"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”—George Washington, “Letter to James Madison”
The classics and canon of literature are a treasure trove of the best from thinkers, actors, ideas, debate, and conversation. These are noteworthy works of literature and influential narratives that explore what is liberty, as well as the value and application of liberty in societies.
The great authors across time and space responsible for creating the classics and canon are people that worked hard, made observations, detailed their lived experience, researched, were negatively criticized, and often risked their lives for liberty.
For instance, the trial of the famous Greek teacher Socrates (469–399 B.C.) by intolerant government officials. Socrates refused to have his students honor the Athenian gods, to believe in mythological theology. The jury found Socrates guilty of corrupting his students and that is when it is said Socrates uttered, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” A month later Socrates was forced to drink brewed hemlock, a toxic concoction made from an herbaceous plant.
It is essential to read and use reliable sources by scholarly individuals about liberty in societies, rather than by unknown institutions, organizations, or individuals. Reliable sources provide information about authorship and credentials (working experience and knowledge), credibility (point-of-view, potential bias or propaganda), and reliability (accuracy and logic).
The following books are a great place to start building knowledge about liberty, then applying the knowledge, and then developing the ability to scrutinize your own thinking and the thinking of others. Overall, the listed books are excellent sources to refer to and quote in times or local, national, and international disagreements. Or any time for that matter—for that is what makes the following works perennial favorites.
The list of authors and their works below provide reliable, rich, complex information and food for thought. In other words, an on-ramp to discover more about the importance of liberty in culture and relevance to people today. Enjoy.
Washington: The Indispensable Man: click here to purchase from Amazon https://amzn.to/3fkFYLF
“No American is more completely misunderstood than George Washington…When at seventeen he began making his own living, it was as a surveyor, defining tracts of forest on the fringes of settlement…No other President of the United States before Andrew Jackson was as much shaped by the wilderness as Washington, and he had less formal education than did Jackson, than Lincoln even. Both Jackson and Lincoln studied law, while Washington's total schooling hardly went beyond what we should consider the elementary grades…The first settler, John Washington, was an impoverished adventurer who reached Virginia in 1675…As Virginia grew, the Washington family prospered modestly.” (Flexner)
Great Political Theories V.1: A Comprehensive Selection of the Crucial Ideas in Political Philosophy from the Greeks to the Enlightenment: click here to purchase from Amazon https://amzn.to/2MS8tEr
“Human law has the nature of law in so far as it partakes of right reason; and it is clear that, in this respect, it is derived from the eternal law. [Yet] in so far as it deviates from reason, it is called an unjust law, and has the nature, not of law [yet] of violence. Nevertheless even an unjust law, in so far as it retains some appearance of law, though being framed by one who is in power, is derived from the eternal law; since all power is from the Lord God…” (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica)
Great Political Theories V.2: A Comprehensive Selection of the Crucial Ideas in Political Philosophy from the French Revolution to Modern Times: click here to purchase from Amazon https://amzn.to/2XZyZlK
“In the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth, we read the complete spirit of the ethics of utility. To do as you would be done by, and to love your neighbour as yourself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality. As the means of making the nearest approach to this ideal, utility would enjoin, first, that laws and social arrangements should place the happiness, or (as speaking practically it may be called) the interest, of every individual, as nearly as possible in harmony with the interest of the whole; and secondly, that education and opinion, which have so vast a power over human character, should so use that power as to establish in the mind of every individual an indissoluble association between his own happiness and the good of the whole…” (John Stuart Mill, On Liberty)
The Irony of Democracy: An Uncommon Introduction to American Politics: click here to purchase from Amazon https://amzn.to/3d0OePi
"The Founding Fathers believed in republican form of government. They opposed hereditary monarchies, the prevailing form of government in the world at the time…To them, a ‘republican government’ was a representative, responsible, and nonhereditary government…They expected masses to consent to the government by men of principle and property, out of recognition of their abilities, talents, education and stake in the preservation of liberty and order.” (Schubert, Dye, Zeigler)
Liberal (Free) Thought in Argentina, 1837-1940: click here to purchase from Amazon https://amzn.to/3fsttOp
“If it is necessary to surround the law of the affection of the people, it is not the least to make the exercise of government pleasant for the country. Governing little, intervening the least, letting the most do, not making the authority feel, is the best way to make it appreciable. Often among us to govern, to organize, to regulate, is to hinder, to hinder, so a system that would let things be governed by its own impulse would be preferable…Our prosperity must be a spontaneous work of things, rather than an official creation. Nations are generally not the work of governments, and the best they can do in administration as a gift is to let their powers unfold for their own vitality. Do not hinder, let do, is the best rule when there is no certainty of acting correctly.” (Juan Bautista Alberdi, Bases and Starting Points for the Political Organization of the Argentine Republic)
The aforementioned books inspire liberty, curiosity about economics, law, history, philosophy, art, current events, and more. Additionally, the classics and canon of liberty provoke thinking about civic engagement, living, free societies, respect, morals, and the rule of law.
Enrichment and Application
“The brain craves novelty,” says Tracey Shors, Ph.D., a distinguished professor of psychology and neuroscience at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Reading, sharing, participating in civic activities and projects is essential for our health and the health of our communities.
*Promote gracious spaces. Use the sources above in discussions and as evidence to support your claims and beliefs. For example, if a friend posts a statement, image, and/or hashtag from an unfamiliar (unreliable) source on social media, use of the sources above to check the validity the statement. Or share one of the reliable sources above with him or her to open up cilvil discussion and focus on more logical ideas.
*Propose and organize a field trip to a museum, landmark, or cultural institution.
*Promote scholarliness at home. Create a beautiful poster for display as a family, for a homeschool project, and/or for your own social media.
*Get creative. Invent a game or computer program using one or more the sources above.
*Write down your curiosities and unanswered questions after reading the sources above. Locate reliable sources to answer your curiosities and questions.
Join the Jesse Bluma at Pointe Viven circle:
Credits:
Amazon.com
istock.com
Leach, N. (2019, September 15). Keep Your Brain Happy and Healthy. From https://www.awpnow.com/main/2019/09/18/keep-your-brain-happy-and-healthy/
Pexels.com
Nails, D. (2018, February 06). Socrates. From https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socrates/
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