"

You changed this article, so I'm going to take it up on this board. 
The article says ""The first modern author to have published an essay explicitly advocating the absence of government was Edmund Burke in ""A Vindication of Natural Society"" (1756)."" That statement is 100% correct.  It doesn't say Burke advocated the absence of government, merely that he wrote an essay advocating the absence of government.  If you want to add that most today believe it was an (extremely subtle) satire, go for it.  That's how Wikipedia works.  You think something's left out, you add it. As for why you believe the statements of a politician running for office (""Er, that work was a satire ... yeah, that's it."") over an anonymously published essay, that's between you and God, or Athena, as the case may be. I'll revert and add your concern.  "