Dear Tom:
Between the American and French Revolutions, you witnessed first hand, two of the greatest feats of courage by humankind which through countless bloodshed and warfare eventually led to two democratic systems that both Pericles and Socrates would be proud of. You penned some of the greatest documents outlining human rights ever to be put down on parchment (Jefferson's Draft of the Declaration of Independence (1776), Jefferson's Draft of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779) ; yet let me ask you this, I think this country you helped form, has significant amounts of people going down the wrong path at a rate that millions of people will be hurt. When, I ask you…is the right time to say enough of this nonsense. How does one decide between “peaceful change through the ballot box” and “let’s start over again through a new system” when millions of people may be hurt at the hands of a few?
I know that you spent the larger part of your life defending your ideals. What would you do if during your presidency you had a Congressman like Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) who as House Budget Committee Chairman, who fashions himself as a savior of upper class wealth. He is an Ayn Rand follower. Now, Ayn Rand as Newsweek recently reported believed her totalistic philosophy was “Marxism flipped upside down. Rand viewed the capitalists, not the workers, as producers of all wealth and the workers, not the capitalists, as useless parasites.[1]” Put another way, Rand’s theory says “the man at the top of the intellectual pyramid contributes the most to all those below him, but gets nothing except his material payment no intellectual bonus from others to add to the value of his time. The man at the bottom who, left to himself, would starve in his hopeless ineptitude, contributes nothing to those above him, but receives the bonus of all their brains.”[2]
Speaking as one of the “worker bees” I am disgusted that the House Budget Committee Chairman doesn’t value my worth, my time in the factory, my values and the sweat and blood of my forefathers that went into making this one of the greatest technological civilizations in history. Congressman Ryan’s Budget version does well to protect the Ayn Rand followers in the Far Right and the “Tea” Party. It punishes the weak and rewards the rich. How many people will die if Congressman Ryan’s Medicare cuts are carried out just so we can give the rich more tax savings? Where will my son’s get funding for college when their educational grants are stripped away just so the rich can get richer? It didn’t work in your time Tom, when King George tried it- a revolution started. It didn’t work in France during your presidency, when King Louis tried it- a revolution started, why should it work now for Congressman Ryan?
Tom, I read in a letter you sent in 1816 (after your presidency) to Samuel Kercheval you make a very important point; "...our republicanism" is to be found "in the spirit of our people." You also state that the dead hold no power over living generations, condemning those who "look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the arc of the covenant, too sacred to be touched."
What does all this mean Tom, we need your help!
(To be continued)
Very Truly Yours,
M.E.K.
