Do We Face Social Unrest or Worse?
by Charles A. Burris
Previously
by Charles A. Burris: ‘Naming
Names’
Below is an
excellent three part BBC series on the English Civil War. I ask
that you watch it on two levels:
First, to learn
about these extremely important events that are not taught in public
schools which dramatically impacted Anglo-American history, particularly
regarding the background of the American Revolution, constitutional
separation of powers, and the Bill of Rights.
Secondly, watch
it as current events unfolding in contemporary America, on the dangers
of fanaticism from earnestly-minded bigots from across the religious
and political spectrum that fall prey to their ignorance and zealotry.
If civil conflict and open warfare in the streets comes to American
communities I am afraid that such armed militant groups appealing
to the basest of motives of the lowest common denominator will prove
dominant.
This series
has superb production values with exceptional re-enacted dramatic
portrayals of events, like watching a first class feature film.
Blood
On Our Hands
Oliver
Cromwell
Trial
of the King Killers
There was one
group of heroic figures discussed briefly in the films which needs
further clarification, the Levelers. They were the first organized
political group calling for a
written constitutional government established for all persons
(“The Agreement of the People”), equality of all persons under the
rule of law, private property rights and self-ownership (“self-propriety”),
and religious toleration.
Forged in opposition
to the tyrannical Stuart monarchs and subsequent usurpation of English
liberties under Oliver Cromwell’s flawed Commonwealth, such forgotten
heroes as Levelers Richard Overton and John Lilburne provided a
decisive intellectual impact upon John Locke and Algernon Sidney,
who along with John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon (the authors of
Cato’s
Letters), were perhaps the most important influences upon
our Founding Fathers.
This long-standing
noble tradition has continued on – through the Anti-federalist
opponents of empire and national consolidation, the principled Jeffersonians
(particularly John Taylor of Caroline and John Randolph of Roanoke),
the Anti-Imperialist League who fought the original battle against
American empire during the Spanish-American War, the Old Right opposition
to Franklin Roosevelt’s and Harry Truman’s welfare/warfare state,
Murray Rothbard and the modern libertarian movement – down
to Ron Paul today.
Two must-read
books are by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard historian Bernard
Bailyn: The
Ideological Origins of the American Revolution and The
Origins of American Politics. These seminal books changed
forever the way historians view our American Revolution and how
our deepest, most sacred political beliefs came about.
Here are two
detailed scholarly articles that further discuss our deep political
roots going back to the Levelers:
“‘Come
What, Come Will!’ Richard Overton, Libertarian Leveler,” by
Carl Watner
“The
Growth of Libertarian Thought in Colonial America,” by Murray
N. Rothbard
August
10, 2012
Charles
A. Burris [send him mail]
teaches history in the Murray N. Rothbard Room at Memorial High
School in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Copyright
© 2012 Charles A. Burris