Posted on 07/23/2011 9:52:25 AM PDT by John Semmens
Representative Jim Moran (D-Va) insisted that GOP use of former president Thomas Jefferson’s opposition to government borrowing to bolster the case against raising the debt limit is “unfair” and “inappropriate.”
“First of all, Jefferson was one of the founders of the Democratic Party,” Moran contended. “If anyone is going to interpret what he stood for that right belongs to members of that same Party. The GOP’s attempt to enlist him for their cause is unfair.”
“Second, even if Jefferson may have expressed an aversion to borrowing as a policy position, his behavior was quite the contrary,” Moran continued. “Jefferson loved to buy things. In modern parlance he might be dubbed a ‘shopoholic.’ At the time of his death his debts exceeded his assets. So, if we believe actions speak louder than words, Jefferson was no devotee of thrift. For Republicans to use a few of his errant words to try to paint him so is inappropriate.”
An even stronger objection came from House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D.-Md). “For the Republicans to take one quote out of context is despicable,” Hoyer argued. “We need to look at the whole of Jefferson’s life. He was not a scrimper nor a saver. He loved fine things. He even indulged in interracial sex with one of his slaves. His was not a lifestyle of penny-pinching and budget minding. By deeds he was quite clearly a Democrat. Were he alive today he would surely repudiate his off-the-cuff and outmoded opposition to government debt.”
Hoyer characterized the GOP’s “cut, cap, and balance” legislation as “a crude attempt to limit the amount of taxes that future Congresses could levy. Congress must have a free hand to appropriate the resources it needs to implement its policies. There must be no arbitrary ‘line in the sand’ that says ‘this far and no farther.’ The argument that individuals have rights that Congress cannot modify is undemocratic.”
read more...
http://azconserv1.wordpress.com/2011/07/23/economy-is-better-than-everyone-thinks/
Democrats talking out of both sides of their mouth tend to be incoherent.
A remarkable statement, and one deserving a remarkable response, like, say, tar and feathering.
Wait, it’s a satire. My mistake.
They can have Thomas Jefferson if they’ll give us back Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln.
No Ben Franlin has nothing in common with what is now the democrat party.He would be appalled at what you and your ilk have wrought upon this nation.
Democracy(democrats) has always been, is now, and will remain.. Mob Rule by mobsters..
Democracy is a lie.. No democracy has ever been democratic..
Thats WHY?.. America has not been a democracy but that seems to be changing..
Democracy “IS” americas problem..
Its the main problem with America..
Are we going to be a democracy?... -OR- a Republic?..
The federal government is the loose cannon thats lost its moorings..
It is (LIKE) the disease soaked blankets given to the Indians..
Democracy is killing America, and England, and France, and Germany..
The notion that Jefferson was the ‘founder of the Democratic Party’ really is not true. In the years after the fall of the Federalists and during the Monroe administration, the era of good feelings, there was only one party - Jefferson’s party - or no other party was strong enough on a national level to challenge the guys in power. By the end of the term of J.Q. Adams, however, enough factions had developed that one party was no longer able to define the various ideas and motiviations of American politics as a whole. Van Buren founded the Democratic Party, which Jackson was its first president. The Whig Party was founded shortly after to oppose Jackson and Van Buren’s corruption. The Whigs imploded, starting with the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1850, and the Republican Party evolved from remnants of the Whigs to take its place.
It is astounding to me that the dominant nationalist-wing of the Democrat Party would even care to claim the mantle of Jefferson, considering that they abandoned any resmblance about a centry ago and continue to regard his ideas of how to maintain liberty with contempt. Just imagine one of those Demoncrats with a copy of The Kentucky Resoution of 1798 procliming the right of nullification. He/She would be booted to the curb in less than an instant. At least many Republicans are willing to explore our roots and find an appreciation for the rich history of the struggle for liberty and how easily it can be lost.
If this country was a true democracy you and me wouldn’t have survived the 2008 election. If it gets to be a dictatorship, and obama and the liberals would love that, we won’t survive the next election.
WE may have not survived the last one..
Okay, if we follow that logic, then we own the race issue because Martin Luther King jr was a Republican.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.