"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." ~ H.L. Mencken
Shades of Grey (and Blue)
1Some readers have asked me to explain the reference to the 'sea-green banner of liberty.' The sea-green banner was the emblem of the Levellers, the first mass libertarian movement in history. The Levellers came to prominence in the 1640s, during the English Civil War, when ' to their credit ' they found themselves at odds with both King and Cromwell. They had a crucial influence on later classical liberal thinkers like John Locke. For some online versions of Leveller tracts, see www.constitution.org/lev/levellers.htm. I particularly recommend Richard Overton's delightfully titled
(And if you've got a spare $675.00 you feel like getting rid of, check out this massive hard copy collection, edited by my friend Jim Otteson.) So if there's a libertarian colour, it's sea-green. (Unfortunately, I haven't seen pictures of the Levellers' banners, so I don't know what shade of sea-green they used.)