tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14245640.post3253988245088550355..comments2023-10-24T06:05:38.954-05:00Comments on The Thinker--or Just Sitting Around?: America's Pact With the DevilPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17504383209010655249noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14245640.post-4351938950399282762010-01-17T16:29:07.340-06:002010-01-17T16:29:07.340-06:00Adams to me is the coin flip side of TJ. Solid, WI...Adams to me is the coin flip side of TJ. Solid, WISIWYG. And their friendship, falling out, friendship again, and death on the same day, July 4 -- you couldn't make this stuff up. I knew TJ from Dumas Malone, etc., but it was after reading Brodie and Gore Vidal's "Burr" that demythologized TJ also humanized him for me. Malone's stuffy dimissal of Brodie's biography of TJ, which I loved, as "dirty graffiti" on TJ's monument, made me like TJ even more. Never liked FFs as gods on a pedestal. TJ was a flawed but ultimately great man. Liked Adams too, their political differences and personal friendship. The Yin and Yang of American politics.<br /><br />A favorite Adams exchange with TJ -:D<br /><br />The subcommittee met. Jefferson proposed to me to make the draft. I said, 'I will not,' 'You should do it.' 'Oh! no.' 'Why will you not? You ought to do it.' 'I will not.' 'Why?' 'Reasons enough.' 'What can be your reasons?' 'Reason first, you are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second, I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third, you can write ten times better than I can.' 'Well,' said Jefferson, 'if you are decided, I will do as well as I can.' 'Very well. When you have drawn it up, we will have a meeting.'Carloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12097922323580156789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14245640.post-76890173908011760112010-01-17T07:29:20.238-06:002010-01-17T07:29:20.238-06:00See, that's interesting, because despite his b...See, that's interesting, because despite his brilliant writing and obviously vital contributions, Jefferson is probably my least favorite of the founding fathers (at least of the biggest ones). I'm an Adams man myself. Jefferson was too inconsistent for me.drmagoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10348370006624173053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14245640.post-5901047650332945202010-01-16T19:53:47.279-06:002010-01-16T19:53:47.279-06:00To anonymous:
You’re entitled to your opinion.(YA...To anonymous:<br /><br />You’re entitled to your opinion.(YAY for the First Amendment!) Do you also believe (because Robertson does):<br />-That 9/11 was attributed to “the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians.”<br />-Hurricane Katrina and terrorist attacks are punishment to the U.S. for legalized abortion.<br />-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke was punishment for “dividing God’s land” and “the same thing” for the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.<br />-The sweat lodge death of two people in Sedona, Arizona was because they sought “enlightenment” in “new-age religion” instead of Bible and death was “the penalty” and the “severe price.”<br />-That Disney’s “Gay Days” Robertson predicts “will bring about the destruction of your nation. It'll bring about terrorist bombs, it'll bring earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor.”<br />-That Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez should be assassinated.<br />I’m with the rational theologians who rightly condemn Robertson. He is a disgrace to any Christian faith. If you donate to this swindler’s operation I suggest you check very carefully where your money goes:<br />http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050919/blumenthalCarloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12097922323580156789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14245640.post-78166567631961320232010-01-16T19:48:54.897-06:002010-01-16T19:48:54.897-06:00Those are valid points, Doc. But there is debate ...Those are valid points, Doc. But there is debate among some Jeffersonian historians that had he carried his private and published views on slavery more forcefully, the Civil War might have been averted, even if emancipation were carried out incrementally, through compromise and negotiation at an earlier stage, so that Southern economies could adjust. I thought it was an interesting "what if"? Your comments illustrate just how complex and fascinating figure TJ was; which, together with his glorious prose, is why he's my favorite Founding Father.Carloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12097922323580156789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14245640.post-41774883311555535142010-01-16T18:11:33.545-06:002010-01-16T18:11:33.545-06:00Jefferson was certainly quite hypocritical when it...Jefferson was certainly quite hypocritical when it came to slavery, but it doesn't quite ring true that he could have practically emancipated the slaves, not and manage to keep the country together. Passions were still inflamed, in large part because of the French Revolution and the aftermath, and I've never seen anything to suggest that in the first decade of the 1800's that the USA was firmly entrenched as an entity enough to survive the inevitable revolt. Also, I think that there were qualities that Lincoln had, dealing with people, that Jefferson clearly lacked. Jefferson was far less comfortable handling confrontations in person, and he didn't have the moral clarity internally that Lincoln clearly did regarding the wrong of slavery. He wasn't the right man to do that. As it turned out, neither were the next dozen guys in that office.drmagoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10348370006624173053noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14245640.post-23089377871374521082010-01-16T17:30:05.117-06:002010-01-16T17:30:05.117-06:00I don't think Pat Robertson needs to shut up. ...I don't think Pat Robertson needs to shut up. I feel he is 100% correct. GOD is not going to shake up land the way he did Haiti unless you have made him so angry that man has left him no choice. I do not know what they did but it was bad enough to enrage our creator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com