Last week, New Hampshire’s “Free State Project” claimed to be the political heirs to Thomas Jefferson.
Jason Sorens, the leader of the “Free State Project,” apparently believes that the “founding fathers” shared the same political philosophy. Aside from agreeing on independence, however, the “founding fathers” actually had very different political philosophies.
George Washington and Alexander Hamilton believed in a strong central government. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison believed in decentralized government, with State and local governments having primacy. These divergent philosophies would lead to America’s first political parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans.
FreeStaters believe in centralized government. They want to replace local zoning, which they often call “local tyranny,” with a State zoning code. This makes their political philosophy akin to the Federalists, not to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson would be a staunch defender of “local control.”
Another difference, FreeStaters are opposed to public education. Thomas Jefferson, in contrast, believed in universal, taxpayer-funded, free public education.
To cut to the chase, as much as the “Free State Project” would like America’s “founding fathers” to have been libertarians, they were not.
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