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.
Showing posts with label Thomas Jefferson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thomas Jefferson. Show all posts
Monday, May 24, 2010
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Our New America: A Retread of the Old Prussian Paradigm
The Clover Helix
www.thecloverhelix.blogspot.com
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
“Is the any thing whereof it may be said, ‘see, this is new?’ it hath been already of old time, which was before us.” Ecclesiastes 1:10
Anybody even marginally acquainted with world history is aware that Prussia came to be one of the most regimented militaristic nations the world had seen since the height of ancient Sparta. Located in what is now Germany and western Poland, Prussia’s military tradition found them deeply involved in virtually every major European conflict from the 13th century through World War I. Prussian citizens were rigorously trained to achieve economic and military supremacy for the State. These values were so imprinted upon the national psyche that the citizenry was willing to sacrifice their lives, and the lives of their families, to achieve these ends. Legendary for their courage and frequent success on the battlefield, conscripted Prussian subjects and Germans alike were frequently rented to foreign powers by Prussian rulers to fight in foreign wars. Financially, Prussia had little in the way of natural resources and, as such, became a manufacturing economy whereby they were able to influence foreign markets across the world. At the end of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) Germany became a unified nation under Prussian leadership. A permanently mobilized Prussia (and later Germany) took on the mantle of a new Sparta in every sense: militarily, socially, economically, and politically. Intimidation, complex military alliances, and war were the foreign policy.
It has been well documented that the seeds for America’s modern education system was taken directly from Prussia’s scientifically-engineered public educational program during the 1840’s and 1850’s, and that these seeds blossomed in America’s new research-based university system (another Prussian contrivance) during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since that time, the intellectual consciousness of the United States has been irretrievably altered and the nation has since emerged as a financial, political, military, and academic power whose influence extends to virtually every point on planet Earth. Though the post-Progressive Era of the United States has been referred to by some writers as the New America due to the proliferation and implementation of “progressive” (Prussian) ideas, it’s clear that the post-World War II era has seen their grand fulfillment. For a splendid discussion of this transformation and the resultant consequences for the United States, read John Taylor Gatto’s essay "The Underground History of American Education: An Intimate Investigation into the Prison of Modern Schooling."
Besides the wholesale entrenchment of Prussian-style education, America has adopted many other Prussian state concepts. Concerning our New American foreign policy, consider this description of 18th century Prussia by historian Thomas Macauley: “The King carried on warfare as no European power ever had, he governed his own kingdom as he would govern a besieged town, not caring to what extent private property was destroyed or civil life suspended. The coin was debased, civil functionaries unpaid, but as long as means for destroying life remained, [the King] was determined to fight to the last.” This Prussian way of life has found a new place in America.
Prior to the Spanish-American War (1898), whenever the United States became engrossed in any kind of international conflict, it would raise a military force, purchase weapons and equipment, carry out the war, and then disarm. It had been widely accepted that America’s fully-armed citizenry (militia) could repel an attack on the homeland until an army could be organized to expel the invader and, if possible, launch a counterattack. This was the classic model for American self-defense. This changed when the American battleship USS Maine unexpectedly exploded in Spanish Cuba, an event that was attributed as an act of Spanish terrorism. The United States government seized the opportunity and the American military routed Spanish forces across the world. Ultimately, the Treaty of Paris was signed and Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam as well as worldwide military prestige were handed to the United States. America had used the tragedy of the USS Maine to assume Spain’s position as a world power and establish an empire of its own. Today, most Americans aren’t even aware that Cuba and the Philippines had once been parts of the United States for almost fifty years.
After the Spanish-American War, the United States began to invest in new battleships to patrol its far-flung possessions. Additionally, the army was only partially reduced, yet the American people perceived that the country had largely disarmed. Any foreign invasion would have to come by sea, and Americans felt prepared for such an event. As a consequence, when World War I erupted in 1914, Americans had no interest in getting involved in the war as Germany simply was not perceived as a mortal threat to the United States.
Getting America into the war required a string of maritime catastrophes, beginning with the sinking of the HMS Lusitania in 1915 by the German Navy. However, it took almost two years of intense political lobbying to convince the U.S. Congress to declare war on Germany and her allies as most Americans were not convinced that these tragedies were sufficient cause for involvement. In retrospect, America’s interest in getting involved was more likely to gain participation in the negotiation of any peace compromise. In the end, Prussia was split up and replaced by the Weimar Republic. Angry and humiliated by the World War I armistice, hyperinflation, and the Great Depression, Germans created a new Republic and a fully-armed and mobilized Third Reich was born. Yet again, except for a formidable Navy, a growing regular Army, and the fledgling Army Air Corps, the United States appeared to disarm after the war.
The period from 1918 through 1941 would be the last time that the United States would be a relatively disarmed nation as the final remnants of Jefferson’s noninterventionist America were finally destroyed when the Imperial Japanese Navy dramatically attacked Hawaii in 1941. When World War II originally broke out in September of 1939, public opinion was similar to World War I: decidedly neutral. Americans had readily found fault with the positions of both the Allies and the Germans and, still being mired in the Great Depression, it was clear that the U.S. couldn’t afford to fight a war. Despite this public opinion, the U.S. government quickly froze Japanese assets and suspended fuel shipments while providing financial and military aid to England and China, Japan and Germany’s wartime enemies. In hindsight, had the U.S. government maintained a truly neutral position the attack on Hawaii may never have happened. Nevertheless, this surprise attack on American soil transformed our republic from a free society to one in perpetual fear of foreign attack. Since December 7th, 1941, the United States has maintained a fully-armed and technologically advanced land, sea, and air invasion force, the power of which the world has never before seen. Japan’s reward for their surprise attack was punctuated by nuclear attacks on two cities handing them a humiliating defeat. None of Japan's wartime allies have returned as major military powers since.
America’s transformation to a military megapower has become complete. Since World War II the United States has been involved in virtually every major conflict, constructed bases in countries that are decidedly anti-American, and intervened in global financial markets. America even began to fight wars on behalf of foreign governments. To avoid the perception of renting out U.S. troops to foreign countries, the nation currently pays for the privilege of defending Europe, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia out of its own treasury. America finances this policy though increased personal income taxation, money borrowed with interest from the very countries it is defending (even some borrowing from her enemies), and continual printing and debasement of the U.S. dollar via the Federal Reserve Bank (an institution modeled after Prussia’s Reichsbank). In the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, the United States government even conscripted unwilling citizens to fight for these foreign governments, a complete reversal of American policy since 1941; yet a very Prussian concept.
Thomas Jefferson said "[c]onquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government." Obviously, a major paradigm shift has occurred since the days of Jefferson. In September 1902, Canadian writer Beckles Willson wrote in the preface of his book The new America: a Study of the Imperial Republic the following: "In 1892 to have adumbrated the present role of America in Welt politik would have excited derision. Since that date, we have, however, seen an American Empire arise; alien and distant races now bow the knee to the American ruler. America's accents,though brusque and untrained, are beginning to be heard respectfully in the concert of nations." Willson uses the interesting term Welt politik (translated from German means world policy), an official German policy term that sought Germany's place in the sun commensurate with its rising industrial strength, primarily through creation of a colonial empire to rival those of other powers.
How has the United States government been able to keep its citizenry from objecting to these sweeping policy changes? Again we look back to Prussia where John Taylor Gatto tells us that during the 18th and 19th centuries “[e]very existence was comprehensively subordinated to the purposes of the State, and in exchange the State agreed to act as a good father, giving food, work, and wages suited to the people’s capacity, welfare for the poor and elderly, and universal schooling for children.” Keep this in mind when the government is offering “free” government services (i.e. health care, social security) while expanding its undeclared wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
www.thecloverhelix.blogspot.com
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
“Is the any thing whereof it may be said, ‘see, this is new?’ it hath been already of old time, which was before us.” Ecclesiastes 1:10
Anybody even marginally acquainted with world history is aware that Prussia came to be one of the most regimented militaristic nations the world had seen since the height of ancient Sparta. Located in what is now Germany and western Poland, Prussia’s military tradition found them deeply involved in virtually every major European conflict from the 13th century through World War I. Prussian citizens were rigorously trained to achieve economic and military supremacy for the State. These values were so imprinted upon the national psyche that the citizenry was willing to sacrifice their lives, and the lives of their families, to achieve these ends. Legendary for their courage and frequent success on the battlefield, conscripted Prussian subjects and Germans alike were frequently rented to foreign powers by Prussian rulers to fight in foreign wars. Financially, Prussia had little in the way of natural resources and, as such, became a manufacturing economy whereby they were able to influence foreign markets across the world. At the end of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) Germany became a unified nation under Prussian leadership. A permanently mobilized Prussia (and later Germany) took on the mantle of a new Sparta in every sense: militarily, socially, economically, and politically. Intimidation, complex military alliances, and war were the foreign policy.
It has been well documented that the seeds for America’s modern education system was taken directly from Prussia’s scientifically-engineered public educational program during the 1840’s and 1850’s, and that these seeds blossomed in America’s new research-based university system (another Prussian contrivance) during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since that time, the intellectual consciousness of the United States has been irretrievably altered and the nation has since emerged as a financial, political, military, and academic power whose influence extends to virtually every point on planet Earth. Though the post-Progressive Era of the United States has been referred to by some writers as the New America due to the proliferation and implementation of “progressive” (Prussian) ideas, it’s clear that the post-World War II era has seen their grand fulfillment. For a splendid discussion of this transformation and the resultant consequences for the United States, read John Taylor Gatto’s essay "The Underground History of American Education: An Intimate Investigation into the Prison of Modern Schooling."
Besides the wholesale entrenchment of Prussian-style education, America has adopted many other Prussian state concepts. Concerning our New American foreign policy, consider this description of 18th century Prussia by historian Thomas Macauley: “The King carried on warfare as no European power ever had, he governed his own kingdom as he would govern a besieged town, not caring to what extent private property was destroyed or civil life suspended. The coin was debased, civil functionaries unpaid, but as long as means for destroying life remained, [the King] was determined to fight to the last.” This Prussian way of life has found a new place in America.
Prior to the Spanish-American War (1898), whenever the United States became engrossed in any kind of international conflict, it would raise a military force, purchase weapons and equipment, carry out the war, and then disarm. It had been widely accepted that America’s fully-armed citizenry (militia) could repel an attack on the homeland until an army could be organized to expel the invader and, if possible, launch a counterattack. This was the classic model for American self-defense. This changed when the American battleship USS Maine unexpectedly exploded in Spanish Cuba, an event that was attributed as an act of Spanish terrorism. The United States government seized the opportunity and the American military routed Spanish forces across the world. Ultimately, the Treaty of Paris was signed and Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam as well as worldwide military prestige were handed to the United States. America had used the tragedy of the USS Maine to assume Spain’s position as a world power and establish an empire of its own. Today, most Americans aren’t even aware that Cuba and the Philippines had once been parts of the United States for almost fifty years.
After the Spanish-American War, the United States began to invest in new battleships to patrol its far-flung possessions. Additionally, the army was only partially reduced, yet the American people perceived that the country had largely disarmed. Any foreign invasion would have to come by sea, and Americans felt prepared for such an event. As a consequence, when World War I erupted in 1914, Americans had no interest in getting involved in the war as Germany simply was not perceived as a mortal threat to the United States.
Getting America into the war required a string of maritime catastrophes, beginning with the sinking of the HMS Lusitania in 1915 by the German Navy. However, it took almost two years of intense political lobbying to convince the U.S. Congress to declare war on Germany and her allies as most Americans were not convinced that these tragedies were sufficient cause for involvement. In retrospect, America’s interest in getting involved was more likely to gain participation in the negotiation of any peace compromise. In the end, Prussia was split up and replaced by the Weimar Republic. Angry and humiliated by the World War I armistice, hyperinflation, and the Great Depression, Germans created a new Republic and a fully-armed and mobilized Third Reich was born. Yet again, except for a formidable Navy, a growing regular Army, and the fledgling Army Air Corps, the United States appeared to disarm after the war.
The period from 1918 through 1941 would be the last time that the United States would be a relatively disarmed nation as the final remnants of Jefferson’s noninterventionist America were finally destroyed when the Imperial Japanese Navy dramatically attacked Hawaii in 1941. When World War II originally broke out in September of 1939, public opinion was similar to World War I: decidedly neutral. Americans had readily found fault with the positions of both the Allies and the Germans and, still being mired in the Great Depression, it was clear that the U.S. couldn’t afford to fight a war. Despite this public opinion, the U.S. government quickly froze Japanese assets and suspended fuel shipments while providing financial and military aid to England and China, Japan and Germany’s wartime enemies. In hindsight, had the U.S. government maintained a truly neutral position the attack on Hawaii may never have happened. Nevertheless, this surprise attack on American soil transformed our republic from a free society to one in perpetual fear of foreign attack. Since December 7th, 1941, the United States has maintained a fully-armed and technologically advanced land, sea, and air invasion force, the power of which the world has never before seen. Japan’s reward for their surprise attack was punctuated by nuclear attacks on two cities handing them a humiliating defeat. None of Japan's wartime allies have returned as major military powers since.
America’s transformation to a military megapower has become complete. Since World War II the United States has been involved in virtually every major conflict, constructed bases in countries that are decidedly anti-American, and intervened in global financial markets. America even began to fight wars on behalf of foreign governments. To avoid the perception of renting out U.S. troops to foreign countries, the nation currently pays for the privilege of defending Europe, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia out of its own treasury. America finances this policy though increased personal income taxation, money borrowed with interest from the very countries it is defending (even some borrowing from her enemies), and continual printing and debasement of the U.S. dollar via the Federal Reserve Bank (an institution modeled after Prussia’s Reichsbank). In the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, the United States government even conscripted unwilling citizens to fight for these foreign governments, a complete reversal of American policy since 1941; yet a very Prussian concept.
Thomas Jefferson said "[c]onquest is not in our principles. It is inconsistent with our government." Obviously, a major paradigm shift has occurred since the days of Jefferson. In September 1902, Canadian writer Beckles Willson wrote in the preface of his book The new America: a Study of the Imperial Republic the following: "In 1892 to have adumbrated the present role of America in Welt politik would have excited derision. Since that date, we have, however, seen an American Empire arise; alien and distant races now bow the knee to the American ruler. America's accents,though brusque and untrained, are beginning to be heard respectfully in the concert of nations." Willson uses the interesting term Welt politik (translated from German means world policy), an official German policy term that sought Germany's place in the sun commensurate with its rising industrial strength, primarily through creation of a colonial empire to rival those of other powers.
How has the United States government been able to keep its citizenry from objecting to these sweeping policy changes? Again we look back to Prussia where John Taylor Gatto tells us that during the 18th and 19th centuries “[e]very existence was comprehensively subordinated to the purposes of the State, and in exchange the State agreed to act as a good father, giving food, work, and wages suited to the people’s capacity, welfare for the poor and elderly, and universal schooling for children.” Keep this in mind when the government is offering “free” government services (i.e. health care, social security) while expanding its undeclared wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
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