[Verse 1] Eighteen fifty-nine, an Englishman named Mill Says my fist stops exactly where your nose begins, so chill Liberty's a garden, let it grow without a cage Government's a referee, not the author of the page Individual rights, the ballot and the voice Harm principle whispers: your life is your own choice Limited government, don't come knock my door Unless I'm swinging punches, then you settle the score [Chorus] Mill says harm, Burke says calm, Marx says storm the wall Liberty, tradition, revolution — know them all H-A-R-M, harm's the only line Gradual or radical, pick your place in time Liberal, conservative, socialist refrain Three roads through history, memorize the lane [Verse 2] Seventeen ninety, Edmund Burke picks up his pen Watching Paris burning, counting guillotined men Says tradition's not a chain, it's a rope that elders tied Tested over centuries, don't just toss it aside Inherited institutions carry wisdom in their bones Church and crown and custom, built from older stones Reform, yes — but slowly, like a gardener, not a flame Abstract blueprints topple thrones but leave the hunger the same [Chorus] Mill says harm, Burke says calm, Marx says storm the wall Liberty, tradition, revolution — know them all H-A-R-M, harm's the only line Gradual or radical, pick your place in time Liberal, conservative, socialist refrain Three roads through history, memorize the lane [Verse 3] Eighteen forty-eight, Marx and Engels raise a shout History's a battlefield, class struggle throughout Lords against the serfs, then the owner and the worker Capitalism digs its own grave, swinging like a berserker Workers of the world, you've got nothing but your chains Someday common ownership, nobody hoards the gains Classless and stateless, the manifesto's dream Revolution's engine fed on economic steam [Bridge] Meanwhile Bentham's counting up the happiness in the room Greatest good for greatest number, weighing bliss and gloom Utility's the ruler, pleasure minus pain These four thinkers built the parties, built the whole terrain Welfare states and iron curtains, left and right debate Cold War splitting continents along this very gate Mill and Burke and Marx and Bentham, four roads in your head Every modern platform traces back to what they said [Chorus] Mill says harm, Burke says calm, Marx says storm the wall Liberty, tradition, revolution — know them all H-A-R-M, harm's the only line Gradual or radical, pick your place in time Liberal, conservative, socialist refrain Three roads through history, memorize the lane [Outro] Harm, tradition, struggle, sum — the compass in your hand Liberal, conservative, socialist, understand Four names, one map of power, carry them along Mill, Burke, Marx and Bentham — now you know the song
← Rousseau and the General Will | Rawls, Nozick and Justice →