>> “ The whole system was based on the notion that the People would instinctively defer to the educated, wealthy disinterested elite who alone could be trusted with power.” <<
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Sherm, you’ve been peddling your Soft Marxism here for over seven years, and we all know what you are by now.
Our founders were not a “disinterested elite,” but a well educated and morally sound body of very interested and motivated Christians.
We all know how much that word rankles you, but as long as you insert yourself here, you’re going to have to live with it.
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Following is from Federalist Papers, Madison No. 10.
In the extent and proper structure of the Union, ... we behold a republican remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government. And according to the degree of pleasure and pride we feel in being republicans ought to be our zeal in cherishing the spirit and supporting the character of federalists.
“Disinterested elite” was not meant as a criticism. Disinterested means “not influenced by considerations of personal advantage.”
If you were familiar with the writings of the Founders, you would be aware that they viewed men who were involved in the struggle to make a living as unsuitable to be in charge of national affairs. Such men are by definition “influenced by considerations of personal advantage.” The Founders thought only men who had moved beyond this were capable of the necessary detachment from self-interest.
That’s why Franklin retired from business before becoming involved in public affairs. That’s why Burr was so distrusted by the other Founders. He was a politician openly out for himself, of a type we’ve been familiar with for the last 200 years. But one that the others all still felt the need to at least pretend not to be.
Revolutionary America was in process of transformation from a society with a traditional hierarchy, almost aristocratic (but without aristocrats) to the aggressive frontier POV that “one man is as good as another.”
The Founders expected the role of the People in government to mainly have the judgment of picking out those who were better than they were. When politics quickly became a low jobbing trade, if there were any disinterested elites still in government, they mostly quit in disgust.
I’m unclear what word you think rankles me.