>> Apparently you do. I linked to the text of some their actual writings. Their positions weren't what you are claiming.Many were very clear that concentrations of wealth were contrary to their vision of America. Thomas Jefferson went as far as supporting progressive income taxes to bring it under control.
I previously posted what I think was a very up front comment made by Jefferson:
“To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.” — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816
Whatever else Jefferson may have said cannot be anymore definitive. You don't take money from the people who earned it. Period.
The post you made in reply was essentially off topic; he was complaining about the inequality and he believed the poor should have opportunity to WORK, not to be given stuff belonging to the wealthy.
The Adams comment, which I also posted, was just as salient: You cannot have freedom if you're going to take the money capital or work product of people away:
“The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.” — John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787
Clearly, my post was on all point with the discussion while yours was out in the field.
So, I have no real interest in debating what Jefferson said or when. He made the point about as concisely as one can imagine in the passage above.
As to progressive income taxes, you are confused.
Jefferson did say:
"Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise." --Thomas Jefferson to J. Madison, 1785.
There is nothing in that remark that suggests he was proposing or WANTED an income tax at all, and in fact he argued to the contrary in his Inaugural address:
"What more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens--a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned." --Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural, 1801.
Once again, the intent is absolutely clear: A man who earns money should not have it taken away by his government. Period.
If you take Jefferson's comments complete, in context, there is no doubt whatsoever that he opposed confiscatory government. There is absolutely zero doubt he would be appalled at the level of taxation our federal government now imposes, as he would about the size and scope of government today. Jefferson did NOT believe in big government and there is just no way you can truthfully paint it that way.
None of the Founders could have possibly envisioned the abuse of the Commerce Clause that we've seen to date. |
