We're not repeating history; we're mangling it

[shadesofmauve]

"As the government of the United States...is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion--as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility of Musselmen--and as the said States never had entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

-1797 Treaty of Tripoli (italics mine)

By the way, Alexander Hamilton was clearly Karl Rove's predecessor, and reading about him makes me twitch.

James Madison, on the other hand...the more I read about him? Still my hero. Corporation Sole? James Madison Does Not Want. My dad's reaction to my mentioning this fact? "Yeah. James Madison was an intellectual stud."

It's amusing to note that I went to J Madison Elementary, where we didn't learn anything about him, and as such I have a deep association between JM, boredom, and paste. Rising above that takes some serious work!

In other news, my caucus WAS an Obamarama!

Comments

[hawkdancer.livejournal.com]

Alexander Hamilton had good intentions. Karl Rove, on the other hand, is patently malicious.

[shadesofmauve]

He had some good intentions, yes, but he was all to ready to manipulate people via religion, a religion which he didn't believe in (at least until the very end of his life).

More importantly, he was the first to drag religion into presidential campaigns, as a way to smear Jefferson (as an atheist, which he was). It didn't work, but when I say he was a 'predecessor' I didn't mean he was The Early Rove, just that he started that nasty game.

[criada.livejournal.com]

I once listened to an episode of the Thomas Jefferson Hour and he talked about Jefferson's relationship with Hamilton. They were nemeses, but jefforson still respected Hamilton, because of course, Jefferson rocks. One of the things I can respect Hamilton for is that he was the cynic of the group, and believed it inevitable that one day someone would try to abuse their power like Nixon did, so he ensured our constitution had the proper checks to deal with that.

[shadesofmauve]

Oh, totally the cynic - what I object to is that he was perfectly willing to use tactics he would not have approved of in other people. Thankfully he tried to set up the system to ward against people like himself!

Jefferson was fascinating. True extremist, and said many things that were brilliant, some that were paranoid, and some that were just confusing.

[shadesofmauve]

I should add that I'm really impressed by the way they were all able to work together on really difficult goals despite a huge level of personal animosity. Pretty fantastic.

[criada.livejournal.com]

Yeah, really. They rocked.

[q13-exe.livejournal.com]

it's interesting to read Thomas Payne's on Common Sense keeping this particular back-and-forth in mind. His was not written as a direct commentary, but the first two thirds might as well have been.

[madalchemist.livejournal.com]

Ah, the founding fathers. All sort of fun stuff is out there to learn about them. Like Benjamin Franklin, the man was a total Player. One of the most consummate ladies man in the whole of American History. He loved the ladies, and the ladies loved him. Very impressive, because well... we've all seen pictures of him.

[shadesofmauve]

With THAT hair? And GOUT? And he was STILL pimpin'!