American Revolution Plutocracy or Democracy - Book Report/Review Example

American Revolution: Plutocracy or Democracy? Toward an American Revolution: Exposing the Constitution and Other Illusions is a piece of literature written by Jerry Fresia which holds many relevant and significant issues within its pages. Fresia presents a critical and radical overview of the United States’ revolutionary history, and he argues many different points, including the fact that this nation has failed to live up to its revolutionary promise and at the same time instead was captured by powerful plutocratic elites who governed the new nation’s various and different economic and political institutions. In order to better understand about the American Revolution, its factors, and the results that stemmed from it, there are various different issues that need to be addressed and discussed. Fresia’s thesis in the book in question here, for instance, is of great importance, as is the evidence that is provided within this particular piece of literature in order to support this thesis of his, and as well being discussed here will be the actual significance of Fresia’s book. By thoroughly addressing and discussing each of these issues, we will not only be able to gain a better understanding on Fresia’s thesis and purpose for writing the book, but as well on all of the issues that are discussed within the book. This is what will be dissertated in the following. In the beginning section of the book Fresia explains his thesis, of which a large part is spent discussing whether those who have much wealth and a higher power would really be properly capable of writing the constitution: Common sense tells us that people who spend a good deal of time either acquiring or protecting a vast personal empire or defending a king’s soldiers against the dispossessed would also have believed that the possession of enormous privilege was just and that protection of that privilege ought to be sold and maintained at considerable cost. Common sense should further compel us to wonder whether such people could write Constitution that would effectively transfer power from their few hands into the hands of the many, that is, into the hands of the poor, the debtors and people without property. (4). We see then, that one of the most major points that Fresia is attempting to portray in his thesis is the issue of whether or not people who consider themselves to be the only ones worthy of such power could possibly be considered as being fit to write a Constitution which is supposed to include everyone equally. The evidence that Fresia uses to support his thesis is then shown to us throughout the majority of the rest of the book, as he explains quite thoroughly about the actual Constitution itself, and as well he discusses the obstacles that are present, such as the “three obstacles to effective radical politics” (5), which he considers as being “1) Respect for the Constitution as a fair and equitable and democratic document; 2) the underlying belief that the U.S. government is fair, acts justly, or would under ordinary circumstances; and 3) a reluctance on the part of most citizens whose values are at odds with those expressed by corporate and state policy to engage in confrontation” (7). Fresia’s thesis truly divulges into an array of different issues and topics, and we can quite clearly see that his ideal is that the Constitution was not written fairly at all, and he uses various different examples in order to illustrate his point. For instance, we see one of his most memorable quotes in the entire book: The kind of system which the Framers generally had in mind was a particular kind of representative system or republic; it was one in which elites or ‘better people’ decide what is best for ‘common people’. This kind of system, in fact the kind we now live under, is often referred to as classical liberalism. It is the aristocratic or paternalistic representative system associated with John Locke…The purpose of Locke’s political theory was to create a political system that would support the development of mercantile capitalism in which property owners, not the Crown, held power. Therefore, the concept of ‘the people’ associated with his theories, and the concept of ‘the people’ used by the Framers, as we saw earlier, meant that the people who owned productive property-capital, land, factories, and the like” (31). This quote, as well as the rest of his book, truly discusses the matter of how the elites (or the so-called ‘better people’) should not be in charge and have control over the ‘common people’ and their assets, but rather each person should be able to decide what is best for their own life. The significance of this book by Fresia is incredibly great, as no other piece of literature has been able to or been willing to so thoroughly divulge into the realms of such a topic. In this book, Fresia basically attacks the Constitution and as well the nation of the United States itself, and points out many different issues and factors which are of great importance but which have never really been properly discussed in the past. The ability of Fresia to not only address all of these issues but as well to use factual evidence to support his claims, is absolutely incredible, and this book of his is definitely unique in this regards. From Fresia’s work in this book, and from this paper, we can conclude several different things in particular. One, we can see that he feels incredibly strongly towards the Constitution and about how it does not treat all people equally. Fresia’s overall work here is basically broken down into three parts, with one of these parts dealing with the origins and the original intentas interpreted by the author – of the framers. He uses many a great historian throughout this work as well, including that of Charles Beard, and others with work similar to his. Overall, we can see that there are many different and valid points that Fresia brings about in this book, and that he truly brings about several different problems with the Constitution in particular, of which should be solved now that they have been brought to attention. Works Cited Fresia, J (1988). Toward an American Revolution: Exposing the Constitution and Other Illusions. Cambridge, MA: South End Press. Read More