It should seem then that it must be because of the enormous wealth, which places them above attention to the increase of their revenues, that I am conscious that an equal division of property is impracticable, but [that] the consequences of this enormous inequality producing so much misery to the bulk of mankind, legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property. Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise. -Thomas Jefferson, 1785
This from a letter to James Madison, written Sept. 28, 1785, hails "devices for subdividing property," and encourages taxing the rich. Apparently, Thomas Jefferson would be utterly scorned by Romney and the Tea Partiers.
And these radicals call themselves conservatives?