As anarchists, we here at The Price of Liberty are opposed to any and all mandatory human government. From a “one-world” or transnational state and government to a local “homeowners’ association” or special services district. (Yes, most homeowners’ associations are de facto governments.) The key, to us, is “mandatory” – a government of any type which has power over you (and us) based on where we were born or where we live (or work).
But even so, we understand that limited mandatory human government is far more preferable, far better, than what most of us (and most of mankind) have endured and endure today. It is a sad fact that such is necessary at all.
There were multiple times in history when men have attempted to create and sustain limited government. We submit that this is little more than tolerating something that is inherently intolerable. Many ways have been sought and tried to limit the power of government, to prevent the rise of the all-powerful state. However, humans are perversely ingenious and are inventive when it comes to enslaving their fellows. And usually in convincing the slaves that they are still free.
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Wrong and right: the two great “revolutions” of the 1700s
Today, 14th of July, is of course Bastille Day. Over the years, TPOL has commented on it as much as any other significant event.
The French Revolution of 1789-1799 actually began on 22 February 1787, just a few months before the Philadelphia Convention signed and published the US Constitution on 17 September 1787, and not long after the American War of Independence was won (the surrender of British troops at Yorktown in October, 1781). The so-called American Revolutionary War lasted 8-1/2 years, from 19 April 1775 to 3 September 1783 when the peace treaty was signed.
The French Revolution actually began with the “Assembly of Notables,” a kind of Congress, refused to obey the King and dissolved itself on 25 May 1787. However, it is usually dated as starting on 14 July 1789 with the storming of the Bastille, a prison in Paris. And its official end on the 9th of November in 1799 (by Napoleon Bonaparte’s successful coup over the Directorate) was just a pause in a mess that did not really end until 1815. Whether we count this as 28 years or just 10, it was a terrible time and resulted in almost no change: they started with a king and tyranny, and after the reigns of terror, rule by an emperor, and millions and millions dead, ended up with the emperor replaced by another king and continued tyranny.
In other words, the French people (and government) are today celebrating a single event in a failed “revolution.” (Of course, we at TPOL argue that the call the 1775-1783 conflict the “American Revolutionary War is just as bad: a war of secession, a War of Independence? Yes.
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