[lbo-talk] Texas school board drops Jefferson, adds Calvin

[Jeffrey Fisher]

Jefferson may indeed be overrated, but in the history of American politics
and intellectual history (see the U), he's still a giant. What they don't
like about him is his animosity for state-enforced religious uniformity, and
in that they are right to dislike him. Madison's Remonstrance is a better
piece of writing than anything Jefferson ever did, but it is Jefferson who
has exercised the greater influence on the question, and it is Jefferson's
Statute that actually sets the standard (surpassed in a very different
context by the Remonstrance).

On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 1:23 PM, Michael Smith <mjs at smithbowen.net> wrote:


>
> I've always thought Jefferson was overrated -- a provincial Sir Oracle
> with a bad case of France envy. You ask me, the Texicans have gained
> by trading him in for Calvin, who is a genuine Big Swinging Dick in
> the history of thought -- not that they'll ever read either one, of
> course. Much less Aquinas.
>
> --
>
> Michael J. Smith
> mjs at smithbowen.net
> http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org
> http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com
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