Great Arguments
in Defense of
Liberty
Areopagitica by John Milton
Published in 1644, Areopagitica, is a speech opposing licensing and censorship. The principles argued in this tract formed the foundation for modern justifications of the right to free speech.
On Liberty by J. S. Mill
Published in 1859, Mill articulated what is often referred to as the “doctrine of non-coercion,” that is that government should only regulate to protect people from other people, not to protect people from bad choices. This concise text is one of the most clearly written in the history of English letters, and is still an inspiration for those to whom liberty is the bedrock of a free society.
Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357, Justice Louis Brandeis
Published in 1927, the Brandeis concurrence in this case is known as one of the greatest
defenses of freedom of speech by the Supreme Court. He wrote that if the government can punish unpopular views, in the long run, it would strangle democratic processes since people needed the right to discuss government policy without fear. This made freedom of speech a key element at the heart of a democratic society. He wrote: "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."
The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
This 1944 work of political philosophy argued against the central planning of the economic life of a nation, that the existing socialism of Germany helped to pave the way for Nazism, and it prophesied the creation of the European Union.
Anthem by Ayn Rand
This 1938 dystopian novel envisioned a world in which the one forbidden word was “I”, and technological progress was stifled by a collectivist government.