Quote:
Originally posted by wonderwench
I can make the same claim regarding those who ignore the abundance of documentation left by the Framers which supports the notion of equality under the law and individual liberty which recognizes difference of condition.
Please provide evidence that the original concept of equality was mean to entail equal economic circumstances.
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The Framers did not want to forcibly redistribute wealth equally, but some of them did recognize that the extreme concentration of wealth and power to a few individuals is anathema to a democracy and that there must be steps taken to prevent it.
Quote:
"Unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted
with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to
their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of wealth and power
in the individuals and their families selected for the trust.
Whether our Constitution has hit on the exact degree of control
necessary, is yet under experiment." --Thomas Jefferson to M.
van der Kemp, 1812.
"Taxes should be proportioned to what may be annually spared by
the individual." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1784.
"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 of property in geometrical progression as they
rise." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1785.
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