How I Came to Write What Would Jefferson Do?

[Guest guest]

http://www.buzzflash.com/hartmann/04/08/har04005.html#cont

 

August 5, 2004

 

How I Came to Write " What Would Jefferson Do? "

By Thom Hartmann

 

 

Note From BuzzFlash:

 

We took the unusual step of asking our monthly

" Independent Thinker " book reviewer, Thom Hartmann, to

tell us a bit about his own newest book, " What Would

Jefferson Do? "

 

Hartmann is a true citizen-scholar, in the tradition

of many of the patriots who signed the Declaration of

Independence. He's also a progressive radio

commentator with a growing syndication.

 

Even though he's a BuzzFlash contributor who champions

books that might otherwise not receive the attention

that they should, BuzzFlash believes that many of

Hartmann's writings also deserve a wider audience. In

particular, we have been meaning for quite some time

to interview him about his 2002 book, " Unequal

Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the

Theft of Human Rights, " which focuses on the threat

posed by corporations legally being entitled to the

same rights as people.

 

Hartmann is a true pro-democracy advocate. That is why

he chose to focus on the Jeffersonian ideal of

democracy in his latest book, which the Bush

administration is trampling on as if such

revolutionary thinking were weeds that needed to be

stamped out.

 

In " What Would Jefferson Do?: A Return to Democracy, "

Hartmann reawakens the spirit of '76 that placed the

ship of state in the hands of its citizens.

 

At a time when our Constitution and the ideals

expressed in the Declaration of Independence are under

siege by an extremist executive branch, Hartmann

restores the sense of nobility and innovation that

marked the creation of the great American experience

in democratic rule.

 

* * *

 

---> GET YOUR COPY HERE <---

 

How I Came to Write " What Would Jefferson Do? "

By Thom Hartmann

 

For the past year, I’ve been on the air coast-to-coast

for three hours a day, five days a week, going up

against Rush Limbaugh in the noon-3 PM time slot EST.

Callers from California to North Carolina, Iowa to

Texas, and even a few expatriate web-listeners who’ve

dialed in from Australia, Germany, Taiwan, and

Scotland, repeatedly stress a consistent set of

concerns.

 

" I feel as though our country has lost its democracy, "

said one caller in New York.

" Our politicians are for sale to the highest corporate

bidder, " said another in New Mexico.

" I was arrested for standing a block away from a Bush

fundraiser with a ‘No War for Oil,’ sign, " said

another in South Carolina.

 

A caller in Dallas told the story of how his masters

degree in engineering and service as an officer in the

army didn’t qualify him to compete with the engineer

in India who took his job. " I’ve been unemployed for

42 months, " he said, " although I’m still looking every

day for a good job. "

 

There’s a pervasive concern sweeping across our

nation, a fear that both the economic American dream

is slipping away while the ideals of American

democracy have been under an organized and powerful

attack since Ronald Reagan first declared war on

America’s workers.

 

In the midst of this, and with our last child grown

and out of the house, Louise and I moved into an 1850

Gothic house overlooking a small town in central

Vermont. In the house's dark and dusty attic we found

a huge pile of old books, apparently left by an

occupant in the 1920s. Among them were a 20-volume

set, published in 1904, of the complete collected

writings of Thomas Jefferson – including over 10,000

of his personal letters, most never before or since

published.

 

I was immediately addicted.

 

Four years later I came up for air, with a new

appreciation of Jefferson’s worldview and its

application to today’s world.

 

I’d discovered:

 

The critical missing context when he wrote his letter

to Benjamin Rush in which he said, " I have sworn upon

the altar of God eternal hostility against every form

of tyranny imposed upon the mind of man. " (He was

railing against churches trying to influence

legislators.)

I found his thoughts on progressive taxation (a person

should only have to pay taxes " after satisfying his

first wants " or basic needs).

 

Inheritance taxes ( " If the overgrown wealth of an

individual be deemed dangerous to the State, the best

corrective is the law of equal inheritance... " ).

 

Slavery (he repeatedly tried to end it, both in

Virginia and nationally, believed it would have ended

by 1808, and was nearly overwhelmed by despair when he

failed).

 

The Ten Commandments as the basis of American law ( " In

truth, the alliance between Church and State in

England has ever made their judges accomplices in the

frauds of the clergy, " ).

 

And dozens of other startling aspects of Jefferson’s

worldview.

 

The result of this research – combined with a critical

look at today’s world, and some startling new

information about the biological basis of democracy –

became a book that was just published this month by

Random House/Harmony and titled: " What Would Jefferson

Do?: A Return to Democracy. "

 

My hope is that it will bring a useful historical

perspective, as well as a modern critique, to today’s

political discourse.

 

 

* * *

 

Thom Hartmann is a Project Censored award winning,

best-selling author and the host of one of the

nation's largest nationally syndicated progressive

daily radio talk shows, heard on radio stations coast

to coast, and can be heard on the web via

www.thomhartmann.com, from noon to 3 PM ET (9-noon

PT). Every month, Thom discusses his " independent

thinker " book on the air and interviews the author on

his radio program.