03/27/2025 ***************************************************** You see a lot of political "-isms" on the news all the time, "Fasc-ism", "Commun-ism", "Social-ism". You might ask, "is there a political '-ism' (ideology) that defines what we believe as Americans?" Actually there is, it's called "Egalitarianism". What? I've never heard of THAT before! Right? I think as Americans we kind of look down on anything "not invented here" as inferior. Only Americans can ever have good ideas. For example, in school we learn that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. But if we grew up in Europe, we would have learned that the German, Johann Philipp Reis invented the telephone in 1861. We learned about Henry Ford, and his assembly line production techniques that made the Model T Ford (the "Tin Lizzie") affordable for most Americans, starting in 1908. But I don't remember learning anything about the German, Carl Benz, who actually invented the automobile in 1885. I'm not trying to bad mouth America, far from it, we have had important inventors like Thomas Edison (the "Wizard of Menlo Park") and many others. We just don't learn about those others - especially when it's "not invented here". ***************************************************** Anyway, "Egalitarianism" was invented/developed in 18th century France. In the Middle Ages, Europe was under the Feudal System, where a few elite nobleman (the aristocrats - kings, barons, counts, etc.) owned everything and controlled everything and everybody else was just a serf (servant). By the 18th century there was a growing Middle Class of skilled workers, blacksmiths, bakers, millers, shopkeepers, factory workers and so on. That growing Middle Class wanted more say in their lives. A bunch of French intellectuals sat around in the salons of Paris, drinking tea - and brandy - and philosophizing about how the government should work - basically inventing Egalitarianism. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, and probably others, spent a great deal of time in France and picked up a lot of their Egalitarian ideas. They brought them back here where they took root and became the core ideology of our American Revolution. ***************************************************** "Egalitarianism" comes from the French word "égal" or "equal". There are two key ideas in Egalitarianism, 1. "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights ...". Egalitarians coined the term "human rights", which they considered to be universal and the term is still used internationally today. (Sound familiar? "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights ..." - American Declaration of Independence) 2. And generally speaking, that the Middle Class is what's most important. Anything that's good for the Middle Class is good, anything that's bad for the Middle Class is bad. The poor should be helped to get up into the Middle Class, the rich, especially the super rich aristocrats, should be taxed down into the Middle Class. The aristocrats have to give up their SPECIAL RIGHTS and stop being SUBSIDIZED by the state - (effectively being paid to be rich - nice work if you can get it). ***************************************************** To try to placate the rising Middle Class, which was starting to demand a bigger say in the governing of France, the king, Louis XVI, established a representative assembly in 1787 called the "Estates General". French society was to be divided into three parts, called "Estates". The First Estate comprised 100,000 Catholic clergy, and were tax free. The Second Estate comprised the nobility, which consisted of 400,000 people, and were also tax free. The Third Estate comprised about 25 MILLION people: the bourgeoisie, the peasants, and everyone else - and who, by the way, got to pay all the taxes. The king figured he could count on the first two Estates to keep the Third Estate in check. The Estates General first met at the fabulous, world famous, Royal Palace of Versailles on May 5,1789. I suspect the king wanted to intimidate the Third Estate Representatives by saying something like, "I'm the king, look at what I have - you're nothing - knuckle under and do as your told." Anyway, they didn't. Instead, I think they said, "Were paying for all this? This is how you're spending French Taxpayer's money?" The king tried to dissolve the Third Estate and kicked them out. They regrouped on the tennis court there for the famous "Tennis Court Oath", in which they vowed to one another not to let the king dissolve them. (There's a famous drawing by Jacques-Louis David of the "Tennis Court Oath".) Things continued to go down hill - the French Revolution was on! ***************************************************** The Reign of Terror followed from September 5, 1793, to July 27, 1794, characterized by mass executions and political purges led by the Committee of Public Safety, primarily under Maximilien Robespierre. It aimed to eliminate perceived enemies of the revolution and resulted in the execution of approximately 17,000 people, with many more dying in prison or without trial. It was not really safe to be a member of the first two Estates anymore. The Queen, Marie Antoinette, when told the peasants had no bread, supposedly said, "Let them eat cake". She lost her head, literally - guillotined, as did the king and a lot of the aristocracy. After that we see the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, who led France into nearly continuous warfare from 1792 to 1815 when the rest of Europe finally put him down. At first Napoleon was heralded as "the George Washington of Europe", spreading Egalitarianism in the lands he conquered. But in 1804 he got himself declared the "Emperor of the French". Proving the saying "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" - 19th century British politician Lord Acton. ***************************************************** Getting back to Egalitarianism, The French General, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, came over here and helped George Washington greatly during the American Revolution. Afterward he returned to France and became a key figure in the French Revolution. He helped to write the French "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" in consultation with Thomas Jefferson. It reads a lot like our Bill of Rights. Pure Egalitarianism. Check it out. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_Man_and_of_the_Citizen ***************************************************** A free press is considered essential so that the public can know what the government is doing. It was considered so important that it was deemed the unofficial "Fourth Estate" of government, although it was never really, officially part of the Estates General. Even today you sometimes hear the Press/Media referred to as the "Fourth Estate". ***************************************************** France is our oldest ally and co-partner in the worldwide spread of liberty and freedom and universal "human rights" for all mankind, that is, Egalitarianism. Let freedom ring! Keep the faith, baby! ***************************************************** Stay Jazzed! --Tom Swezey ....