A．explain Jefferson’s ideas of democracyB．exalt Jeffers……
TEXT A
Thomas Jefferson, who died
in 1826, looms ever larger as a figure of special significance. Americans, of
course, are familiar with Jefferson as an early statesman, author of the
Declaration of Independence, and a high-ranking presidential Founding Father.
But there is another Jefferson less well known. This is the Jefferson who, as
the outstanding American philosopher of democracy, has an increasing appeal to
the world’s newly emerging peoples.
There is no other man in
history who formulated the ideas of democracy with such fullness,
persuasiveness, and logic. Those interested in democracy as a poetical
philosophy and system—even those who do not accept his postulates or are
critical of his solutions—must reckon with his thought.
What,
then, is his thought, and how much of it is still relevant under modern
conditions
Of all the ideas and beliefs that make up the
political philosophy known as Jefferson democracy, perhaps three are paramount.
These are the idea of equality, the idea of freedom, and the idea of the
people’s control over government. Underlying the whole, and serving as a major
premise, is confidence in man.
To Jefferson; it was virtually
axiomatic that the human being was essentially good, that he was capable of
constant improvement through education and reason. He believed that "no definite
limit could be assigned" to man’s continued progress from ignorance and
superstition to enlightenment and happiness. Unless this kept in mind, Jefferson
cannot be understood properly.
What did he mean by the concept
of equality, which he stated as a "serf-evident" truth Obviously, he was not
foolish enough to believe that all men are equal in size or intelligence or
talents or moral development. He never said that men are equal, but only that
they come into the world with "equal rights". He believed that equality was a
political rather than a biological or psychological or economic conception. It
was a gift that man acquired automatically by coming into the world as a member
of the human community.
Intertwined with equality was the
concept of freedom, also viewed by Jefferson as a "natural right." In the
Declaration of Independence he stated it as "self-evident" that liberty was one
of the "inherent" and "unalienable rights" with which the Creator endowed man.
"Freedom", he summed up at one lime, "is the girl of Nature."
What did Jefferson mean by freedom and why was it necessary for him to
claim it as an "inherent" or "natural" right In Jefferson thought there are two
main elements in the idea of freedom. There is, first, man’s liberty to organize
his own political institutions and to select periodically the individuals to run
them. The other freedom is personal. Foremost in the area of individual liberty,
Jefferson believed, was the untrammeled fight to say, think, write, and believe
whatever the citizen wishes m provided, of course, he does not directly injure
his neighbors.
It is because political and personal freedom are
potentially in conflict that Jefferson, in order to make both secure, felt the
need to found them on "natural fight". If each liberty derives from an
"inherent" fight, then neither could justly undermine the other. Experience of
the past, when governments, were neither too strong for the ruled or too weak to
rule them, convinced Jefferson of the desirability of establishing a delicate
natural balance between political power and personal fights.
This brings us to the third basic element in the Jeffersonian idea: the
people’s control over government. It is paradoxical that Jefferson, Who spent
most of his adult years in politics, had an ingrained distrust of government as
such. For the then-existing governments of Europe, virtually all of them
hereditary monarchies, he had antipathy mixed with contempt. His mistrust of
strong and unchecked government was inveterate. "I am not," he said, "a friend
to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive."
Government being a necessity for civilized existence: the question was how
it could be prevented from following its tendency to swallow the rights of the
people. Jefferson’s answer to this ancient dilemma was at variance with much
traditional thinking. He began with the postulate that government existed for
the people, and not vice versa; that it had no independent being except as an
instrument of the people; and that it had no legitimate justifications for
existence except to serve the people.
From this it followed, in
Jefferson’s view that only the people, and not their rulers or the privileged
classes, could and should be relied upon as the "safe depositories" of political
liberty. This key idea in the Jeffersonian political universe rested on the
monumental assumption that the people at large had the wisdom, the capability,
and the knowledge exclusively to carry the burden of political power and
responsibility. The assumption was, of course, widely challenged and vigorously
denied in Jefferson’s day, but he always asserted his confidence in
it.
Confidence in the people, however, was not enough, by
itself, to serve as a safeguard against the potential dangers inherent in
political power. The people might become corrupted or demoralized or
indifferent. Jefferson believed that the best practice for the avoidance of
tyranny and the preservation of freedom was to follow two main policies. One was
designed to limit power, and the other to control power.
In
order to put limits on power, Jefferson felt, it was best to divide it by
scattering its functions among as many entities as possible—among states,
countries, and municipalities. In order to keep it in check, it was to be
impartially balanced among legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Thus,
no group, agency, or entity would be able legitimately to acquire power for
abuse. This is, of course, the theory that is embedded in the Constitution and
that underlies the American federal system with its "check and
balance".
For the control of power or, more specifically, the
governmental apparatus itself, other devices had to be brought into play. Of
these, two are of special importance: suffrage and elections.
Unlike many contemporaries, Jefferson believed in virtually universal
suffrage. His opinion was that the universal right to vote was the only
"rational and peaceable instrument" of free government.
Next to
the fight to vote, the system of free elections was the foremost instrument for
control over government. This involved, first, the election by the people of
practically all high government officials, and, secondly, fixed and regular
periods of polling, established by law.
To make doubly sure that
this mechanism would work as an effective control over power, Jefferson
advocated frequent elections and short terms of office, so that the citizens
would be enabled to express their "approbation or rejection" as soon as
possible.
This, in substance, is the Jeffersonian philosophy
faith in the idea of equality, of freedom, and in the fight to and need for
popular control over government.
What, in ail this, is relevant
to peoples without a democratic tradition, especially those who have recently
emerged in Asia and Africa The rejection of democratic procedures by some of
these peoples has been disheartening to believers in freedom and democracy. But
it is noteworthy that democratic and parliamentary government has been displaced
in are as where the people had no background in freedom or self-rule, and where
illiteracy is generally high. Even there it is significant that the new
dictatorships are usually proclaimed in the name of the people.
The Jeffersonian assumption that men crave equality and freedom has not
been denied by events. Special conditions and traditions may explain
non-democratic political methods for the achievement of certain purposes, but
these remain unstable wherever the notion of liberty has begun to gain ground.
"The disease of liberty", Jefferson said, "is catching."
The
proof of this is to be found even in such societies as the Spanish and the
Islamic, with their ancient traditions of chieftainships where popular eruptions
against dictatorial rule have had an almost tidal constancy.
But
it is a slow process, as Jefferson well knew, "The ground of liberty", he said,
"is to be gained by inches; we must be contented to secure what we can get, from
time to time. and eternally press forward for what is yet to get. It takes time
to persuade men to do even what is for their own good."
Does
Jefferson survive Indeed he does.
The primary purpose of this text is to______
A．explain Jefferson’s ideas of democracy
B．exalt Jefferson as an outstanding philosopher
C．illustrate Jefferson’s influence on modem politics
D．view Jeffersonian democracy under modern conditions
