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Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World

Why is it the English speaking nations of our time have made the significant impact that they have? Why have Great Britain and the United State of America held proportionally more wealth and power than any other grouping of nations in the history of civilization? The first step in the answer is told in a new book by Daniel Hannan who sets as a member of the European Parliament from South East England.
Hannan has written an extraordinary book for our time. Extraordinary because it clearly tells the story of why the English speaking nations have played such an influential role in shaping the world we know. Extraordinary also because his purpose, to extol the virtues of the “special relationship” among these nations with its free market economies and individual rights is not held in high regard among many of the world’s elite. Hannan is very bold to explain why these nations, led by Britain and America are indeed exceptional. He shows the one step in this exceptional story but you will have to go to another source to find the larger and most important step.
Hannan sets the stage by quoting Winston Churchill definition of civilization as a "a society based upon the opinion of civilians. (where) violence, the rule of warriors and despotic chiefs, the conditions of camps and warfare, of riot and tyranny, give place to parliaments where laws are made, and independent courts of justice in which over long periods those laws are maintained.” (Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World (p. 1). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition).
He builds on Churchill’s definition by building his thesis on “three irreducible elements” "First, the rule of law. The government of the day doesn’t get to set the rules. Those rules exist on a higher plane, and are interpreted by independent magistrates. The law, in other words, is not an instrument of state control, but a mechanism open to any individual seeking redress. Second, personal liberty: freedom to say what you like, to assemble in any configuration you choose with your fellow citizens, to buy and sell without hindrance, to dispose as you wish of your assets, to work for whom you please, and, conversely, to hire and fire as you will. Third, representative government. Laws should not be passed, nor taxes levied, except by elected legislators who are answerable to the rest of us. (p. 4). Harper Collins. Kindle Edition.
The book is largely a tour through British and American history to illustrate those three elements. He does this quite well and although I don’t think he will change some minds I do think Hannan has done a good job of assembling a history that helps explain why the modern imperium of the English speaking nations has brought so many good things to so many people in its time upon the high places of the Earth.
The "larger and more important step" I reference above is touched on by Hannan but not in the detail it deserves, but to be fair that was not his purpose. Personal liberty, economic freedom and just laws that are above the state and king come from God. You find their origins in the earliest story of Adam and his descendants in the Bible. They form the basis of the covenants and promises God made with Abraham and his children. These blessings were unique to the modern English speaking nations because they were first given those who bound themselves in obedience to the God of Abraham. Understand this and you understand the modern world and why the English speaking peoples matter. Daniel Hannan has crafted a masterful account to help fill in the details.