1) The news is abuzz with the public confrontation staged by the cast of Broadway’s “Hamilton” on Trump’s VP Mike Pence. Before Democrats join in, they might look at the man Broadway extolls. After all, the Democratic Party was founded in violent opposition to Alexander Hamilton and Hamilton was utterly despised by Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders. While James Madison initially worked with Hamilton, he too grew to oppose Hamilton as he discovered Hamilton’s true nature.
2) Hamilton was the first Treasury Secretary to Bailout the Rich on a massive scale. Revolutionary War bonds were worth a few cents on the dollar when Hamilton announced his plan to pay them off at full value. This shoveled enormous riches to Hamilton’s rich father in law, speculator friends , and corrupt members of Congress who had been alerted to Hamilton’s plan in advance --- thereby allowing them to buy the bonds cheap from Revolutionary war veterans, widows and orphans.
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3) Hamilton paid for the Bailout with heavy taxes on working people , especially farmers. When the farmers revolted – the Whiskey Rebellion – Hamilton put down the rebellion with military force.
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4) The attempt by the Broadway cast to associate Hamilton with humane values is even more comical. Hamilton suppressed the attempt by Pennsylvania’s Quakers to question the legality of slavery --- in part because several of Hamilton’s closest allies were rich South Carolinian slaveowners . He strongly supported making slaveowner Charles Cotesworth Pinckney President in 1804.
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5) Does no one remember Hamilton and his fellow Federalists passing the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798, allowing the federal government to expel any foreigner deemed “dangerous” and making it a CRIME to criticize the government?
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6) Broadway’s hypocrisy arises from two factors. One, they are actors – and hence largely ignorant of many things by the nature of their limited education, training and work. They ACT – they don’t DO.
Two, actors have often been whores for the Rich. “Hamilton”’s ..er.. incomplete history is merely the latest attempt to tart up Wall Street’s shabby reputation – to suggest that somehow there are humane values --and people -- behind the vicious social predation. A play that honestly addresses the nature and evil of crony capitalism is not likely to bring in those hedge fund executives and the Little People don’t buy the expensive tickets. As they say, “he whose bread I eat his song I sing.” Actors don’t write the script – in this case, it was probably some smirking Wall Street figures in the audience.
7) Actors do, however, entertain. I haven’t been this amused since I saw that Saturday Night Live skit in October 2008 that linked several major Democratic leaders and donors to the financial collapse. That would be the Saturday Night Live/NBC owned by a General Electric which was about to collapse into bankruptcy unless it’s Commercial Credit division received a massive federal bailout. The skit gently letting the Democratic leaders know there would be a heavy media price to pay if they didn’t fully support the bailout.
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