The "Hamilton Effect" distorts the vision of the founding fathers who drafted the Constitution and exploits the all-too-common lack of knowledge of history among American citizens, stated Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.
Lee detailed the results of the "Hamilton Effect," which he described as "twisting history to suit one's ends, willfully ignoring and ultimately erasing it when it stands in your way," in an article he wrote for Politico on Tuesday.
A current illustration of this can be seen as progressives embrace Alexander Hamilton, viewed as a "kindred spirit" of "Big Government," Lee wrote, which he attributed in large part to Lin-Manuel Miranda's depiction of him in the Broadway show "Hamilton." And, he said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even went so far as to adopt Hamilton "as something of a mascot" during her 2016 presidential campaign.
"It's understandable why progressives would imagine Hamilton as their partisan, Big Government comrade. But this understanding of Hamilton is based on a deeply distorted image of him," Lee wrote.
That characterization displayed a basic misunderstanding of the views shared by all the people who crafted the Constitution, Lee maintained.
"Nearly every founder shared a healthy skepticism of a large federal bureaucracy — which they feared might grow to include some of the worst features of the very government they had just fought a revolution to escape," he wrote.
"What Hamilton's fans on the left neglect to mention, or in some cases don't even realize, is that he never envisioned — and certainly never favored — the sort of massive, intrusive, unaccountable federal government that today thrives in Washington, D.C.," he added.
Lee maintained "too many Americans today have settled for less than the constitutional, liberty-minded republic they deserve" because they, like the people they have elected to serve them, "have been misinformed (or perhaps, underinformed) about the kind of government they are entitled to as U.S. citizens."
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