{"id":176273,"date":"2010-01-13T18:33:13","date_gmt":"2010-01-13T23:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2010786338_foundingfathersforesight.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-01-13T18:33:13","modified_gmt":"2010-01-13T23:33:13","slug":"founding-fathers-foresight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/176273","title":{"rendered":"Founding Fathers’ foresight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Should acknowledge slavery\u2019s existence<\/strong><\/p>\n

Republican Bob Benze\u2019s \u201cFounding Fathers didn\u2019t envision wealth distribution\u201d [Opinion, Jan. 12] supplies important history that Americans overlook \u2014 at our own peril \u2014 respecting the original calculus underlying the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n

The essay would be immensely more useful, however, if it explicitly acknowledged that central terms of that initial calculus allowed one human being to own another outright and calculating a value for slaves as chattel property at three-fifths of that of an enfranchised voter. This proved unacceptable to a one-term Whig congressman who would become the first Republican president [Abraham Lincoln] in 1861. Freeing and enfranchising slaves in the early 1860s drastically changed the calculus of the Founding Fathers forever.<\/p>\n

Railing against the evolution since 1789 of our Constitution\u2014 after the Republican Revolution that followed the Declaration of Independence by four score and seven years \u2014 is less helpful than integrating at least the Republican Revolution underlying that evolution into a logical argument with intellectual honesty.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Will Knedlik, Kirkland<\/em><\/p>\n

Fathers did anticipate need to redistribute wealth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether or not the Founding Fathers \u201cenvisioned wealth redistribution,\u201d they were intent on forming \u201ca more perfect union to establish justice and promote the general welfare\u201d of this newly formed country. The verbs \u201cestablish\u201d and \u201cpromote\u201d anticipate a sociopolitical process through which constant improvement is achieved.<\/p>\n

It is estimated that, due to insufficient wealth or unwillingness to ascribe to a religious creed, half of all white males were precluded from voting after the Fathers crafted their preamble. Women and people of color were denied this basic right, as were men called upon to fight for their country but were too young to vote. So too, were Catholics, Jews, Quakers and others too far removed from mainstream Protestantism.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, America did not remain fossilized after 1776, but became an evolving society, perfecting itself through a process of increasing inclusion and equality. As Paul Krugman notes on the same opinion page [\u201cEuropean social democracy works\u201d], Europe is becoming even more dynamic \u2014 and prosperous.<\/p>\n

There have been Americans who fought every step toward redistributing power and wealth; some are still among us. I can\u2019t imagine the Founding Fathers supporting only wealth retention since they risked their assets and freedoms to expand ours.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Bob Selby, Blaine<\/em><\/p>\n

American versus European dynamism<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your Monday editorial page had an amusing contrast between two adjacent articles. It would be hilarious if the issues weren\u2019t so serious.<\/p>\n

In \u201cFounding Fathers didn\u2019t envision wealth distribution,\u201d Bob Benze repeats the usual Republican theory that if the government redistributes the nation\u2019s wealth via taxes and social programs, it will \u201cinvariably\u201d inhibit the creation of jobs and industry and the incentive to work. He cites Western Europe \u2014 versus Eastern Europe \u2014 as an illustration.<\/p>\n

But in \u201cEuropean social democracy works,\u201d Paul Krugman demonstrates with facts, not empty theory, that although European taxes are higher than ours, their per-capita GDP, employment and productivity are almost the same as ours, while their social benefits \u2014 including universal health care \u2014 far surpass ours.<\/p>\n

Benze\u2019s article reminds us of the old quip, \u201cDon\u2019t bother me with facts, my mind is made up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Robert and Susan Stanton, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Should acknowledge slavery\u2019s existence Republican Bob Benze\u2019s \u201cFounding Fathers didn\u2019t envision wealth distribution\u201d [Opinion, Jan. 12] supplies important history that Americans overlook \u2014 at our own peril \u2014 respecting the original calculus underlying the U.S. Constitution. The essay would be immensely more useful, however, if it explicitly acknowledged that central terms of that initial calculus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}