Pursuit of Happiness- Part II

To follow-up on the previous blog entry here is a quote from President Andrew Jackson, the founder of the modern Democratic Party;

“Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth cannot be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; …. There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing.”

This quote comes from Jackson’s veto of the re-charter of the Second Bank of the US. While it was intended as a direct criticism of elitism and special interests in America, Jackson’s philosophy, as given here, clearly is supportive of the limited role of government as discussed in the prior post. At some point, in the past 200 years the Democratic Party has strayed far from its founding principles.