I don't know which Angel, the better or the lesser, that represents Jefferson and which represents Alexander Hamilton. Sometimes I find myself a Jeffersonian and and sometimes a Hamiltonian. On this issue I am listening to the Jeffersonian Angel who wants an agrarian society as being the most representative and least tyrannical.
The Hamiltonian Angel at this point gets quite indignant and he accuses me of being a Luddite unwilling to contend with the modern age. The Jeffersonian Angel tells me that the founders shared Jefferson's vision and that's why we have federalism in the Constitution. Hamilton's Angel reminds me that we have been to the moon and live in a cyber age far removed from a fictive agrarian utopia of the slaver, Thomas Jefferson.
And so it goes on.
Nevertheless, my bias is for the Jeffersonian Angel. If the Hamiltonian Angel is correct and we can run our economy fast enough to stay ahead of the demographic wave, imagine the increased wealth and happiness if the wonders of the American economic system were not under such a strain. Imagine the improved quality of life if we were not competing so desperately for finite resources such as land or access into the cities. Imagine the increased degree of democracy if my vote were one among 140 million instead of 310 million?
What's wrong with Cracker Barrel democracy?
Hamilton tells me that the wonders of science and free markets are just beginning and Jefferson tells me that robots are no substitute for knowing our neighbor and, anyway, with Jefferson we can have an intimate democracy as well as material progress but, with Hamilton, perhaps just material progress.
