Portrait of Lord Rockingham and Edmund Burke (unfinished). Reynolds, Joshua (1723-1792). Oil on canvas, 145.4 x 159.1 cm, c.1766.

My friend and hero, Larry Reed, has written an excellent piece on Edmund Burke and the quest for real liberty over at FEE.org.  Please check it out.

http://fee.org/articles/among-a-people-generally-corrupt-liberty-cannot-long-exist/

I would only add this to Larry’s great piece: that Burke was even more radical than Smith, noting in his 1795 paper on scarcity that government intervention in the market–at whatever level–always endangers security and prosperity. He also noted that the free working market allowed for “discovery.”