On Mon, 2 Nov 1998 12:27:27 -0500 Carl Remick <cremick at rlmnet.com>
writes:
>I am surprised no one's posted anything here re the DNA news, released
>this past weekend, on Thomas Jefferson & Sons (i.e., that TJ did
>indeed
>sire offspring by one of his slaves).
>
>TJ's another one of those "complex" people (to use the formulation
>Brad
>DeLong employed here recently in another connection) whom I detest in
>an
>uncomplicated way. Doug informs me that "most of the U.S. left is
>very
>pro-Jefferson," and I can't imagine why.
Actually, I would think that Thomas Paine would be a much better model for contemporary leftists than Jefferson. Unlike Jefferson Paine was a consistent radical and democrat who opposed slavery. He also remained true to his principles through good times and bad. He not only participated in the American Revolution but also in the French Revolution (where he was imprisoned for a time). When he returned to England he became a wanted fugitve because Pitt's government feared that he might try to start a revolution there as well. Eventually he went back to the United States at the invitation of President Jefferson where he spent the rest of his life. But his last years here were not all that happy. When he was imprisoned in France, Paine wrote his _The Age of Reason_ which expounded deist views in a manner that would be comprehensible to the ordinary working man. That work was noteworthy for anticipating the higher criticism. After it was published it quickly came under assault from the spokesmen for organized religion. When that happened most of Paine's old friends like George Washington and John Adams quickly distanced themselves from him despite the fact that their own private views on religion differed little from his own. As a consequence Paine spent his last years in lonely isolation with his views when discuused at all, subjected to attack and ridicule. Of the Founding Fathers, Paine has been the least honored, yet IMO he offers the best model for contemporary leftists. Unlike the other Founding Fathers Paine recognized that that the free market would not always work to the best advantage of working people and so he favored social security legislation making him an early advocate of the welfare state. In short he was the most progressive of the Founding Fathers.
Jim Farmelant
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