Paul Meany

Thomas Paine was one of the first people to argue in favor of what we now refer to as universal basic income.

Locke wanted to prove that the world is not a mere amalgam of violence and arbitrary authority and that there is something that separates a legitimate from an illegitimate government.

Milton argued that the state is not some quasi‐​divine entity ordained by God but is instead an organization legitimized by the consent of the governed.

One of the most significant thinkers who shaped Locke’s philosophy, despite preceding him by eighteen centuries, is Marcus Tullius Cicero.

On Liberty is not merely a political text explaining the intricacies of how the state ought to act. It is a love letter to the individual virtues of intellectual curiosity, tolerance, and open‐​mindedness.

As the debate around guns becomes increasingly divisive, it is important to know the original purpose of the Second Amendment.

Marsilius of Padua deemed the church of his day to be one of the most potent disturbers of the peace.

Mencius believed that the state ought to promote the virtuous flourishing of its people.

Beccaria was deeply opposed to the death penalty, a rarity for his time when most believed capital punishment was an acceptable response to many crimes.

Huang Zongxi argued for a constitutional model of government designed to benefit all people, not just the ruling class, and which stressed the importance of respecting private property rights.

Poullain provides an unapologetic and iconoclastic argument for women’s full participation in society, that they be given the same rights and access to opportunities that were afforded to their male counterparts.

Small acts of resistance in isolation do not stop the leviathan, but they do show that it is possible to oppose the state.

The Cato Institute does not derive its name from the notoriously staunch ancient Roman Cato the Younger. Instead, it is a reference to Cato’s Letters, a collection of 138 essays written in England during the 18th century.

Mary Wollstonecraft’s political philosophy and feminist thought were shaped by her beliefs about human nature.

The origin of the idea that liberty could be preserved through the separation of powers endures through the arguments of Polybius.