Back to Blog
The sacred fire of liberty5/8/2023 And in matters economic it is hard to slip a photon between Paul and Jefferson. Still, Jefferson's demilitarization of the United States very much anticipated that proposed by Ron Paul. Congress never voted to declare war but, much like our modern Congresses, authorized the use of force, “to cause to be done all such other acts of precaution or hostility as the state of war will justify.” And so it goes. Jefferson responded by sending in a small force to protect Americans and American interests but believed it unconstitutional to do more absent a declaration of war. Jefferson refused and the Pasha declared war on America not through some declaration but, lore has it, by chopping down the flagpole in front of the American consulate. ![]() Upon Jefferson's 1801 inauguration as president, the Pasha of Tripoli (the sure enough predecessor of Muammar Qaddafi), demanded tribute from America. Some believe him to propose to take America's diplomatic and military disengagement to an extreme well beyond that of Jefferson who, after all, bought Louisiana - and projected American power “to the shores of Tripoli” - fighting the Barbary pirates. There are principled reasons to dispute with some of Dr. “ Trusted with the destinies of this solitary republic of the world, the only monument of human rights, and the sole depository of the sacred fire of freedom and self-government, from hence it is to be lighted up in other regions of the earth, if other regions of the earth shall ever become susceptible of its benign influence.” ![]() ![]() Jefferson envisaged America becoming the world's great “empire of liberty. Jefferson's anonymous co-authorship of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions is in many ways the charter text on the primacy of states rights. Perry came under fire for rhetorically toying with that. Paul unabashedly went to bat for secession after Gov. His anti-(federal)-government convictions often are indistinguishable from those of Dr. These are at the heart of Ron Paul's agenda. Thomas Jefferson's agenda including eliminating the national bank, reducing the military, and dismantling the federal taxation system. It has found its most powerful exponent since, at least, Goldwater in the person of Ron Paul. Yet the Jeffersonian streak of subsidiarity lives on, is essential to America's identity and greatness, and is a rising force. The Hamiltonian version of America is ascendant. As for Hamilton, “Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.” Jefferson, affectionately enshrined in our national memory, has a Memorial. Hamilton's positions prevailed, tilting America toward a stronger central government. One of the keys to America's greatness is how George Washington was able to harness both the great centralizing, industrializing forces represented by Alexander Hamilton together with the great decentralizing, Arcadian forces represented by Thomas Jefferson. As Jefferson's heir he commands deep respect if not always (as in the case of this Supply Side, Hamiltonian, writer) complete fealty. ![]() That tradition reawakens in the person of Ron Paul, who has a fair claim to be our era's Thomas Jefferson. Paul represents the re-emergence of a great American tradition. The elite political class looked with disdain, and now looks with a certain measure of bemusement, upon Dr. This is Garry Wills's description of Thomas Jefferson. Who stands in opposition to “the bank of the United States, public debt, a navy, a standing army, American manufacturing, federally funded improvement of the interior, the role of a world power, military glory, an extensive foreign ministry, loose construction of the Constitution, and subordination of the states to the federal government”? Hint, these words were not written about Rep.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |