He is here to talk about the most revolutionary of all the founding fathers... the Hero of "the productive class"... creator of the Republican party... and the philosophical backbone for decentralized liberty in our burgeoning Republic. The immortal polymath... Thomas Jefferson!
Dr. Gutzman's book is titled, Thomas Jefferson Revolutionary: A Radical's Struggle to Remake America!
It is truly a great read!
(We focus tonight on Chapter #1 which deals with Jefferson's views on government and society.)
Professor Gutzman brings incredible depth and insight into answering the following:
- Explain why Jefferson wanted a Republic that practiced "Federalism" or "Sovereign States' rights"...
- What was the difference between "Hamiltonian centralized nationalism" and "Jeffersonian decentralized federalism?"
- Jefferson studied the Roman Republic, how much of that influenced him?
- Explain how Hamilton invented today's left-wing "Living Breathing document" and how it differed from what today's right-wing would call Jefferson's "originalist strict construction"...
- Was it not in fact this "battle of interpretations" that truly lead us on a path to disunion in 1860? ...Did Jefferson believe that if you voluntarily entered a union you could voluntarily leave?
- TRP Guest, 10th Amendment Center's Michael Maharrey, and a large number of others believe "Nullification and Interposition" is the answer to stopping out of control centralized government... do you agree?
- Jefferson's often forgotten "Draft Declaration & Protest of Virginia" (1825) beautifully summed up how the government was supposed to be....did it not?
- How today's Democrats mostly take "Anti-Jeffersonian" positions and why they no longer want to associate with Jefferson...
- Not counting George Washington... 13 of the first 17 presidential terms (throw in a month for William Henry Harrison) were "Jeffersonian Republican" terms... Have the centralized government aggrandizers post "War of Northern Aggression" progressively covered up our great Jeffersonian roots?!?
- What did Jefferson observe that made him believe that the cities were corrupt and the countryside was pure?
- During Jefferson's time could only property owners vote?
- Were the dangers of "mobocracy" forewarned by Jefferson?
- Historians in the past 100 years have decided to create the term "Democratic-Republican" for Jefferson's "Republican" party... But, he never called it that... Wasn't Lincoln's Republican party far different in views from that of Jefferson's "original" Republican party?
- One final whimsical question: Jefferson's beloved wife Martha hated to travel. If she had NOT died giving birth in 1782 he likely would not have later traveled to France as Minister. How would the world have been different if Jefferson hadn't gone to France? For one...would his influence have helped to make the 1787 Constitutional convention more Republican in nature??
