Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marcos who wrote (124101)	1/31/2004 10:17:04 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I should mention, if I haven't already, that I see the tendency towards authoritarianism/totalitarianism as a problem of democracy. As successive groups succeed in gaining the reins of power, they try to grab as much as they can, preferably all. Although Jackson became an aristocrat, he was born dirt poor Scots Irish, e.g., the scum of the earth to a tory, and in many ways he was a 19th century version of trailer park trash. His election to the presidency caused great pain to those more "gently bred." The stories of his followers walking around the well-appointed rooms of the White House with muddy boots, tracking mud all over the carpets, gouging the polished wood of the floors and furniture, standing on the upholstery in order to get a better look, pilfering whatever wasn't nailed down, are still told. There's a new version of the Alamo which is coming out soon. I'm looking forward to your reaction. I expect you to erupt in flames and fireworks not seen outside Fourth of July. As for the Floridas - Jefferson thought he was buying whatever the French thought they owned. Well, let's back up a bit. The Spanish sided with the French during the 7 years war (which we call here in the US the French and Indian War), and lost part of Florida (without looking it up, if memory serves me, Georgia and maybe Alabama) to the Brits, who later became the Americans. The French Bourbon king "gave" Louisiana to his Spanish Bourbon king cousin, who politely demurred, but was overrruled. At the time, Louisiana was a money hole. Louisiana was under Spanish rule for a couple of decades, and then Napoleon wanted it back, at first just to have it, and later, so he could sell it, because he needed money. So, he pressured the Spanish Bourbon king "cousin" to retrocede it, and then decided to sell it to Jefferson. Ok, that's oversimplified but essentially accurate. At some point the French believed that Louisiana extended from the Perdido River (the boundary between present day Florida and Alabama) west to the Sabine, in Texas, and then northwest all the way to Oregon. I've seen contemporary maps that show Virginia extending all the way to the Pacific, which was depicted as being just west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In other words, they really just didn't know what they had.

To: marcos who wrote (124101)	1/31/2004 10:35:58 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Oh, dear, forgot to mention why I was harping on Jackson. I was assuming you'd know, which is that Jacksonian democracy is shorthand for the ascension of the masses to power in the US. When the country was founded, only land-owning white males had the vote, and this was taken for granted. Jacksonian democracy means that non-land-owning white males got the vote, and the power, and they were not any nicer to non-whites and non-males than the men they displaced. "White" means Anglo, which I am sure you know. The Irish aren't "white" because they're Catholic, same for the French and Spanish and Italians and Greeks and Eastern Europeans. I can't remember why the Dutch and Scandinavians aren't "white." Maybe they are. Scots-Irish didn't start out as "white" because they were poor, but eventually became "white" when they achieved power through, for example, having large farms that made a lot of money, like Jackson and his fellow slave owners. The beauty of America is that you, too, can become honorary "white" and honorary "male" if you make enough money and have enough education.