I HAVE SWORN UPON THE ALTAR OF GOD ETERNAL HOSTILITY
TO EVERY FORM OF TYRANNY OVER THE MIND OF MAN
Posted on 02/13/2011 5:30:20 PM PST by Kaslin
WASHINGTON- Apropos of our democracy, Alexander Hamilton's and Thomas Jefferson's statues stand miles apart here.
America always has been at odds with these two Founders' philosophies of where the nation's exceptionalism would be found.
Today we are in the midst of a cultural U-turn away from a Hamiltonian meritocratic-elitist, centralized-power society to a more Jeffersonian Main Street focus, with state and local governments as the primary powerbrokers.
"When the country feels as though we have pushed too far in one direction, it swings back to the other side," says Dr. Lara Brown, author of "Jockeying for the American Presidency."
Prone to rambling, his clothes slightly worn, Jefferson was creative; his prose was almost poetic, his delivery scattered. The author of the Declaration, his vision of America was of a decentralized federal government, with power spread out to state and local governments.
His vision of an agrarian nation, with mild laws and a deep belief in man's goodness and liberty's importance, contrasted sharply with Hamilton's vision of a Washington-centric government, with power concentrated among the elite few.
Well-dressed, with a very organized mind, Hamilton believed humans were inherently flawed and, left on their own, made poor choices. His vision was to promote an economy based on commerce, wealth and strict laws, advancing toward a technological age and European-style collectivism.
Our shift away from elitism has threads throughout our culture, in the food we eat and the entertainment we choose. Cases in point: Plaid shirts, cowboy boots and Levi's jeans have surged in the fashion world, and last year's No. 1 new cable show was the History Channel's "American Pickers," about chasing Americana in the flyover zone.
It also is apparent in our political shift that began two years ago.
"What you saw in the very beginning of the tea party movement is our culture reconnecting with individual liberty again, the self-agrarian values of Jeffersonians," says Brown.
The shift from elitism isn't just a Republican thing, she says. "In just a few weeks you saw the end of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council, the resignation of Rep. Jane Harmon, D-Calif., and the loss of three moderate Democratic senators -- Webb of Virginia, Conrad of North Dakota and Lieberman of Connecticut."
Then there's the loss of moderate Democrats in the South: Since November's midterm elections, 24 state representatives and state senators have switched to the Republican Party.
The Democratic Party has cast itself as the progressive party, leaving little or no room for conservative Democrats. It appears to be out of sync with where the country is heading, despite Main Street's message last fall.
Republicans picked up 680 seats in state legislatures, hold a majority of governor's seats (29) and won 63 U.S. House seats.
And while Democrats still hold the White House, their 53-47 majority in the U.S. Senate will be tested next year when they must defend 23 of those seats.
Over the 234 years of our nation's Jefferson-or-Hamilton debate, we never really compromised on either man's vision. We zigzag, progressing slowly along the way, adopting a small part of their values in each new era.
Republicans were elected in November not because Americans love Republicans; they were elected because their values are in line with this new Jeffersonian era.
Along the Treasury's south portico, Hamilton's statue proudly stands guard. Tourists hustling to see the White House pay little attention to him; snow covers his head and most of his face, giving him an icy pose.
Down at the Tidal Basin, up wide marble steps and inside a circular portico, Jefferson's statue is less open to the elements. Tourists crowd around his larger-than-life figure, lingering over his iconic quote on a panel of the southeast interior wall:
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times."
What pretty much explains this is simple: Democrats jumped the shark, big time. They went way beyond what most people thought was reasonable.
And it was so unnecessary, they already had even the Republicans following their socialist ways.
Well, it’s an opportunity for the good, an object lesson on what being baptized into socialism would mean. It shouldn’t be wasted.
I HAVE SWORN UPON THE ALTAR OF GOD ETERNAL HOSTILITY
TO EVERY FORM OF TYRANNY OVER THE MIND OF MAN
I’m not ready to celebrate any victory of a swing to the Jeffersonian principles yet. We still have a Muslim terrorist American hater in our white house a huge and growing national debt, more entitlements in the budget than essentials, a growing pension disaster etc.
I think we made a good start on the swing in November but it remains to be seen how serious the new cadre are. When I see entitlements changed at the expense of essentials I’ll start to believe we are on the right track.
What a bunch of rot. Collectivism was unknown at the time, and Hamilton was no fan of the French Revolution which is the only thing that could be mildly interpreted that way.
Hamilton may have been a lot of things, but he wasn't a communist, or even a proto-communist.
It's easy to forget that Britain, France and even Spain were still active colonial powers in North America after the American Revolution.
Ok idiot left for the umpteenth time. We are a REPUBLIC. SHEESH.
I want a Jacksonian era. I want the Fed broken, the way he broke the Second Bank.
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To pick a nit -
I don’t see much of the “meritocratic” remaining in the “Hamiltonian meritocratic-elitist, centralized-power society” of today.
Our government has been using its power to move our society away from a meritocracy for some time.
We now have an openly racist, socialist administration using its powers to punish hard work, prudence and virtue while rewarding sloth, carelessness, and licentiousness.
The government picks winners and losers and doles out opportunity, rewards, advancement and gain on the basis of government preferences and favoritism rather than allow merit to dictate success and failure.
He does, indeed.
Yet another conservative who got their knowledge about the beliefs of Hamilton and Jefferson from a High School textbook.
"The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among, old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power." Alexander Hamilton 1775
"Little more can reasonably be aimed at, with respect to the people at large, than to have them properly armed and equipped."
"3/4 of the members of Congress were mortal enemies to talent and that 3/4 of the remainder were contemptuous of integrity."
"The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and, however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true to fact. The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right. "
"A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one!"
"The circumstances that endanger the safety of nations are infinite, and for this reason no constitutional shackles can wisely be imposed on the power to which the care of it is committed." --Alexander Hamilton
"Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike."
"In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself."
We are now forming a republican government. Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. June 26, 1787 during debate at the Constitutional Convention
There is almost nothing Jeffersonian about this country or our government. It is Hamiltonian to the core. And conservatives are predominantly Hamiltonian as well.
The counter-argument, of course, is that the US was able to defeat Britain without a centralized megastate.
The formal treaty ending the hostilities wasn't signed until 1783 and the final agreements over territorial boundaries of the new nation weren't formalized until the Jay Treaty was signed and ratified in 1794-95. (It's worth noting that Jefferson was an ardent opponent of the Jay Treaty, since it was an implicit recognition of Federal jurisdiction over territorial matters involving individual states).
This would become a major item of contention even among many of the new American citizens, and was one of the factors that led to the Whiskey Rebellion in the early 1790s. Many of these issues with Britain were never really resolved until the War of 1812, which was seen by many as the ultimate deciding factor in the victory of Hamilton's federal system over Jefferson's agrarian system. The whole role of state militias and the Federal government's authority over how they were used was called into question, and without a powerful Federal government there was some question over whether a state militia even had the authority to wage war in another state against an outside enemy.
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