fungible

this particular jeffersonian graphic...or, at least, a version of it appeared on facebook yesterday...

and beneath it, among others, was "and then he plagiarized his friend john locke"...which may be true...but then the founders were all fond of john...he was their sort of people...he believed in democracy...or rather a republican government ..but on a exceptionally limited scale...in the very beginning of the fundamental constitutions of carolina he states his desire that "...we may avoid erecting a numerous democracy..." and proceeds to set stringent property qualifications for voting and even more stringent ones for holding office...it was to be a government of, by, and for the elite...when james madison rants about protecting the "minor party" from "an interested and overbearing majority" he channels locke and looks to create a government by and for the elite...and, along with jay and "that damned ass" hamilton he succeeded in presenting a case strong enough to squeak through ratification...wealth became government...washington was not poor...nor was adams or jefferson...even lincoln was a prosperous lawyer by the time the call came...they were of the hegemonic culture...insiders...this is fairly self-evident with a close reading of the related materials..so when this :

cropped up in today's new york times i almost spit out my tea...krugman is, among other things, a nobelist in economics...you'd think he'd know why the rich have so much power..he is, after all, a theologian of greed...but then he's also part of the hegemonic culture and has to keep up the appearance of a democracy when the reality is there never was one and he knows that good and well...the new york times is also part of the hegemonic culture and has to keep up appearances as well, even though it is a corporate entity devoted to profit ( there isn't a "new york time store" for fun...it's about cash ) and slants its news as a product...in the end the rich have so much power because wealth and power are fungible, if not the same thing...one easily substitutes for the other...much like a democrat and a republican these days.