Speaking of Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen contemplates whether or not he’d have supported the American Revolution had he been alive at the time.

It’s an interesting question. The funny thing is, if forced to put the people who crow loudest about patriotism today on one side or the other in 1776, wouldn’t you think most of them would have been defending empire, tradition, and the glory of the crown? I can almost read the National Review editorial now, inveighing against the radical, Godless-deist separatists!

Here’s another: Would the founders — whom our government celebrates today — have tolerated the government we have now? As Cowen notes, we rose up and revolted against a government that was far less intrusive, invasive, and — at risk of hyperbole — tyrannical than the one we have now. My guess is that alcohol prohibition alone would’ve been enough have Payne or Jefferson calling for arms. Never mind the New Deal, the Great Society, or today’s encroaching police state.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 4th, 2006 at 10:16 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.