Once in a while you may come upon a work which, despite its small size becomes a classic.  Machiavelli’s The Prince is one such book.  The Left Face could in time become another, circumstances permitting.  Unlike The Prince, which was a manual for the government of the Florentine city-state during the Italian Renaissance, The Left Face is an indictment.  The author, a self described “misfit,” draws upon his education, experience and general understanding of society gathered from work in such diverse quarters as factories and the prison system to construct a brief but well ordered and in many respects scathing attack on modern liberalism and human politics in general. 

Author Les Hartley begins with a small lesson in political behavior from an extremely unusual source that leaves the reader questioning exactly how far humans are removed from the rest of the animal kingdom.  Next, he delves directly into discussing the use of collected human knowledge and wisdom, social change, gun control, modern sexuality, entertainment, race relations and other issues that decorate the modern political and social scene.  He has something to say about all of them, and none of it is good for the target.  His points are difficult, if not impossible to refute, despite that he does not provide footnoted sources for his contentions.  But then again, his object is not to argue but to indict, and indictments do not require proof.

The cover notes indicate Hartley’s position that liberalism is killing itself and its own clients.  On the former he makes a very good case.  Promotion of racial and cultural separatism has not prevented assimilation, and he expects that the racial divisions so heavily emphasized in the United States today will eventually become irrelevant.  The same appears to be happening in Canada where, as he points out, the French speaking population is in rapid decline, and is gradually moving out of Quebec, partly due to government quotas for hiring them, and then moving them to other parts of the nation where they become, of necessity, part of the dominant English speaking population.  Assuming that all this comes to pass, there will be no reason for modern racial quotas because the races will be so intermingled that distinctions will be meaningless. 

Similarly, he suggests that pro-abortion activists are less likely to have children than the “pro-life” population, who will presumably pass on their position, causing a decline in the pro-abortion population over time.  He also asserts that the term “pro-choice” really has nothing to do with choice, as the woman who carries her baby full term is also making a choice.  Modern homosexuality he likens to a fad, which will gradually die off with its members.  Entertainers are poorly educated, inarticulate, emotionally driven publicity seekers who have an opinion on everything, but nothing on which to base it, except their emotions and personal popularity.  Finally, the United Nations, and the proposed world government to free humanity from everything undesirable, are nothing more than exercises in power gathering by those people able to do it, in order to subjugate everyone else to their will. 

Much of what Hartley relies on is evolutionist in nature.  While he supports many positions that would fit comfortably with the average Christian Conservative, the origin of his beliefs is different.  His understanding of human behavior has more to do with Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments than with the Gospels.  However, Hartley also turns his back on the general theory of Smith and Locke that people are basically good.  He declares that history along with evidence from scientific investigations proves otherwise.  To test this he suggests that you might pass out your paychecks to strangers on the street to invest for your future.  The experience of many professional sports stars who lost millions to self-serving financial managers lends weight to his position.  

Hartley’s greatest fear is that despite the damage that the modern liberals do to themselves, it is likely that we will still see an eventual “Prison Planet” run by a world government that protects the people from everything but itself.  Problems will not be solved, but billions will be spent to do so because it keeps people employed.  His hope seems to rest on a new frontier that may lie beyond the earth, on other planets, or in the asteroid belt.  This will of course rest on the ability of technology to solve the problems of survival in a more hostile environment than we face here.  We can expect that these problems will eventually be solved and if humanity does take to the space lanes we can expect that misfits like Hartley will be among those who do, probably taking The Left Face along to remind them of what mistakes not to repeat in the future. 

The Left Face should be considered highly recommended and is available at Amazon.com.

Steven Laib is a practicing attorney.

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