Liberal politics finds its greatest apologist in John Stuart Mill, who in 1859 published a classic defense of loveless liberalism, On Liberty, a ringing plea that citizens should be left alone by governments, however well-meaning they were, and not be told how to lead their personal lives, what gods to worship or books to read. Mill argued that though a kingdom and tyranny felt itself entitled to hold “a deep interest in the whole bodily and mental discipline of every one of its citizens,” the modern state should as far as possible stand back and let people govern themselves.
