The period in Europe, before the Reformation, offers what I view as the longest-lasting and closest example of a decentralized, libertarian order we have seen in the west…ever.  What has come since has not come close, certainly in terms of longevity – no matter what one believes about the value of the Renaissance, Enlightenment, or Liberalism.  For this, the period is worth examining for anyone interested in libertarianism in this world.

THE DOCTRINE OF TOTAL CORRUPTION CONSTITUTES THE VIEW THAT, SUBSEQUENT TO THE FALL OF THE FIRST COUPLE, MAN IS NOT MERELY WOUNDED BY SIN, BUT UTTERLY RUINED BY IT.

TOTAL DETERMINISM COMPRISES THE VIEW THAT GOD ARBITRARILY DECIDES WHO SHALL BE SAVED AND WHO SHALL NOT BEFORE THEY ARE CREATED….

So Sebastian Morello describes the Reformation doctrine.

THIS DUAL DOCTRINE REDUCES MAN TO A BRUTE, AND TWO FORMS OF GOVERNMENT FOLLOW FROM ITS ANTHROPOLOGY.  ONE IS THAT OF DRACONIAN LEADERS, AND THE OTHER THAT OF LIBERAL OLIGARCHY WHICH MAINTAINS THAT THEY ARE THE PEOPLES’ CHOICE.

One is Hobbes, the other is Jefferson.

People are incapable of developing virtue therefore they abandon the life of virtue.