Deeply grateful for Helen’s work. She cuts through the tribal noise to remind us that liberalism is a self-correcting engine for human progress, not an oppressive trap. And honestly, the sheer shock and awe of her annual "Happy Treason Day" meme is the exact antidote we need right now—a rare, brilliant reminder of how to laugh at ourselves instead of weaponizing wit to hurt each other. We might have ruined some perfectly good tea in 1776, but we kept the best part of the British Enlightenment. Cheers to a brilliant mind for keeping us grounded, laughing, and thinking. I just love our English cousin Helen!
I would paraphrase what Gopnik said about liberalism, reform, and revolution by paraphrasing a Captain Kirk cliche: liberalism's missions are reformist, we only revolution when we have to.
I have often thought that the American Revolution was the second phase of the English Civil War. The ideals of the rebellious Colonials echoed a lot of the aims of the Civil War’s more radical factions; the Declaration of Independence wouldnt have sounded out of place in.the mouth of Sir John Elliot, Thomas Fairfax, or even John Lilburne; while the form of government that emerged in the Constitution is a liberal influence version of the interregnum Instrument of Government. The American Revolution finished the unresolved questions of the Civil War, and Washington was its Cromwell.
Yes, welcome, and thank you for joining in the celebrations! I am somewhat pained as your host to insist upon a correction, however. You wrote, "America, despite establishing itself on the principle that it is self-evident that all people are created equal and endowed with the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, took considerable time to recognise that black Americans are people to whom this applies."
In fact the Constitution asserted that all **men** are created equal, and as Frederick Douglass said, it was "time for the negro" meaning the vote for black men, before it was time for the vote for women decades later. In our haste to defend men as a group against unfair attacks, let's not erase or understate the very real struggles women have faced to become full citizens and inheritants of liberalism's freedoms, in the United States and everywhere.🗽
“…let's not erase or understate the very real struggles women have faced to become full citizens and inheritants of liberalism's freedoms…”
Indeed. Particularly by liberal women in the US who gleefully work to undermine all these struggles accomplished by claiming “trans women are women” 🤮❌❌
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value." - Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, December 23, 1776
Enjoy your stay in 'Murica, Helen. We love visitors. Watching World Cup tourists enjoying our country has been the best thing that's happened to Americans in years.
The British common law, liberal tradition, and systems of jurisprudence have been a blessing everywhere they have prevailed.
Look at the various former pieces of the British Empire around the world, versus their neighbors with different backgrounds.
Look at Hong Kong, and the prosperity it squandered when it threw British common law and liberal tradition in the trash.
The American Revolution was based in a desire to more fully realize what the British common law and liberal tradition really meant. And the Civil Rights Movement in the United States was nothing more--and nothing less--than a continuation of that; continuing the work left unfinished in 1776 and the years following. Both asked the question: are we going to live up to these ideals or not?
There is a reason some political movements end in greater happiness and prosperity, and others do not.
In his autobiography, John Stuart Mill recalled that as a boy he had referred to "the English side" in that conflict, until his father explained to him why this wasn't the right way to look at it.
One small point: "theocratic or communist regimes" don't necessarily "seek to overthrow societal systems and impose new regimes on citizens by fiat." A theocracy means rule by religious authorities, so, insofar as these are typically not elected, it's illiberal, but that doesn't preclude its taking power through a democratic process. And communism, which simply means common ownership of the productive wealth, doesn't in any way imply imposition by fiat, which Marxists have historically condemned as "Blanquism." In fact in his later years, after class barriers to the franchise had disappeared in England and America, Marx himself mused that peaceful revolution might be possible in these countries.
You might expect that, as a socialist, I would take exception to your inclusion of free enterprise as a principle, but in fact I don't. A socialist democracy with workers' self-management would absolutely afford opportunities for new enterprises to be created by individual initiative, even if the institutional processes for realizing this might look slightly different from what we see in bourgeois society.
Deeply grateful for Helen’s work. She cuts through the tribal noise to remind us that liberalism is a self-correcting engine for human progress, not an oppressive trap. And honestly, the sheer shock and awe of her annual "Happy Treason Day" meme is the exact antidote we need right now—a rare, brilliant reminder of how to laugh at ourselves instead of weaponizing wit to hurt each other. We might have ruined some perfectly good tea in 1776, but we kept the best part of the British Enlightenment. Cheers to a brilliant mind for keeping us grounded, laughing, and thinking. I just love our English cousin Helen!
I wholeheartedly agree.
Happy 4th, Helen! Thanks for your beautiful, lucid exposition of liberalism. Exactly what we Yanks need on our 250th birthday!
♥️🇺🇸 Thank you! Enjoy your visit.
I would paraphrase what Gopnik said about liberalism, reform, and revolution by paraphrasing a Captain Kirk cliche: liberalism's missions are reformist, we only revolution when we have to.
Great stuff Helen. I hope you enjoy celebrating Indepence Day in the USA.
I have often thought that the American Revolution was the second phase of the English Civil War. The ideals of the rebellious Colonials echoed a lot of the aims of the Civil War’s more radical factions; the Declaration of Independence wouldnt have sounded out of place in.the mouth of Sir John Elliot, Thomas Fairfax, or even John Lilburne; while the form of government that emerged in the Constitution is a liberal influence version of the interregnum Instrument of Government. The American Revolution finished the unresolved questions of the Civil War, and Washington was its Cromwell.
Thank you, Helen!
Yes, welcome, and thank you for joining in the celebrations! I am somewhat pained as your host to insist upon a correction, however. You wrote, "America, despite establishing itself on the principle that it is self-evident that all people are created equal and endowed with the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, took considerable time to recognise that black Americans are people to whom this applies."
In fact the Constitution asserted that all **men** are created equal, and as Frederick Douglass said, it was "time for the negro" meaning the vote for black men, before it was time for the vote for women decades later. In our haste to defend men as a group against unfair attacks, let's not erase or understate the very real struggles women have faced to become full citizens and inheritants of liberalism's freedoms, in the United States and everywhere.🗽
“…let's not erase or understate the very real struggles women have faced to become full citizens and inheritants of liberalism's freedoms…”
Indeed. Particularly by liberal women in the US who gleefully work to undermine all these struggles accomplished by claiming “trans women are women” 🤮❌❌
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value." - Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, December 23, 1776
Enjoy your stay in 'Murica, Helen. We love visitors. Watching World Cup tourists enjoying our country has been the best thing that's happened to Americans in years.
The British common law, liberal tradition, and systems of jurisprudence have been a blessing everywhere they have prevailed.
Look at the various former pieces of the British Empire around the world, versus their neighbors with different backgrounds.
Look at Hong Kong, and the prosperity it squandered when it threw British common law and liberal tradition in the trash.
The American Revolution was based in a desire to more fully realize what the British common law and liberal tradition really meant. And the Civil Rights Movement in the United States was nothing more--and nothing less--than a continuation of that; continuing the work left unfinished in 1776 and the years following. Both asked the question: are we going to live up to these ideals or not?
There is a reason some political movements end in greater happiness and prosperity, and others do not.
In his autobiography, John Stuart Mill recalled that as a boy he had referred to "the English side" in that conflict, until his father explained to him why this wasn't the right way to look at it.
One small point: "theocratic or communist regimes" don't necessarily "seek to overthrow societal systems and impose new regimes on citizens by fiat." A theocracy means rule by religious authorities, so, insofar as these are typically not elected, it's illiberal, but that doesn't preclude its taking power through a democratic process. And communism, which simply means common ownership of the productive wealth, doesn't in any way imply imposition by fiat, which Marxists have historically condemned as "Blanquism." In fact in his later years, after class barriers to the franchise had disappeared in England and America, Marx himself mused that peaceful revolution might be possible in these countries.
You might expect that, as a socialist, I would take exception to your inclusion of free enterprise as a principle, but in fact I don't. A socialist democracy with workers' self-management would absolutely afford opportunities for new enterprises to be created by individual initiative, even if the institutional processes for realizing this might look slightly different from what we see in bourgeois society.
Excellent article. I had a one with a similar thesis that you might enjoy.
https://andrewjohnson95.substack.com/p/a-mistaken-conception-of-english?r=1o13pc&utm_medium=ios