November 23, 2024
President Thomas Jefferson, without a shred of exaggeration, described his first election to the presidency as the "revolution of 1800." And now, 224 years later, we find ourselves on the brink of something similar. Sunday in New York City's iconic Madison Square Garden, at a rally in support of former...

President Thomas Jefferson, without a shred of exaggeration, described his first election to the presidency as the “revolution of 1800.” And now, 224 years later, we find ourselves on the brink of something similar.

Sunday in New York City’s iconic Madison Square Garden, at a rally in support of former President Donald Trump, entrepreneur and patriot Elon Musk electrified rallygoers by pledging to slash trillions of dollars from the federal government’s budget during a second Trump presidency.

“Your money is being wasted,” Musk said, “and the Department of Government Efficiency is gonna fix that!”

The crowd then erupted in cheers.

“We’re gonna get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook,” Musk added moments later.

In August, Trump endorsed the idea of a government efficiency commission headed by Musk.

Since then, D.O.G.E.-related ideas and accounts have proliferated on Musk’s social media platform X.

Howard Lutnick, chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, spoke immediately before Musk on Sunday, then introduced the X owner to the rally crowd.

“We set up D.O.G.E.,” Lutnick said to Musk. “How much do you think we can rip out of this wasted $6.5 trillion Harris-Biden budget?”

Would you like to see a massive budget cut for the federal government?

Yes: 0% (0 Votes)

No: 0% (0 Votes)

“Well I think we could do at least $2 trillion,” the X owner replied.

Having pledged to tame the federal leviathan, Musk earned raucous chants of “E-lon! E-lon!”

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In fact, to illustrate the D.O.G.E. idea’s popularity on X, here is a shorter clip of the same exchange from an account called “DogeDesigner,” which, as of Monday morning, had more than 935,000 followers:

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In an 1819 letter, Jefferson referred to his first election as the “revolution of 1800.”

At the turn of the 19th century, voters overwhelmingly rejected a Federalist program of aristocratic governance, censorship, war and consolidation. Nowadays, we would characterize consolidation as “big government.”

Thus, Jefferson called the voters’ rejection of Federalism “as real a revolution in the principles of our government as that of 76, was in it’s form; not effected indeed by the sword, as that, but by the rational and peaceable instrument of reform, the suffrage of the people.”

A Trump victory, featuring a Musk-led assault on federal spending, would qualify as an 1800-style revolution in government principles.

Of course, no one would resist that assault with more ferocity than the bureaucrats of the deep state.

Last year, U.S. News & World Report ranked America’s 15 wealthiest counties by median household income. Incredibly, suburbs of Washington, D.C., occupied five of the top ten spots on the list.

In other words, deep-state actors have grown rich and powerful at the expense of ordinary Americans.

A transfer of wealth on that scale can only happen through criminal levels of confiscation. After all, people connected to the federal government can only get rich via taxation or inflationary spending.

Americans have had enough. Now, Trump and Musk stand poised to carry out another peaceful revolution.

Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.

Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.

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