Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Freeborn John

The first Libertarian, at the Mises Institute.

Lilburne, in his own day, was described as a Leveller, a term he did not like. He usually preceded it with words like "falsely so called" or "commonly (though unjustly) styled" to make his point.

As Pauline Gregg points out:
Lilburne always coupled liberty and property. Freedom to live unrestricted entailed freedom to possess: no passionate defender of the rights of individual could argue otherwise. It was "liberty and propriety," not "communitie and levelling," for which the Levellers stood.


Via.

2 comments:

Trooper Thompson said...

As Chuck D said in 'Fight the Power'

"Most of my heros don't appear on no stamps"

Long live John Lilburne - a free born Englishman, a true hero.

Wyrdtimes said...

What would happen these days if you agitated in an English town square? Beaten up or locked up I reckon.