As the 4th of July holiday approaches, it should be noted that France also celebrates the beginning of its similar revolution that began with the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. Both nations overcame overwhelming odds to successfully end rule by monarchies, but the results were poles apart. The French Revolution soon degenerated into mob violence and a reign of terror that included many thousands of public beheadings under the progressive leadership of Maximilien Robespierre. By 1794, he also felt the guillotine. The end result was not “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.” Instead, a military dictatorship emerged under Napoleon Bonaparte. He soon launched costly but initially popular wars of conquest that continued until his military defeat at Waterloo in 1815.
What went wrong is explored in two recent books far too intellectual and factual to make the New York Times Best Seller list. Both should be required college reading. Os Guinness authored Last Call for Liberty in 2018. He brings the outsider’s perspective of an Oxford-educated, seasoned British scholar, born to Christian missionary parents in pre-communist China. The other book, The Right Side of History by Ben Shapiro, followed in 2019. Yes, he is the same well known conservative speaker disgracefully banned from speaking at many U.S. colleges.
Both authors see the disaster of the French Revolution as a warning about the Democrat’s love of democratic socialism.
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