Lysander Spooner Honored

by Liberty and Power

Kudos to Randy Barnett at the Volokh Conspiracy for his successful efforts to to get a historical marker placed outside the house in Athol, Massachusetts where Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) was born (see above).

Spooner excelled as a libertarian abolitionist, entrepreneur, and political theorist. He is one of my heroes. Randy also deserves praise for putting together a wonderful website which provides a wealth of information on Spooner's life and writings.

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William Marina - 10/22/2005

Kudos to Randy.
It occurs to me that Randy ought to push for Spooner to be nominated for the Supreme Court.
When Ch'in Shih Huang-ti died, the Court Mandarins tied him in a chariot and paraded him around as if alive. When the corpse began to stink a bit, they tied a cart of fish behind to suggest where the smell was coming from.
Lysander dead, would be a better symbol of the legitimacy of the Constitution than many of the recent nominees to the Court.
Could Washington, DC, smell any worse?

Kenneth R Gregg - 10/21/2005

Thanks for mentioning this, David.

Spooner was one of the best American libertarian theoreticians (if not THE best). I like to go over Barnett's Spooner website from time to time, not only for all of the letters that he has put online, but also to see what else he has added. Now he also has added Spooner's brilliant "Law of Intellectual Property." When I got "Spooner's Collected Works" after it first came out many years ago, I went through every essay. Each is a true masterpiece.

There are several essays, such as "No Treason," that every libertarian should read.

Just a thought.
Just Ken
kgregglv@cox.net

Sheldon Richman - 10/21/2005

Spooner is a big hero of mine too. Bravo, Randy!