From a theoretical standpoint, the Democrats are the true American torch-bearers of the Enlightenment political project. They believe in the narrative about the march of progress, they are the inheritors of the idea of the natural equality of all men, they are the strongest advocates of a universalist conception of political right (human rights), and they strongly believe in and promote the liberating power of science. But Alex, you might say, the Founding Fathers didnt believe the natural equality of all men meant equality of results. Actually, the Founding Fathers had a mix of views about what natural equality meant -- views that were very often in tension with each other -- as did the great Enlightenment thinkers, such as Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. The Declaration of Independence does not explain what it means by its assertion that all men are created equal. The idea has been subject to different interpretations over time, just as it was in the two centuries before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. At any rate, conservatives tend to believe that men are actually not all made equal -- and while they support equality under the law, that is by convention, not nature.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 05:26:24 +0000
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