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Originally Posted by Mr Mephisto
That quoting Jefferson makes your point more valid than someone else's?
It's not the respect you have for these men that's the question, but the habit of using them to justify one's position.
It's akin to quoting the Bible to make a point. All countries have great leaders, but not all people constantly refer to their utterances as gospel, as validation for a particular point of view.
If I have an opinion and you disagree, and quote Hamilton to support your disagreement, why does that make you "right" and me "wrong"?
Mr Mephisto
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When I disagree with someone about something, it helps the situation to find an entity we both agree with in order to lend credibility to my argument. Presumably US citizens value the ideas of the founders of our nation, so when we disagree, one of us can point to someone we both value and claim, "look this person, who you usually agree with, agrees with me." Hopefully that encourages the other person to shelve personal disagreement or at least re-evaluate his or her position in light of the fact that other respectable people hold a similar opinion. People do quote Reagan and Clinton, but those two only hold relevance and validity to the people whose standpoints mesh with theirs. So we look back to a point of commonality: the fountainhead of our political identity--the founding people of this nation.
In the case of religion: it wouldn't make much sense for me to quote biblical passages to an atheist or even a Muslim to some extent. But if I was sitting down with a Lutheran, it would make sense for me to point out, "Martin Luther's position seems to be more in line with mine than yours." I might have to refer to Allah if speaking to a Muslim. I'd have to find a point where the beliefs converged, like using a reference from Genesis to create commonality between someone following Judaism and another following Catholicism. I couldn't really refer to the Pope as an authority--except to other Catholics.
To the atheist, I might have to refer to Plato. I might even point out similarities between Socrates and Jesus. This is all intended to create a sense of higher level unity--one that supercedes the immediate schism in the argument.
"If you don't believe me, believe this guy who you normally hold in high regard."