The below is Kurt Klein's comment following the GVP post, "Gore Vidal’s ‘Burr’ Is Antidote to Tea Party Myths - Bloomberg"
Vidal emphasized the founders' flaws to counter the hagiographic myths that had grown up around them. He adopted Burr's voice to do so, because as the loser in the power struggle, Burr had a motive for putting them in a bad light (he was the American Revolution's Trotsky). But I don't think Vidal simply dismissed them as a bunch of men on the make, though they certainly were that. His whole political attitude of revering the "American Republic" and decrying the "American Empire" makes no sense unless he fundamentally admired the principles of the men who created that republic. He simply refused to treat them as plaster saints.
The Tea Party ancestor worship, however, has gotten completely out of hand. Their real motive is to get power now; invoking the founders is just a means to that end (even if some of them believe their own mythology). Every aspect of our society has changed so much since 1789 that the original constitution is completely inadequate and antiquated, however revolutionary it may gave been then. What they actually want is to repeal the 20th century. In politics, as in religion, people dress up the changes they want as a return to first principles. All so-called fundamentalism employs this same sleight of hand. But glorifying Jay Gould and J.P. Morgan, who more closely reflect their ideals, wouldn't win the Tea Party many followers.
Kurt notes that the constitution is inadequate and antiquated. Gore Vidal might well have agreed. When he
ran in 1982 for the Democratic nomination for US Senator, he supported increased education spending, corporate taxation, and protections for civil liberties, but he also called for a new Constitutional Convention.
(Photo: candidate Vidal, 1982.)
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