Ep. 77: Gil Schaeffer on the Declaration of Independence, Tom Paine, Lenin, and Reconstruction

“America is not a democracy, which means we’re being ruled by a small elite. That is just unacceptable. I think that’s the fundamental basis of a political movement in this country. Everyone knows how much power corporations have. They are the elite, and they keep their power by force. They have the power of laws and the police. Well, democracy says someone else is going to control those laws and police.” “People have been fighting for democracy for a long time. And so the Paine quote—if you don’t have an equal vote, you are a political slave—you are under the domination of a minority. You don’t have equal freedom. Now that was a powerful idea, and it’s still a powerful idea.” “Lenin’s theory of political agitation is central. He had a theory of mass psychology. You expose the unjust treatment in any part of society and demand that the government not be autocratic, that it be democratic. That’s the message.”In this episode, I talk with Gil Schaeffer, the author of many blog articles, including “The Declaration of Independence and Finishing Reconstruction.” We talk about Marx’s claim of an intrinsic connection between individual liberty and private property, and why, in fact, the tie between liberty and private property in the Rights of Man was only contingent; what’s lost by failing to embrace rights talk; the importance of Tom Paine’s Dissertation on the Principle of Government; the difference between fighting for the Principle of a democratic republic and establishing and securing a democratic republic; Lenin’s theory of political agitation; and where DSA and Marxist Unity Group fits into the conversation. Gil mentioned two articles by Mike Macnair—“Modern ancient constitutions” and “For a minimum program!”—as well as the Equal Human and Political Rights and Democratic Republicanism reader and his article in Cosmonaut about Lenin’s class point of view. He also mentioned Richard N. Hunt’s introduction to Marx and Engels and the July 4 Mobilization Against Genocide. I read from MUG’s Points of Unity and mentioned a recent blog article about the Black Panther Party’s constitutional convention in 1970.