> 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 indeedsire 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.
Yes, well, Paine has long been seen this way, there's nothing new (or false) in this.
But the yahoo-minded attack on Jefferson still deserves to be refuted as well. And yes, Jefferson WAS a complicated person. For instance, James concludes:
> 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.
But Foner points out in *The Story of American Freedom* (p 21):
"Jefferson proposed to award fifty acres of land to 'every person of full age' who did not already possess it, another way government could enhance the liberty of its subjects.
"Jefferson's lifelong friend and colleague, James Madison, agreed that the small, independent farmer constituted 'the best basis of public liberty.' Legislation in a republic, Madison wronte, should aim to 'reduce extreme wealth toward a state of mediocrity, and to raise extreme indigence toward a state of comfort.'"
Not exactly the Communist Manfifesto, but I'm a Popular Front kind of guy, and I say "take it!" Claim every progressive antecedent that can be used to argue for a better world -- and to turn back attempts to isolate and demonize those who take the more penetrating, more radical approach.
The Popular Front was the period of greatest strength for the American Left -- and was when the Left's enthusiasm for Jefferson dates from. Taking our cues from a period of success seems like a pretty good idea to me.
-- Paul Rosenberg Reason and Democracy rad at gte.net
"Let's put the information BACK into the information age!"