The Illusory Bargain: Liberty in the Aftermath of the 17th Amendment. This item is unavailable.The Illusory Bargain: Liberty in the Aftermath of the 17th Amendment

Out-of-control debt. Populism. Political vitriol and corruption. Where did America go wrong? Or rather, when did America go wrong?

1913. The Seventeenth Amendment is ratified, allowing the people of America to vote directly for their senators in the US senate. The same year, the Federal Reserve Act is passed, establishing a central bank to oversee monetary policy. In The Illusory Bargain, Ralph H. Lehman demonstrates that these seemingly empowering and people-serving pieces of legislature were just that-an illusion. Tracing the vision of the Founding Fathers as outlined in The Federalist Papers, Lehman reveals how the safety features of the original constitutional framework have eroded since and given way to rampant abuse of power and arbitrary, tyrannical law.

Through fresh, historically informed insights and over twenty years of financial expertise, Lehman reexamines the nation's fundamental values and proposes what may be the only course of action left to restore our liberty.

Ralph H. Lehman, JD, CFA, CAIA, MBA, has spent over twenty years advising clients on investments including tax, estate, and financial planning issues. This has given him a front row seat to see the impact that the Federal Reserve's actions have had on the markets, the economy, and most especially, the average American.

​​​​​​​Ralph attended law school at the University of Tennessee where, as any lawyer can tell you, the focus of Constitutional Law was not on the Constitution itself but on how our law has evolved in the 230 years since our Constitution was adopted. Not until he began studying our nation's founding on his own did he grasp how far our country had been drifting from its Constitutional moorings.

Prior to his career in finance, he spent nine years mentoring and training college students in a discipleship-focused ministry while spending his summers working with youth in inner-city ministry. His first book, The Elusive Trade, provides the first ever account of the story of the ETF--when, how, and why the exchange traded fund was created.

Ralph and his wife Charlotte share a home with their Brittany named Rocky in Knoxville, Tennessee. Besides fighting a losing battle with his untamed yard and even more unruly woods, he enjoys jogging and swimming, as well as walking with Charlotte and Rocky. An avid reader, his interests include finance, economics, classics, US, church history, and law.