Res Publica

"Jefferson's beliefs in property and limited govt. helped him form the "Democratic-Republican" party and these beliefs were passed on to the gop."


Not exactly. Republican in those days meant anti-monarchist and really anti-theocracy--the American revolutionaries, like the French, fought against the King and the state churches, whether English or catholic. It is only later that the American "republican" means conservative fundamentalist and believer in capitalism. While I agree Jefferson did support the right to private property to some extent, he was not some Reaganite conservative. He objected to Hamilton's ideas on finance (the re-creation of the British models), as well as to Hamilton's arguments for the British models of Law and the courts. I think Jefferson was sort of anti-capitalist and secular, though not exactly socialist--perhaps one could call that frontier mercantilism. Were TJ to have witnessed the 20th century I believe he would have been an Orwellian type--skeptical of both right-wing Capitalism and fascism, and statist marxism.

Here's to furthering Jeffersonian ideals in 2006, and defeating fundies, whether Catholic, prot., or marxist.