bookmark_borderThomas Jefferson seen through Canadian eyes

“Economics and reason alone do not rule history.” says Reginald C Stuart in The Halfway Pacifist.

Reginald C. Stuart may present Thomas Jefferson as an idealistic dreamer who is out of touch with human nature, an “Anglophobe” and even a “fatherly” despot, but one gets the feeling that Stuart likes Jefferson despite everything.

Jefferson on the Canadian flag
Thomas Jefferson

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bookmark_borderDid Jefferson support a Balanced Budget amendment?

Back in 1997, when a Balanced Budget amendment was put forth by the US Senate, the Committee on the Judiciary quoted Thomas Jefferson almost from the start.

Towards the top of Senator Orrin Hatch’s report it affirms that “the public debt is one of the greatest dangers to be feared by a republican government.”

On September 3 this year, another politician claimed that Jefferson saw a balanced budget amendment as the solution, and his aids had the quote to prove it.

Continue reading “Did Jefferson support a Balanced Budget amendment?”

bookmark_borderTen great British history films.

On screenjunkies.com, Honora James made a list of the top ten “English historical movies”, whatever that means.  Not only did Honora list a flick about a Scot as the top “English movie”, but she left out a few of the treasures that show the Sceptred Isle in its true splendor.

So, I’ve made my own list of great motion pictures that tell us about the history of Britain. Continue reading “Ten great British history films.”

bookmark_borderDo we worship Thomas Jefferson?

In the Spongebob Squarepants film, Patrick looks at the icons on his underwear and realizes that he indeed worships the Goofy Goober. He and his friend Spongebob are not only fans of the fictional peanut, they live for him.

The more I read the news, the more I see accusations that we “worship” Jefferson, or at least hold him in too high esteem. One came from British pop-historian who teaches at Columbia. Now, there’s a guy who writes for the Arizona daily star  who makes a similar assertion.

Thomas Jefferson in profile, black and white woodcarving
Thomas Jefferson, portrait, from William Bryant’s “Popular History of the United States

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bookmark_borderDoes religion cause war?

It has been ten years since a small group of men hijacked a few planes and flew themselves into buildings.  Their cause appears to have been a religious one.

But we forget that millions of other people with the same religion don’t fly planes into buildings.  More significantly than that, other men flew themselves into buildings afterwards, and their cause was not a religious one. Continue reading “Does religion cause war?”