The iGuide Review of the Jeffersonian Perspective
The iGuide no longer exists, but the following review was a permanent fixture on the site in 1996:

    Net Reviews - POLITICS & GOVT., Political Life, Commentary

    The Jeffersonian Perspective

    A retired librarian and true lover of Jefferson has written a series of online essays on "today's social and political problems from the perspective of the thoughts of Thomas Jefferson." There's the rub, of course. No matter how many citations are quoted, it seems a bit presumptuous to imagine Jefferson's viewpoint on the flat tax, let alone the O.J. Simpson trial. And though well-considered and thoughtful, the essays seem a bit old-fashioned and dangerously dull.
Well... not exactly a rave review. But iGuide rated The Jeffersonian Perspective three stars (out of a possible four), which was the same rating it gave to on-line versions of The Boston Review, The Nation, The National Review, The New York Times Op-Ed Page, and Harvard-Radcliffe's Perspective -- which, after all, is not bad company.

And not meaning to be defensive, but a political point of view based on that of the Founding Fathers runs the risk of seeming "a bit old-fashioned," doesn't it? That could be an unintended compliment. And "dangerously dull"? Maybe something as "old-fashioned" as the perspective of one of the Founding Fathers just isn't far-out and wacko enough to excite the modern imagination's wish for weird innovation? It's all in the eye of the beholder. If it's "well-considered and thoughtful," that should be enough to allow readers to make up their own mind. I'm comfortable with the review.

--Eyler Coates . . .

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Thomas Jefferson on Politics & Government: Table of Contents

© 1997 by Eyler Robert Coates, Sr.