The American Vs. French Revolutions, A Freedomist Interpretation

The intellectual struggle worldwide today is now between the beliefs encapsulated in the American Revolution and those in the French.

Excerpt:
No wonder, then, that the American Revolution forged a Freedom that has survived for most of America's history, while the French Revolution created a bloodbath and State surpassing that of previous kings and aristocracies, a despotism ending in a Napoleon whose perfidy, aggression, and power was eventually defeated by the combined arms of the frightened monarchies of Europe. But the conception and principles of the French Revolution lived on to gain new vigor.

They underlie the revolutions of 1848 in Europe, the first stirring of socialism, the writings of Marx and the birth of communism and democratic socialism. The French Revolution was defeated but the Revolution was victorious. Infesting intellectuals everywhere, its ideas eventuated in the successful Russian Revolution.

So, the American and French Revolutions launched an historic struggle between two conceptions and two sets of principles. One fosters Freedom and peace; the other furthers a statism which mankind has seldom, if ever, before known, a disease that not only blighted half the world, but even with the defeat of its most monstrous version, communism, it still infests European politics and the American liberals, and especially, the socialist left.
[snip]
Of course. And the best measure of all this is that largely in the service of reason's drive for Social Justice, the State now confiscates directly and indirectly somewhere between 40 to 50 cents of every American's earnings, more than kings generally dared to take from commoners. One is now forced to work five to six months of the year for government. Without pay. And this is not counting the governmentally induced, hidden tax, called inflation.

In all this lies my assertion: the Freedom established by the American Revolution has been losing the struggle against the Counter-Revolution. Yes, Freedom still lives. But our diminishing freedoms must not blind us to the State's grip on our lives. As a professional, as a businessman, as a family member, as one simply seeking happiness, most of what one does now is subject to government rules, regulations, and laws, and can be vetoed by judges or bureaucrats who are backed up, ultimately, by the gun.
For complete R.J. Rummel article