There is enough hypocrisy to go around. Jefferson is the guy who wrote that all men are created equal isn't he. But he meant all white men..... right? Do we really think Jefferson wasn't smart enough to realize that a black man was a man...? Much of what our founding fathers wrote and said was intended to inspire the common man to fight their war against the king. A war by in large fought because our founding fathers didn't like paying taxes, and they were smart enough to know that the king didn't have the resources to make them do it.
I'm as patriotic as the next guy... but I don't worship the words of our founding fathers... and I don't believe they were inspired of God. And I believe that writing about all men being created equal and owning slaves is hypocritical.
Exactly what does that have to do with the argument of Senators and a constitutional republic? Surely you're not recommending that this farce of a voting system is better than what the Founders had in mind are you? People today vote with their feelings, how the candidate looks, and if they get a chance to remember at the last minute, what the candidate actually believes and how it fits with their belief system. Pure unbridled decmocracy is a joke and an affront to the memories of the men who founded this nation and what it was supposed to stand for. The 17th Amendment took the power out of the hands of the state houses and put it into the mass called the people, who for the most part are easier to lead than sheep over a cliff.
The only time the Constitution is used is to remember the Bill of Rights and that's it. Who cares what the body of the document says, how it is supposed to limit the federal government, and what the actual powers of the POTUS and the Congress are. Instead it's almost like it's some myth, held above the heads of the people, most who have not even read it. If they had, there would be a lot more folks upset
So, I assume you do not believe in the contextual interpretation of events? Let's say, for instance, that a WWII vet is asked "Have you ever killed a man?". Should the veteran's admission that he has be considered prima facie evidence of murder, or should the context of the death be established? (i.e.: Was it in battle?)
Regardless of your personal feelings about Jefferson, you need to admit that, under the societal rules of the time, if he had simply released his slaves they would have been captured and sold to some other owner. Instead, he treated them (from all reports I have seen) more like family than property. THAT was a serious statement on his part in support of his belief in equality of all men... To treat "slaves" as people was damned near heretical.