John Nichols: Thomas Jefferson Feared an Aristocracy of Corporations
[John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written the Beat since 1999. His posts have been circulated internationally, quoted in numerous books and mentioned in debates on the floor of Congress.]
Thomas Jefferson's name gets thrown around quite a bit these days by the Tea Partisans, which is a good thing.
A populist movement of the right or the left that neglected Jefferson, the most radical of the first presidents, would be a sorry affair indeed.
Jefferson's distrust of concentrated and consolidated power was such that he left a legacy for any and every dissenter against the state.
But Jefferson did not stop there.
He was, as well, a relentless critic of the monopolizing of economic power by banks, corporations and those who put their faith in what the third president referred to as "the selfish spirit of commerce (that) knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that of gain.
Jefferson might not have wanted a lot of government, but he wanted enough government to assert the sovereignty of citizens over corporations. To his view, nothing was more important to the health of the republic....
Read entire article at The Nation
Thomas Jefferson's name gets thrown around quite a bit these days by the Tea Partisans, which is a good thing.
A populist movement of the right or the left that neglected Jefferson, the most radical of the first presidents, would be a sorry affair indeed.
Jefferson's distrust of concentrated and consolidated power was such that he left a legacy for any and every dissenter against the state.
But Jefferson did not stop there.
He was, as well, a relentless critic of the monopolizing of economic power by banks, corporations and those who put their faith in what the third president referred to as "the selfish spirit of commerce (that) knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that of gain.
Jefferson might not have wanted a lot of government, but he wanted enough government to assert the sovereignty of citizens over corporations. To his view, nothing was more important to the health of the republic....