Andrew Jackson, Alive and Kicking

Why do Democrats call their yearly dinners “Jefferson-Jackson Day?” Seems to me that the Republican or Libertarian parties have more claim on both of these men’s positive legacies than the Democrats.

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Andrew Jackson is alive and well in American politics and both political parties have failed to recognize him. He was President Bush’s biggest ally in his two victories. Who will he support in 2008?

Of course this doesn’t mean that President Jackson is literally here stumping for his favorite candidates. However his legacy lives on, especially in areas such as West Virginia. In 1828 and again in 1832 Andrew Jackson won the presidency due to the support of the rural backcountry common people. He won because he shared their values. Their frontier upbringing taught them the necessity of a strong national defense. However they also shared a strong distrust for the major institutions of big government and big business. They feared that either of these two elements of the American system could threaten their liberties.

The supporters of Jackson cherished their liberties which included the right to pursue and keep property, the right to defend their property by force, the right to speak openly and freely and exercise their full political rights. Jacksonian Democracy lives on in the rural South. Often Jacksonians are belittled for being reactionary in their defense of individual liberty because others see that kind of freedom as standing in the way of what they define as progress. Since Jacksonians often are poor or have some experience in that condition, they understand that when liberties are curtailed in the name of “progress,” the vulnerable usually end up exploited.

Thus we have the phenomenon of a state like West Virginia that has voted Republican in presidential races and Democratic on the state level. Jacksonian voters mistrust the big government ideals backed by national Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama. They also fear the stereotype of Republicans as the party of big business (which is further from the truth than most people realize. For the most part, Republicans believe in capitalist competition as opposed to simply support of big business.) Who will “Jackson” support in 2008? Most likely the presidential and other candidates that have the most respect for liberty and freedom.