Truths by Vivek Ramaswamy Book Review

A Refreshing Read in a World Full of Falsehoods

November 20, 2024

I used to say that nobody reads books written by failed presidential candidates, but I just finished reading Vivek Ramaswamy’s latest book Truths: The Future of America First so I guess I can’t say that anymore.

In his introduction to the book Ramaswamy lays out his reasoning for writing the book. He says the left has a clear unified vision that dictates their worldview and policy positions, “The believe our relationships to one another are defined by power dynamics. … The old left defined power based on wealth; the new left defines power based on race, gender, and sexuality. The role of government is to rectify these injustices.” (page 1)

The right doesn’t have the same sort of vision. Ramaswamy states, “As conservatives, we know we’re against that. We’re anti-woke. We’re anti-globalist. We’re anti-big government. We know what we stand against. But what do we stand for?” (page 1) Ramaswamy answers this question by saying, “We stand for truth.” (page 2) and he dives into ten truths that he believes the America First movement should emphasize:

If you are familiar with Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign these truths should sound familiar to you, they were the focus of it. I believe Vivek became popular largely because he was not afraid to focus on these truths, I also believe his focus on these truths is also why he is still relevant unlike all of the other Republican candidates who lost to Trump.

It is refreshing to see someone proclaim these truths in a world where the truth is unpopular. Take the truth that there are two genders and the related truth that one cannot change their gender, a transgender individual was just elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Some of the Republican women elected to the House are taking a stand to say that that man should not be allowed in the women’s bathroom just because he puts on a dress. Republican House leadership, however, seem too cowardly to stand up and protect the women of the House despite the fact that they come from the political party that is supposedly oppressing transgenders (by protecting women).

None of the truths Ramaswamy talks about are revolutionary, they are just unpopular in our modern day despite everyone knowing they are true. Ramaswamy identifies a pattern that leads people away from the truth:

Something bad exists in the world; the left then uses that “bad thing” to deny the existence of something else that is true; and if you call them out for it, you risk being tarred with punitive labels. This has the effect of systematically stifling dissent. Over time, that results in the public acceptance of certain falsehoods over the truth.

The pattern is ubiquitous. It’s a fact that there is a lot of suffering in the world; the nihilist left uses that fact as a basis to deny the existence of God. I’s a fact that racism exists; the woke left uses it to deny the existence of equality of opportunity. I’s a fact that a very small number of people suffer from a mental health condition called gender dysphoria; the sex-obsessed left uses it to deny that there are only two genders. It’s a fact that global surface temperatures have tended to rise very slightly in recent years; the climate-obsessed left uses that to deny the value of fossil fuels. If you deny their narrative, they will label you a racist, a transphobe, or a climate denier. (page 159)

Of course I’m not saying that because the book goes over truths you already know you won’t learn anything. It is a bit hard to read a whole book without learning. Ramaswamy dedicates a chapter (about 20 pages) to each of the ten truths he emphasizes. His goal with each chapter is to, “arm you with the right arguments for friendly arguments at the dinner table.” (page 3)

One cool thing I learned reading this book was that I learned from this book was that the man who discovered The Big Bang, that is said to be the origin of the universe, was a Catholic priest, the Church at the time celebrated this discovery claiming that is proof of a Creator. The science community of today will point at The Big Bang as proof that there is not a God.

Another interesting part of the book was where Ramaswamy said the next president should appoint “an Accountability Czar” to comb through the countless government agencies to get rid of redundancies, unfair regulators, and other wastes of taxpayer dollars. This is neat because President Trump just gave this job to Ramaswamy, so that portion of the book was a bit of a sneak peak at what the Department of Government Efficiency will be doing.

In another part of the book he talks about the extraordinary lives America’s founders lived. He uses their example to inspire us to do better. Ramaswamy says, “We need to revive that special combination of curiosity and confidence. Yes, we want to be a country of people who tinker in their garages. We want people who write great essays in the evenings, while working as mechanics or business owners during the day. We should expect more of one another as citizens. We should expect more of ourselves.” (pages 192-193)

This book is worth a read. Do I think you need to go out of your way to read it? No, it’s not going to get a spot on my reading list there are better books out there. But this book is refreshing and inspiring because it proclaims and defends the truth, if you find yourself discouraged because you are surrounded by people who refuse to acknowledge these truths this book might be just what you need.