May 23, 2019 Thursday
Bedtime Story
Jefferson on Class Conflict
Jefferson’s was an opulently lived life with
a habit of always living beyond his means and remaining chronically in debt in
spite of being blessed with almost unimaginable lands holdings and hundreds of
slaves.
His is one of the four heads that stand
sculptured into the granite face of Mount Rushmore which is a part of the Black
Hills mountain Range in the state of South Dakota and extending on the west to
Wyoming.
These four heads are the head of four Presidents
of the United States who from the left to right are George Washington, Thomas
Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln and as is obvious they are
not arranged in historical chronological order.
These four were chosen for a very special
symbolic reason representing the birth (the first President), the growth (Louisiana
Purchase), the development (setting up the modern welfare state) and preservation
(American Civil War and preserving the Union) of the United States.
Despite his human failings Jefferson ranks
very high in American history and its worthwhile to gloss over his words may
mean let us see what he had to say on class conflict:
“I am convinced that those societies (as
the Native Indians) which live without government enjoy in their general mass
an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the
European governments.
Among the former, public opinion is in the
place of law, and restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did anywhere.
Among the latter, under the pretence of
governing they have divided their nation into two classes, wolves and sheep.
I do not exaggerate.
This is a true picture of Europe.
Cherish therefore the spirit of our people,
and keep alive their attention.
Do not be too severe upon their errors, but
reclaim them by enlightening them.
If once they become inattentive to the
public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges and governors
shall all become wolves.
It seems to be the law of our general
nature, is spite of individual exceptions; and experience declares that man is
the only animal that devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to
the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor.”
So Thomas Jefferson understood and agreed
with James Madison on his views on class conflicts and thereby development of
factions within a civilized society.
Madison in his Federalist No. 10 discusses
ways of tackling the problem of factionalism.
To him there existed just two ways to
tackle it.
One was either to remove the causes that
led to the development of factions and second to cure the effects of faction
when it became inevitable and unpreventable.
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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