Were Jefferson and Madison socialists, too?
By Bob Peltz
From The Miami Herald
(Editor’s Note: What follows is a letter written to The Miami Herald, which appeared this past Monday. Jackie Bueno Sousa is a Herald columnist who wrote a column Sunday accusing the President of being a socialist, of all reasons, for demanding $20 billion from BP to, as she puts it, “redistribute the nation’s wealth.” I found her column insulting, if not downright ignorant. I was glad to read Mr. Peltz’ letter in The Herald. We’ve decided to reprint it – in English and Spanish.)
In a city where fans openly root for the Gators, Seminoles and the Florida International University Panthers [all public universities]; parents send their children to public schools; citizens daily rely upon public police, fire, water and utility departments; building is conducted in accordance with zoning and safety codes; our bank accounts are insured by the FDIC; the elderly receive Social Security and Medicare, and families enjoy the Metrozoo and Arsht Center, I initially thought that Jackie Bueno Sousa’s column accusing President Obama of being a socialist for forcing BP to put up a $20-billion fund to help pay for the devastation caused by its business activities was a joke or parody.
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Thomas Jefferson, credited as being the author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote a letter to James Madison, often nick-named the “Father of the Constitution,” shortly before the Constitutional Convention, in which he stated:
“Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions or properties in geometrical progression as they arise . . . The Earth is given as a common stock for man to labor and live on. If for the encouragement of industry we allow it to be appropriated, we must take care that other employment be provided to those excluded from the appropriation.”
Since Jefferson and Madison favored a graduated income tax, restitution for damages caused by industry and government guarantees of employment would apparently also make our Founding Fathers socialists in the eyes of some.
