But-cept II

Nobody asked but …

A few days ago, I wrote a blog criticising, by the way, the so-called founding fathers.  When I shared that post elsewhere, a treasured colleague took exception to my generalization, and he informed me that I need to read more Thomas Jefferson.

My reaction touched on the following:

• Thomas Jefferson may be the last founding father that I would critique.
• When has one read enough Thomas Jefferson?
• I pointed out that the founding fathers were not a monolithic group.
• For example, I cited a compare-and-contrast exercise covering Thomas Jefferson against Alexander Hamilton.
• Even though I was accused of overlooking that there had been no conscription among the colonials, that turns out not to be the case, per the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution: Library of Military History.
• Soldiers have been exploited by politicians since long before the North American colonies.
• War is war, and it is hell.
• The self-serving politicians who promulgated the American Revolution made sure to deport Jefferson while they were selling the US citizens on the scam known as the Constitution.
• Jefferson drafted, along with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, the Declaration of Independence, which was an escape from monarchical statism.
• The upshot of the Revolutionary War was the establishment of a state modeled on the European Royals’ version.
• The primary beneficiaries were the same landed gentry who thrived under King George III of England.

— Kilgore Forelle