• Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, & Religion - By David Barton



'The fundamental principle of our Constitution enjoins that the will of the majority shall prevail.' - George Washington

In their own words, the Supreme Court has become 'a national theology board,' 'a super board of education,' and amateur psychologists on a 'psycho-journey.' The result has been a virtual rewriting of the liberties enumerated in the Constitution.

A direct victim of this judicial micromanagement has been the religious aspect of the First Amendment. For example, the Court now interprets that Amendment under:



• A 'Lemon Test' absurdly requiring religious expression to be secular,
• An 'Endorsement Test' pursuing an impossible neutrality between religion and secularism,
• And a 'Psychological Coercion Test' allowing a single dissenter to silence an entire community's religious expression.


Additional casualties of judicial activism have included protections for State's rights, local controls, separation of powers, legislative supremacy, and numerous other constitutional provisions. Why did earlier Courts protect these powers for generation, and what has caused their erosion by contemporary Courts?
Original Intent answers these questions. By relying on thousands of primary sources, Original Intent documents (in the Founding Fathers' own words) not only the plan for limited government originally set forth in the Constitution and Bill of Rights but how that vision can once again become reality.



• Real Change: From the World that Fails to the World that Works - By Newt Gingrich



What will take us from the world that fails to the world that works? Real change - the kind of change that happens when politicians drop their own agendas and respond to the will of the people. Newt Gingrich shows us how we can make real change a reality.

Are you fed up with bickering politicians, self-satisfied bureaucrats, and a government that never seems to address the real problems facing our country? Can we create a government that is small, efficient, and responsive - from the state house to the White House? Is that kind of real change even possible? Newt Gingrich, architect of the Contract with America, says it's time for citizens to demand results from our elected officials. In this revealing and exciting new book, he shows how America can achieve transformational change--from a government of bureaucratic failure to a government that can meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. As a first step, Gingrich busts the pernicious myth that America is divided between conservative red states and liberal blue states. As Gingrich points out, the American people are united on almost every important issue facing our country - including immigration, taxes, defending America, and freedom of religion. The real division is between red-white-and-blue America and a fringe on the left. Red-white-and-blue America believes overwhelmingly - by majorities of 70 percent or more - that we need a change in course. But our politicians aren't listening. Gingrich reveals why the Democratic Party can't deliver real change and why the Republican Party won't. He provides answers and a step-by-step, issue-by-issue toolkit for building a better America - the safe, innovative, and dynamic America we all want. What will take us from the world that fails to the world that works? Real change - the kind of change that happens when politicians drop their own agendas and respond to the will of the people. Newt Gingrich shows us how we can make real change a reality.



• Getting America Right: The True Conservative Values Our Nation Needs Today - By Edwin Feulner



Where did we take a wrong turn? That's what proud conservatives are asking. Not only have Democrats retaken Congress, but federal spending is out of control, the government grabs for more power at the expense of our liberty, American businesses are fleeing overseas, and terrorism threatens us more than ever.

How do we put the conservative movement - and the country - back on course? By following Edwin J. Feulner and Doug Wilson's unique and practical six-point plan.

This paperback edition of the New York Times bestseller Getting America Right comes complete with a brand-new afterword that shows how in the 2006 elections American voters pushed back against wayward politicians. Feulner and Wilson also look ahead to 2008 and show how each and every one of us can fight to hold our leaders accountable and return to our core principles.