French Revolution Archives

OPINION: Why the French Revolution Was Not a Libertarian Revolution

August 24, 2026 Ryan McMaken

A common misconception about the French Revolution is that it was some sort of classical liberal or libertarian revolution. That is, some still claim that the revolution was, for all its flaws, in “the spirit” of what is historically known as liberalism. This flawed interpretation of the revolution persists for two reasons. One is used … Read more

Painting, The Storming Of The Bastille by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand

McMaken: What the Conservatives Get Wrong about the French Revolution

July 19, 2026 Ryan McMaken

The thing we now call “conservatism” in the West largely comes out of a reaction against the French Revolution and other revolutionary movements inspired by it. The Continental conservatives—e.g., Joseph de Maistre, Friedrich von Gentz, Klemens von Metternich, and Juan Donoso Cortés—embraced monarchism, often including its more authoritarian and absolutist varieties, in an effort to avoid the excesses of … Read more

Does the Left really understand what the French Revolution was about?

August 29, 2020 Skip

The Left is doing the provoking for a hot civil war, constantly probing and taking it to a hot Civil War. The guillotine is replacing the upraised Socialist fist that the Black Lives Matter movement has taken for its own (why not – its founders are self-proclaimed “trained Marxists”).

The Truth Shall Set You Free

August 28, 2020August 28, 2020 Percy Blakeney

Today we see the results of years and years of secularist attacks on religion. There has been a denial of eternal truths and the exclusion of religion and morality from public life. But here’s the rub. You can’t have the freedom to peaceably assemble for a redress of grievances. Not unless you have morality.

Hi Kevin, this is Benjamin with Mainers for Accountable Leadership, the Maine People’s Alliance, and Be A Hero. I’m writing today to talk to Mainers about stopping the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, the anti-healthcare, anti-choice Supreme Court nominee. Susan Collins is key to stopping him. And that is where you come in! Will you pledge to help get Susan Collins out of office in 2020 if she doesn’t stand with us and protect Mainers?

My response: