Thursday, November 8, 2007

Jefferson-Jackson Day

As we are all aware (and often detest), the presidential election for 2008 is picking up steam. I read just the other day (and was not aware of this) that the Democratic Party hosted its annual Jefferson-Jackson Day in Iowa this past week. It has become a very old tradition in which the Democratic Party hosts a dinner and celebration in honor of the memory of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson (oh, and they try to raise a bunch of money as well). In contrast, the Republican Party hosts a Lincoln Day dinner, which has the same goals.

I think it is interesting (and probably not a bad thing) that the memory of our great leaders of the past are commemorated. What I wonder about though is what Jefferson, Jackson (and we might as well throw Lincoln in here) would think about it. Thomas Jefferson said on many occasions that he hated political parties and that he would rather go to hell than join one. Lincoln had comments that were similar (sorry everyone, I realize Lincoln does not fit into this blog's topic and niether does the Democratic/Republican campaign of 08. I am just trying to bring to light the fact that we still use these men today for our own agendas).

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