“In reality, the Revolution was a disaster for both liberty and happiness. The France of the Enlightenment, which had sown the seeds of freedom, was brought to an untimely end. What emerged instead was a police state” - L&L
In the spring of 1774, the British Parliament was debating the Intolerable Acts, as a response to the latest conflicts with the American Colonies—the Boston Tea Party in particular. On April 19, Rose Fuller moved that the tea tax be repealed. Edmund Burke delivered a speech in support of the motion. Excerpts appear below. The speech was more than twenty pages long and Burke had to pause at least once to recover his voice (full text of the speech).
“For decades, the dividing line between left and right was economic in nature; conservatives wanted tax cuts, deregulation, and a smaller federal government….The divide now concerns the ‘open’ versus ‘closed’ societies where moral and ideational issues are more determinant of a person’s vote than tax cuts and spending.” - L&L
“This essay is the third in a series looking at moral forms of resistance through the lens of just war statecraft. Some of these ideas are adapted from my forthcoming book” - Eric Patterson @Providence
