Jefferson probably didn't use Hutcheson's equation to run his life, or to write the Declaration of Independence, but the idea makes me smile. The fact that this equation exists and was held by a person in the movement that Jefferson was an ardent follower of...well, it really makes me think. I can't really generalize a person's viewpoint based on a couple of people.
So...I guess that I'm just trying to say that I get that the Tea Party does not consist of bunch of racists. Can I think that some of them are? Yes. But to generalize in that manner makes me look just as stupid as I think they are. Extremists are in every movement.
Anyway, back to the equation. I found it interesting that one would attempt to apply to this concepts that we see as theoretical and abstract. It's a really good example of the rationalist viewpoint, the enlightened viewpoint. But I don't think it works because, in the same reading, it talks about how we're much more likely to remember the abstract points of the Declaration of Independence as opposed to the concrete grievances.
So...wrapping up, this equation, while having it's heart (well, mind) in the right place, ultimately doesn't work because it tries to explain concepts that aren't concrete, and that's the point. We wrap ourselves around an idea because we can put our own spin on it. Making an idea concrete, could make it lose its power.
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