Was thomas jefferson an idiot?

[Reenk Roink]

Because some ideals are false and some are true. The colonists idea that they could govern themselves without a monarch was true. But the idea that they only needed a weak federal government was false.

and

Having ideals, having confidence in them, sticking by them, that's all null. What's important is how true they are.

Getting into a discussion about the truth value of ideals is very likely to end up in futility, that is if you can even get both sides to discount skepticism about assigning such values to things.

That is why when I read the author's quotes on Jefferson, I simply understand that he obviously did not agree with the ideals (such as his views on the French Revolution) that Jefferson held. He is simply doing a bit of moralizing that many historians will indulge in. I personally see little point in arguing that his opinions of Jefferson's ideals are right or wrong, just like the case with say Bosworth or Green on Alexander the Great. What rather I WOULD contest would be ideas that Jefferson's ideals were due to his naivety or just plain idiocy.

So what does it really mean when you guys say "but jefferson was an idealist" in response to the authors suggestion that he supported things he shouldn't have as a result? I don't get it. Having a dream or idealistic vision is far from inherently good.

I'll let ACIN speak for himself but I'm not replying to the author's criticism of Jefferson supporting such things that the author doesn't such as the French Revolution by noting that Jefferson was an idealist. I'm saying that Jefferson being "idealistic" was likely not due to any naivety as the author seemed to imply in the first quote.