Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
Diane Ellis has convinced me to come out of hiding and declare that I hate Thomas Jefferson. And love Alexander Hamilton. I think that one of the binary choices to identify personality types must be whether someone likes Jefferson or Hamilton (also: cats or dogs, the Beatles or the Who, salty or sweet, Yankees or Red Sox, and so on).
It all started with Rob Long's proposal to do away with the mortgage deduction. I blame this on Jefferson. Jefferson inflicted on the United States the idea that society should be based on the yeoman farmer. He thought that property-owners would have, as Diane pithily put it to me, "skin in the game." Jefferson feared cities, with their dense populations and what he would have called corruption, decadent ways, and "stock-jobbing." He wanted people to grow food, not invent financial derivatives. Hamilton loved New York, I think, for exactly those reasons -- classless, restless groups of merchants/tradesmens/workers and the endless activity of capitalist destruction/invention. Jefferson wanted the nation to remain essentially pre-industrial, exporting its foodstuffs to Europe but without any large industrial or financial base. Hamilton brought the modern financial system to America and wanted the United States to become a great producer as well as consumer.
This Jeffersonian ideal of a society of yeoman farmers, I suspect, is why the United States abuses the tax code to provide a hidden subsidy for home purchases to drive up the home ownership rate (a great deal of social engineering occurs in the tax code). The mortgage deduction is little different from a payment from the government to buy a house, throwing off the market's natural equilibrium. Periodic crashes in housing are the free market responding to unnatural periods of excess purchasing of homes.
This got me to thinking about other things I dislike about Jefferson, who, while clearly a brilliant man, was full of hypocrisies. Aside from the Louisiana Purchase, he was a pretty poor President. This, by the way, has nothing to do with my views on executive power -- I think Jefferson came to agree more with Hamilton once he was President and no longer in the opposition.
1. Jefferson was perhaps our nation's most eloquent spokesman for human freedom ("all men are created equal"), but at the same time kept slaves and may well have fathered illegitimate children with one.
2. He was a master of rhetoric in defense of civil liberties, but did not hesitate to use government power to pursue critics and political opponents (recall his pursuit of Aaron Burr and efforts to get him convicted of treason).
3. He criticized the growth of government power, but exercised it as president to enforce a complete embargo on all exports from the country (which would only be matched by Prohibition in its intrusiveness into daily life).
4. He demanded effective government, but would take long breaks from the Presidency during times of high stress where he would essentially refuse to perform the duties of his office.
5. He criticized political parties (he famously said that he would not go to heaven if the only way there was with a political party), yet he introduced partisanship to American politics by founding the first party -- the Democratic Party -- specifically to oppose the Washington administration.
6. He founded said Democratic Party, which engaged in vicious personal attacks on President Washington, even while serving as Washington's Secretary of State. He called Washington and Hamilton and their supporters "monocrats" who were intent on reinstalling the British monarchy in America.
7. He used said Democratic Party to allow the President and Congress to drive forward a common agenda, whereas the Framers expected that the two branches would be more antagonistic. The President was given a veto precisely to moderate and contain Congress, which they saw as the true threat to the people's liberties because of its power to tax and spend.
8. Even with Louisiana, his greatest act as President, Jefferson believed the Constitution did not permit for the expansion of the territory of the United States (a view that I think is mistaken). He even drafted a constitutional amendment to incorporate Louisiana. But when it looked like Napoleon would back out of the deal, he suppressed his own constitutional views and hurriedly agreed to the deal.
Jefferson has a monument on the mall, but I think it is for what did before his was President, namely the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. But if actions count more than words, Jefferson pales in comparison to Presidents like Washington, Lincoln, and FDR and doesn't deserve a monument to his Presidency. Am I wrong?
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May '10
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
Other than the Declaration of Independence and the Louisiana Purchase, he's over-rated? Thank God this doesn't really have to be a binary choice! But in the age of Obama, my heart says go with the champion of freedom, even if he did compromise his principles on occasion. As for Hamilton, he has the advantage of not having a record as president through which to comb. (And as for the others: dogs, The Who, salty, and neither.)
Jul '10
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
John,
Until I got to know you all I'd heard about was what a monster you were. The first time I looked you up i fully expected to see a monster's picture instead of a human being's. Then I started reading what you had to write and watching some interviews and said to myself, "self, that John Yoo ain't so bad after all."
Declaring yourself a Hamiltonian puts us back at square one, Mr. Yoo.
However, I will say this, your post got my hackles went up, (me being a run-of-the-mill rabid Jeffersonian), then you did it again by turning my opinion around a little. You are correct, I am not a fan of TJ the politician, especially of TJ the president. What I love is his philosophy and his writings and his ability to speak for a concept of America that even he wasn't capable of fully realizing himself. He certainly was a hypocrite, but he also was able to get outside of himself and see who we could be. He was a visionary.
Jul '10
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
Sure, Jefferson was a hypocrite. But slaveholder though he was, it was his words ("all men are created equal") that inspired emancipation by the much greater president, Lincoln.
And he did prosecute the Barbary Wars as well during his presidency. Wasn't it Jefferson who said, "We prefer war in all cases to tribute"? And he started West Point (which produced Grant and Sherman).
And of course the ending of slave importation/exportation. Jefferson is hardly the emancipator, but I don't think he's overrated either.
May '10
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
Do you think our large agriculture subsidies relate back to the Jeffersonian yeoman farmer concept as well?
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
John, An excellent disposition. Once I spent an exquisite evening at Monticello. As we dined in Jefferson's garden I watched my three girls run barefoot through the grass. Absolutely beautiful. And yet ... I thought, here was a man who could sit in the gazebo in this garden and pen lines about human freedom while men he owned slaved and sweated to produce his daily bread.
I propose that his foil is not so much Hamilton but Lincoln. In his masterful book Redeemer President, Allen Guelzo noted that as "Abraham Lincoln grew and matured as an American political thinker," he became "an adversary of almost every practical aspect of Thomas Jefferson's political worldview. The yeoman farmer is a fine ideal if you have slaves and property, but not if you are a poor boy who wants to rise in society.
Jun '10
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
If Thomas Jefferson was a better man, more pious, more generous, more loyal, less stubborn, less peevish, less of a hypocrite, the response today would likely be "Thomas who?"
Jul '10
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
I think the "founder as slaveowner" meme should be off the table. It is silly and nonproductive. But aside from that, you are very savvy in your assessment. Aside from the glorous Declaration, I have always found Jefferson to be very "liberal" in outlook - i.e. declaring for personal liberty while working very hard to ensure his version of what that means ruled the day.
But his work at the Founding overwhekms that in importance,
Jul '10
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
Oh, geez..... the cries of hypocrisy.... every waking breathing human being is and has been a hypocrite, save One.
Actions count more than words? Yes, his actions wrote the words that created this Nation. You are more than wrong.
May '10
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
I always liked America's ideal of the farmer-soldier! Is John Wayne not the quintessential American character of film for this very reason? I don't hate big cities (I grew up just outside one of the largest), but look at where progressives are marching from. There is something about population density that makes it easy to be a hippie. And there is something about country living that keeps people grounded and wary of government.
Farmers and ranchers will be the first to tell you that living off the land is unforgiving and often not what they would have chosen for themselves. But the "yeoman farmer" is not only a fine ideal when you're making others do the work.
I don't know what it's like in other states, but I recall my classmates in Texan public school history classes responding more favorably to figures like Davy Crockett than to the career politicians of Philadelphia and New England.
That said, I agree that Jefferson was an insightful fool... though I'm sure I have far less knowledge to base that on than John does.
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
Prof Yoo, only 2 areas of disagreement:
First: The mortgage deduction is not a hidden subsidy to purchase a home. Your view assumes the money belonged to the government to begin with, and they are gifting it to me.
To the contray, anytime the government allows me a deduction, it simply means they tried to taxed me too much in the first place - they were attempting to take more money from me than they needed to run the government.
That's why I curse at my accountant if a get a refund in April. Why should I give the government an interest free loan? I don't understand people who cheer their refund.
Second: Thomas Jefferson writing "all men are created equal" while owning slaves was the most courages political action ever taken.
The moment he wrote that self-evident truth, he was in violation of it. He set the bar for the country higher than he was personally reaching. Men of lesser courage would have made their moral standing the nation's as well.
Jefferson cared more for America's values than his own legacy. Hypocrisy? No, courage.
He deserves his monument!
May '10
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
What's that John? Which bands would Hamilton and Jefferson listen to?
Hamilton would listen to The Beatles. Hamilton wasn't visible to the public; he was involved in that studio sound, lost in a strawberry field of dreams: the national bank, centralized government, reading into things a little more than he should have. His cash came from across the Atlantic (import tax). His preference for large government and business made the little guy wonder: Hamilton - you never gave us your money, you only gave us your Federalist Papers.
Jefferson would listen to The Who. Jefferson was the Original Mod; military jacket to his knees, rebellion fresh in pocket. Grounded in post-war realism, his ideal was the Yeoman farmer: hoeing the fields as the salt of the earth, recognizing that when the old man's got all the money, a young man ain't got nothin' in the world. And the Louisiana Purchase? I'd call that a bargain, the best we've ever had. (If that wasn't enough, Pete's original band was called The Confederates).
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
People often cite the hypocrisy of members of the Church as a reason to reject Christianity. This has always seemed tragic to me. Yes, humans are wrought with hypocrisy and inconsistencies, we don't live up to our own moral standards, and we judge others for not living up to them. But this doesn't mean that the standards themselves are wrong, or that there's something fundamentally flawed with the Gospel.
The same strikes me as being true for Jefferson. He was a deeply flawed man, but his intellectual contributions to this country are invaluable. While he articulated ideals that he never met himself, future generations would be benefitted immeasurably by aspiring to them.
Also, I really dislike Hamilton. Maybe you should write a new post to persuade us why we should like the father of Big Government.
May '10
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
Yes, I'd like to see the defense of Hamilton too. I'd also like to see more monuments built for American achievements outside of elective office. That Jefferson achieved the most in political philosophy and righteous revolution, and the least as a politician, isn't a strike against him in my book.
May '10
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
Ah, yes, but once in office, the new boss was same as the old boss.
May '10
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
Zoon Politikon: John,
Until I got to know you all I'd heard about was what a monster you were. The first time I looked you up i fully expected to see a monster's picture instead of a human being's. Then I started reading what you had to write and watching some interviews and said to myself, "self, that John Yoo ain't so bad after all."
Well, there is that Peter Arnett thing....
Are you all seriously arguing that Hamilton's view of a need for some central government would in any way equate to the left's version of today's behemoth? Hamilton's writings on the Commerce Clause were all about export revenue, not violence against women.
Besides, you can also judge someone by who his enemies were. Aaron Burr was a pretty good debbil to have as an opponent.
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
Justified Right: Thomas Jefferson writing "all men are created equal" while owning slaves was the most courages political action ever taken.
The moment he wrote that self-evident truth, he was in violation of it. He set the bar for the country higher than he was personally reaching. Men of lesser courage would have made their moral standing the nation's as well.
A very fair point. I too think the hypocrisy thing is not really the story. To me, the bigger problem was that Jefferson's ideas of freedom owed more to the French than Anglo-Scottish Enlightenments. As Lincoln figured out, the whole yeoman farmer thing looking over his estate is fine if you come from wealth and have a lot of property. But it is, at its heart, antithetical to the kind of opportunity society where an ordinary man can rise by his wits and talents. As Lincoln appreciated, for that we need real economies, cities, etc. As Lincoln did in his own life, as a successful railroad lawyer.
To me Jefferson's ideas were often dangerously abstract. At their heart, Lincoln had a more realistic and more accurate understanding of freedom.
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
I'm with McGurn on Lincoln over Jefferson, and even Lincoln over Hamilton.
These illuminating posts have clarified in my mind that there are distinct problems with Jefferson: a) hypocrisy; b) his beliefs, and c) his actions in office.
a. As to hypocrisy, I'm convinced by you all that hypocrisy standing alone shouldn't be a strike against Jefferson. But I think there is something more serious than the apostles (or any of us) being able to live up to Christian ideals. There is something more about the great contrast between the Declaration of Independence and Jefferson's ownership of slaves, one that gets to Bill McGurn's story.
It is not just Jefferson could hold one thought in his mind (freedom) and act the opposite (slavery). It is that slavery was the very thing that allowed Jefferson the luxury to entertain his abstract thinking. Jefferson and his class sought after the gentleman farmer ideal, where they would live off the income -- helpfully provided by human chattel slavery -- and have the leisure time necessary to engage in philosophy. He could not have become the great American theorist without slavery, but he did not see this himself.
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
The second problem with Jefferson -- his thinking. I think Duane is quite right -- Hamilton wanted a central government with some powers, but nothing like today's gargantuan bureaucracy. Jefferson, however, was not a man of balanced thought. He loved the extreme -- for example, his idea that we should throw out the Constitution every 18-20 years and start a new one, or his statements in support of revolution.
Jefferson enjoyed Paris, but he loathed cities and their social mobility and economic energy. He couldn't envision a balanced economy like the one that we have in the United States -- he thought any manufacturing and banking would (boom) lead us into becoming Great Britain.
One story on this score. Why is Washington, D.C. in such a terrible place? Why are most state capitols in out of the way, secondary cities? I think this is Jefferson's fault too. He so feared cities that he cut a deal with Hamilton to keep DC out of New York or Philadelphia, because he didn't want one city in the nation to be like Paris or London. He wanted the capitol to be uncomfortable and unpleasant.
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
The third problem -- his actions. I think the Louisiana Purchase was the great moment of his presidency, and Byron is right that he took the right actions against the Barbary Pirates. But his hid his belief that the Purchase was unconstitutional, and he misled Congress as to the start of the Barbary War (he said that the Navy was essentially on a training mission and defended themselves when attacked, when in fact he sent the squadron with orders to take offensive operations).
He also attacked the independence of the judiciary. He essentially dared the Supreme Court that he would not obey its decisions, a confrontation which Chief Justice Marshall nicely avoided in Marbury v. Madison. He had a lower federal court judge impeached (though he was a drunk) and had the House impeach Justice Chase because of disagreement with his legal views. Luckily, the Senate did not convict (with Aaron Burr presiding over the trial).
But the worst disaster was the embargo. Jefferson should have allowed US merchants to continue making a mint from trade during the Napoleonic Wars. Instead, he tried to cut off the United States and demanded an amazing expansion of federal power to enforce it.
Re: Why the Housing Crisis is Jefferson's Fault -- and 8 Other Reasons to Hate TJ
So here's the $13,227,861,947,535 question, John: was Hamilton blind to the way his lean, mean, powerful central machine might transform into such a gargantuan beast? This is a can of worms, I know, but it's an important question. Do Hamiltonians, to put it even more provocatively, have to settle for a radically national welfare state out of all proportion, and different not just in degree but kind, to anything Hamilton could have ever imagined or desired?