The Clover Helix
www.thecloverhelix.blogspot.com
Friday, May 28, 2010
I received the following e-mail from Tom Campbell regarding HR 1207, Audit the Fed Bill:
I have long supported an audit of the Federal Reserve. When I was in Congress, I was an original co-sponsor of Congressman Ron Paul's bill to do that. Please feel free to check with him about my consistent support on this issue.
Again, thank you for contacting me. If you haven’t already, I would like to invite you to visit my website at www.campbell.org where you can find my position statements under the “Issues” tab on my homepage.
Kindly,
Tom
Friday, May 28, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
America Has Forgotten Its Jeffersonian Roots: The Principles of Rand Paul
The Clover Helix
www.thecloverhelix.blogspot.com
Monday, May 24, 2010
“I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." John F. Kennedy, Describing a dinner for Nobel Prize winners, 1962
It is well known that Thomas Jefferson believed in small government principles and put a premium on the natural, or inalienable, rights of the individual. Jefferson explicitly expressed these views in the Declaration of Independence and in many of his other writings. He believed that the United States should keep federal regulation and taxation to a minimum because these hindered the natural right of the individual to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Jefferson was a classical libertarian thinker in every sense of the word. As such, he vehemently opposed centralized economic and social planning in all levels of government which kept him at odds with his political opponent and Federalist Party founder, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton believed in a large, powerful central government complete with a central bank and wasn't opposed to finding constitutional loopholes to achieve a political or social goal.
In many ways, libertarian views on government were destroyed by the American Civil War as the Hamiltonian North had defeated the Jeffersonian South. The modern belief by many that the war was fought to counter slavery is a false view as can be easily documented by the writings of the southerners who ceceded and the northerners who opposed them, though the ending of slavery in America was one of the positive outcomes. Rather, the war was executed to settle the philosophical conflict between Jefferson and Hamilton that America hed inherited from the revolution, and in 1865 the Hamiltonians prevailed mililitarily. By the end of World War II, the last vestiges of Jefferson's America were swept away.
After the Civil War, the American political system then evolved into opposing Hamiltonian views that persist in the modern Democratic and Republican parties. Both modern parties advocate social and economic policies that are centered on a massive Federal government with the rights of the States and the individual citizen subordinated. Such a political system would be anathema to Jefferson who believed that government existed in opposition to freedom. Though the Democrats were founded by Jefferson, they no longer support any of the positions for which he advocated and have virtually no intellectual ties to him.
Though libertarianism has survived in many intellectual spheres, most notably economics (e.g., Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich von Hayek, and many others), it has foundered in politics. Jefferson's views would seem extreme to most Americans today, probably just as they sounded extreme to the ears of Alexander Hamilton and his Federalist Party. Jefferson was opposed to a large military, central banking, foreign entanglements, imperialism, publicly-funded mandatory education, or centralized wealth redistribution. Rather, he believed that individuals had a better ability to determine what was best for themselves without governmental interference and in doing so establish a stronger and freer country from the bottom up. Today's publicly-educated schoolchildren are less educated than home-schooled children were 150 years ago (or even today), central bankers have debased the dollar by 98%, and the military is currently in over 100 countries; some of Jefferson's worst fears realized. Is it logical to excuse Jefferson's philosophies as being out of touch? Are Americans too immersed and dependent on Hamiltonian governance to see the libertarian viewpoint on issues?
"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government." -Thomas Jefferson
Kentucky Senate Candidate Dr. Rand Paul, a conservative libertarian running as a Republican, has drawn the ire of the national media because he suggested that one section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 out of ten may have overstepped the Constitution. The argument he posed was a Jeffersonian one: The Constitution does not allow the Federal Government to pass laws regulating private property; such laws are reserved to the several states and citizens per the 10th amendment. Local control of property and financial assets were a basic tenant of Jeffersonian America and in no way did Dr. Paul say that he opposed the spirit of the legislation. However, what the media reported was that Dr. Paul supported re-segregating private property that allowed public access, such as restaurants and banks. His Democratic opponent, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, even went so far as to say the Rand Paul was in support of repealing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. "An enemy generally believes and says what he wishes" Jefferson once said.
Clearly, for Dr. Paul the subject was never about racial inequality but rather about the application of the Constitution to modern issues and stopping government's incremental encroachment on individual rights. He suggested that libertarian solutions can be applied to even the toughest social issues, such as racism, and that we need not violate the Constitution to solve our nation's ills. But today the Jeffersonian argument is unintelligible to the Hamiltonian ear and Dr. Paul can expect a lot more political grief simply for being a conservative Jeffersonian.
Today, the Jeffersonian philosophy is being resurrected in opposition to increased centralized governance and the Hamiltonian establishment is fighting back against these "extremist" or "kooky" views. The writings of Jefferson and Thomas Paine are once again en vogue, and the heroes of past American libertarianism, such as Andrew Jackson, are being rediscovered. The modern libertarian is well-educated, well-funded, and highly informed on the issues, past and present. Perhaps the Jeffersonian view of America can be resurrected after all. If so, the country will be better for it.
www.thecloverhelix.blogspot.com
Monday, May 24, 2010
“I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." John F. Kennedy, Describing a dinner for Nobel Prize winners, 1962
It is well known that Thomas Jefferson believed in small government principles and put a premium on the natural, or inalienable, rights of the individual. Jefferson explicitly expressed these views in the Declaration of Independence and in many of his other writings. He believed that the United States should keep federal regulation and taxation to a minimum because these hindered the natural right of the individual to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Jefferson was a classical libertarian thinker in every sense of the word. As such, he vehemently opposed centralized economic and social planning in all levels of government which kept him at odds with his political opponent and Federalist Party founder, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton believed in a large, powerful central government complete with a central bank and wasn't opposed to finding constitutional loopholes to achieve a political or social goal.
In many ways, libertarian views on government were destroyed by the American Civil War as the Hamiltonian North had defeated the Jeffersonian South. The modern belief by many that the war was fought to counter slavery is a false view as can be easily documented by the writings of the southerners who ceceded and the northerners who opposed them, though the ending of slavery in America was one of the positive outcomes. Rather, the war was executed to settle the philosophical conflict between Jefferson and Hamilton that America hed inherited from the revolution, and in 1865 the Hamiltonians prevailed mililitarily. By the end of World War II, the last vestiges of Jefferson's America were swept away.
After the Civil War, the American political system then evolved into opposing Hamiltonian views that persist in the modern Democratic and Republican parties. Both modern parties advocate social and economic policies that are centered on a massive Federal government with the rights of the States and the individual citizen subordinated. Such a political system would be anathema to Jefferson who believed that government existed in opposition to freedom. Though the Democrats were founded by Jefferson, they no longer support any of the positions for which he advocated and have virtually no intellectual ties to him.
Though libertarianism has survived in many intellectual spheres, most notably economics (e.g., Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich von Hayek, and many others), it has foundered in politics. Jefferson's views would seem extreme to most Americans today, probably just as they sounded extreme to the ears of Alexander Hamilton and his Federalist Party. Jefferson was opposed to a large military, central banking, foreign entanglements, imperialism, publicly-funded mandatory education, or centralized wealth redistribution. Rather, he believed that individuals had a better ability to determine what was best for themselves without governmental interference and in doing so establish a stronger and freer country from the bottom up. Today's publicly-educated schoolchildren are less educated than home-schooled children were 150 years ago (or even today), central bankers have debased the dollar by 98%, and the military is currently in over 100 countries; some of Jefferson's worst fears realized. Is it logical to excuse Jefferson's philosophies as being out of touch? Are Americans too immersed and dependent on Hamiltonian governance to see the libertarian viewpoint on issues?
"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government." -Thomas Jefferson
Kentucky Senate Candidate Dr. Rand Paul, a conservative libertarian running as a Republican, has drawn the ire of the national media because he suggested that one section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 out of ten may have overstepped the Constitution. The argument he posed was a Jeffersonian one: The Constitution does not allow the Federal Government to pass laws regulating private property; such laws are reserved to the several states and citizens per the 10th amendment. Local control of property and financial assets were a basic tenant of Jeffersonian America and in no way did Dr. Paul say that he opposed the spirit of the legislation. However, what the media reported was that Dr. Paul supported re-segregating private property that allowed public access, such as restaurants and banks. His Democratic opponent, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, even went so far as to say the Rand Paul was in support of repealing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. "An enemy generally believes and says what he wishes" Jefferson once said.
Clearly, for Dr. Paul the subject was never about racial inequality but rather about the application of the Constitution to modern issues and stopping government's incremental encroachment on individual rights. He suggested that libertarian solutions can be applied to even the toughest social issues, such as racism, and that we need not violate the Constitution to solve our nation's ills. But today the Jeffersonian argument is unintelligible to the Hamiltonian ear and Dr. Paul can expect a lot more political grief simply for being a conservative Jeffersonian.
Today, the Jeffersonian philosophy is being resurrected in opposition to increased centralized governance and the Hamiltonian establishment is fighting back against these "extremist" or "kooky" views. The writings of Jefferson and Thomas Paine are once again en vogue, and the heroes of past American libertarianism, such as Andrew Jackson, are being rediscovered. The modern libertarian is well-educated, well-funded, and highly informed on the issues, past and present. Perhaps the Jeffersonian view of America can be resurrected after all. If so, the country will be better for it.
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