Thomas Jefferson WHERE ARE YOU?

[Vinnie From Indy]

Not since Jefferson and Madison did battle with Hamilton and the Federalists has our country been so close to installing a monarchy. The Alito nomination and the full court press being waged to trash the 4th Amendment are just the end game for BushCo and the Neocons.

Thomas Jefferson longed to return to Monticello and live a life away from politics, but he hung on simply because he knew that the idea of our Republic was very fragile and under severe attack. He made this decision in the face of his own economic ruin for neglecting Monticello and his businesses at the expense of fighting for democracy. If there were ever a time when that commitment to the idea of individual liberty and the rule of law is needed, it is now.

I find it hard to imagine that ANY member of our modern Congress would stake as much as Jefferson did to defend our republic.

[punpirate]

1. Umm...

... Jefferson's dead.

It's up to us now.

Cheers.

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. I guess so is rhetorical argument

TJ may be long gone, but his dedication and commitment to republic over empire hopefully did not die with him. It appears that you do not subscribe to learning from history nor to to the drawing of inspiration from those that gave you something to fight to preserve. I surmise that you believe snarky witticisms are the way to affect change. Cheers!

[punpirate]

3. TJ would...

... agree with me. I have learned from history, thank you, and that's why I responded as I did.

Cheers.

[MADem]

4. Well, maybe WHERE IS our modern-day TJ?

We'd prefer one who had a slightly better civil rights record this time around...but the idea is valid, if you remove his blind spot re: the abuse of slaves...

[IrateCitizen]

5. Your assessment of Jefferson is overly simplistic and flawed...

Jefferson's vision of America was one of an agrarian republic. He opposed Hamilton, Adams and the Federalists because he was a Virginian -- a man from a sparsely populated slaveholding region of the country ruled by a planter gentry in a culture of honor enforced by violence. Most of the Federalists, OTOH, hailed from New England -- a region that was in the very beginning of a commercial and industrial revolution.

Furthermore, Jefferson went broke not because of his involvement in politics, but rather because he was addicted to the "finer things in life". His lifestyle, BTW, was made possible by labor provided by his slaves. On top of that, he was a virulent racist who refused to acknowledge the possibility that blacks could in any way be equal to whites.

Hamilton, OTOH, was one of the champions of the post-war abolition movement in New York. In the late 18th century he publicly stated that he saw no proof that whites were in any way superior to blacks based upon race.

Then again, I used to hold similar notions until I actually began to study history and learn that these figures were much more nuanced and less one-dimensional than I had led myself to believe.