[Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition]
In another post I focus on the “Twelve Key Ideas” which I believe defines what it means to be a “classical” liberal, rather than a modern or “new” liberal who holds views which are inconsistent (even incoherent) and is thus a LINO (liberal in name only).
However, these 12 key ideas do not exhaust the important topics on which liberals have written and taken political action to promote (property rights, sound money, and free trade) or to oppose (war, tyrants and despots, and legal plunder). Over the years I have collected 600 quotations drawn from some of the most important books written by liberals to illustrate this. These quotations (along with my commentary) are organized by topic (about 30). [Note: My list is of the titles of the quotes only. To read the full quotation and my comments follow the link provided back to the OLL website].
The topics covered include the following:
- Class
- Colonies, Slavery & Abolition
- Economics
- Education
- Food & Drink
- Free Trade
- Freedom of Speech
- Justice
- Law
- Liberty
- Literature & Music
- Money & Banking
- Natural Rights
- Odds & Ends
- Origin of Government
- Parties & Elections
- Philosophy
- Politics & Liberty
- Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots
- Property Rights
- Religion & Toleration
- Revolution
- Rhetoric of Liberty
- Science
- Socialism & Interventionism
- Society
- Sport and Liberty
- Taxation
- The State
- War & Peace
- Women’s Rights