CFED
Stay Informed!
Ideas in Development
Asset Building as Modern Jeffersonian Economics
By Bill Schweke on 03/15/2011 @ 01:15 PM
“Every person of full age neither owning nor having owned 50 acres of land, shall be entitled to an appropriation of 50 acres or so much as shall make up what he owns or has owned 50 acres in full and absolute dominion . . . Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise. Wherever there is in any country uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right . . .
I am conscious that an equal division of property is impractical. But . . . the earth is given as a common stock for man to labor and live on.
Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the design of ambition.” -Thomas Jefferson
This article’s title and thesis are far from surprising, but Jefferson’s is a proposition that requires periodic restatement, emphasis and elaboration. According to Jefferson, without widely held property, public education for economic success and civic participation, and laws and institutions that protect citizens from predations by large and powerful private and public interests, the American experiment in self-government would fail. National independence rests on citizen independence and capacity. These views account for his ambivalent reactions to pre-revolution France, where he served as an ambassador. He loved the city and its cultural assets, but he was appalled by the size of the inequalities between rich and poor. Moreover, he worried about the dangers posed by mob violence and revenge, as well as manipulation of the masses by elites and their own grassroots leaders. It is for these reasons that Jefferson was so troubled by Hamilton’s efforts to create a National Bank, enact tariffs to support a bigger government and public goods (e.g., canals) and encourage the development of manufacturing. Despite Jefferson’s worshipful statements regarding farmers as the chosen people, his mature opinions were not so nostalgic. He appreciated that the U.S. needed to possess a balance of agriculture, commerce and manufacturing. He believed that the middle class was what made America great. Feudalism had been left behind and most people working in the marketplace were self-employed. What worried him was the potential destruction of the middle class by the concentration of wealth and power among those who knew more about how to play the game.
Foremost were his fears regarding creation of a lumpen-proletariat, a class characterized by few skills, inadequate education, no property, degrading poverty, dependence on others for employment and susceptibility to being pushed around by bureaucratic fiat and taken advantage of by shysters and the special interests. Jefferson feared the centralization of governmental power and saw clearly the need for the protections provided by the Bill of Rights. However, despite his commitment to limited government, he was not a libertarian.
He also thought that a system of small ward governments would create the conditions of a participatory democracy, akin to Vermont town meetings and with real power over certain policy issue areas. Jeffersonian rights emphasize humanity’s social nature and democratic deliberation more than the typical free marketer’s “government get out of my face.” This perspective is displayed most fully in his support for federalism and its devolution of power and action to states.
Likewise, as reflected in the quotes above, Jefferson thought that some redistribution would be required to make this new nation work. But he further believed in more of a “hand-up” approach, not a “hand-out” approach, when it came to leveling the playing field. This does not imply that he saw purely private economic rights as trumping human rights and allowing for the accumulation of unlimited amounts of wealth and power.
This is also made apparent in his drafts of the Declaration of Independence where Jefferson deviates from the writings of John Locke, which are almost exclusively concerned with freedom from governmental interference.
The parallels with asset-based anti-poverty strategies are obvious. Their goals are to aid economically disadvantaged citizens in their pursuit of a lasting escape from poverty’s grasp and an increase in freedom, independence, opportunity and security.
Indeed, to break the cycle of poverty, a person needs more than income support. Assets are needed as well. Savings, credentials, and enhanced human and social capital – all count. We at CFED believe it is possible and profitable – within a generation – to provide every American, including every child at birth, the opportunity and resources to pursue higher education, start a business, buy a home and save for the future.
Thus, asset building and protection are a 21st century form of the political economics of Thomas Jefferson.
Copyright © 2012 CFED – Corporation for Enterprise Development 
1200 G Street, NW Suite 400 Washington, DC 20005 202.408.9788
Powered by ARCOS | Design by Plus Three
Comments
Leave a Comment