Phoenix: Free-Born John: A Biography of John Lilburne

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Bio of Paleo-libertarian Hero!
Review: John Lilburne, a brilliant pamphleteer and a passionately courageous political agitator, was the most prominent leader of the paleo-libertarian "Leveller" movement during the English Civil War of the seventeenth century.

Lilburne was tossed into prison both under the monarchy of Charles I and by the republican regime of Oliver Cromwell. Lilburne was a fervent defender of freedom of speech, of the press, and of religion. He was also an unyielding supporter of economic freedom and of the rights of private property.

Pauline Gregg, herself a democratic socialist, found it difficult to comprehend how Lilburne could be both a defender of civil liberties and a proponent of economic freedom, but she nonetheless accurately reports Lilburne's beliefs and libertarian philosophy. In a brief review, it is difficult to convey how vividly Gregg depicts the events Lilburne experienced and the courage and integrity which illuminated Lilburne's life.

Aside from his political commitments, Lilburne was also, from a mainstream twenty-first-century perspective, a religious fanatic: metaphorically speaking, he was "drunk on God." In terms of understanding the history of natural-rights/libertarian philosophy, this is a crucial fact: historically speaking, the Lockean libertarian philosophy of the American founding was born among passionate evangelical Christians, such as John Lilburne, in seventeenth-century Britain.

That historical fact is an embarrassment to modern mainstream libertarians. The mainstream modern libertarian movement, whether in the Libertarian Party, in the "Objectivist" movement founded by Ayn Rand, or in various independent think tanks, is firmly anti-religious and is dedicated to an "anything-goes" philosophy that hates government becuase of a hatred of any sort of social or ethical authority which restrains an individual from pursuing his or her own individual whims and desires.

Free-Born John is a reproach to these modern-day "libertarians." Lilburne would surely have agreed with present-day libertarians about ending the War on Drugs, abolishing the income tax, etc. But Lilburne would have seen liberation from paternalistic government and the reinstatement of natural rights as merely the first step along a path upon which an individual tried to live his life as a creature made in the image of God.

There is a dissident movement among modern libertarians, the so-called "paleo-libertarians," who take the natural-law, natural-rights perspective of John Lilburne seriously (the paleos are best represented by the Mises Institute and the Center for Libertarian Studies, both of whom offer Websites and a number of books which are available here on amazon.com). Unlike the libertarian mainstream, the "paleos" are not reflexively hostile to religion, hateful of any social authority or traditions, nor focused solely on the satisfaction of egoistic, material desires.

If you are a "paleo-libertarian," you will love this book. If you are a mainstream libertarian or a non-libertarian, you will find John Lilburne as enigmatic as did Ms. Gregg. But if you make the effort to understand this man's mind and character, you may come to better understand the nature of human liberty and of the human condition.