George Washington: Just Another Tyrant?
Go read this chapter of Murray Rothbard’s Conceived in Liberty.
Then recall what you were told about the “heroic” Washington in school.
Then tell me if it bears any resemblance to the above.
Voltarine De Cleyre had this nailed down 100 years ago. To quote her:
Ask any child what he knows about Shays’ rebellion, and he will answer, “Oh, some of the farmers couldn’t pay their taxes, and Shays led a rebellion against the court-house at Worcester, so they could burn up the deeds; and when Washington heard of it he sent over an army quick and taught ’em a good lesson” – “And what was the result of it?” “The result? Why – why – the result was – Oh yes, I remember – the result was they saw the need of a strong federal government to collect the taxes and pay the debts.” Ask if he knows what was said on the other side of the story, ask if he knows that the men who had given their goods and their health and their strength for the freeing of the country now found themselves cast into prison for debt, sick, disabled, and poor, facing a new tyranny for the old; that their demand was that the land should become the free communal possession of those who wished to work it, not subject to tribute, and the child will answer “No.”
Who today, would stand up for liberty for these farmers like De Cleyre did? I fear that the number would be far too few.
Natasha | Anarchy, LeftLibertarian.org
People are happy in their slavery and don’t care to have the responsibilities that necessarily come with it — but neither do they understand its joys as well.