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Jefferson was a true Trotskyist who believed the 2nd Amendment would be a curative for social ills, especially after Shay's Rebellion. Which was about bankers exploliting people. In an era with debtors prisons. Which they are trying to bring back.
Civilisation is little more than inculcating fantasies about people being more than they are. But it is precisely those fantasies that propelled us from the caves to the moon, and to the stars, if and when the tide of humanistic culture should ever return. People worship madmen. It might be a good thing.
Corporate history I have never seen in textbooks, but I have seen a college text a chapter with an accurate presentation of money creation, as well as clearly stating the (fraudulent) nature of unemployment statistics. Not so much about the fudging of other fiscal and monetary statistics.
One thing never mentioned is the real nature of liberalism, and why it is so reviled in many parts of the world. I was always taught it meant tolerance and individual freedom. Ideals which *should* be championed above all. But it has a darker side, an economic one. It also means Social Darwinism, where an individual has the right to economically, and thus physically control over all that he can, and by whatever means he has available to him. Its original proponents in the late 19th century gained political power by espousing basic rights, such as eliminating child labor, and suffrage. But unlike the populists, the liberals were always either quiet on or supportive of the financial sector. It is of interest that while FDR was universally hated by Conservatives, the giants of finance at the time,who were liberal, supported him. Banking restrictions such as Glass-Steagal made *them* more powerful, as they had the resources to put the hated 'regulations' to their own uses and profit. Clinton unleashed the hounds, and it became neo-liberalism (Third Way). Where it has dispensed with all pretensions of social responsibilities (that Chris Hedges bemoans the loss of).
The Founders did not really believe in free markets. This was a time in which the Federal Government was financed nearly totally by Tariffs. It was tariffs that triggered the Civil War. Fort Sumter was a Customs House. One of the first things many of the States did was to eliminate interstate sale of slaves. While slavery was being abolished in the Northeast due to short growing seasons and poorer soils (and the rise of Methodism) , the sale of those and other slaves was glutting the market and sharply reducing property values. A clear maanipulation of markets, by some fo the Founding Fathers themselves.
Their taxation of Whiskey caused a rebellion.
It is true however, that the early republic had absolutely zero interest in providing public benefits for anything. They were matters for the states, known for parsimony since colonial times. Taxes were low. As was life expectancy.
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How interesting. Here Whiskey Tax is 400% (80% of final price). No rebellion in the last century.
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One of the reasons for the rebellion is that the federal government is only authorized by the constitution to manage INTERSTATE commerce. By design it was never meant to regulate local commerce or production. That was reserved for the states.
Technically all our federal food and drug laws are unconstitutional.
