Thomas Jefferson once said that there should be a revolution every twenty years,?

Question

how do you think that philosopher John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx would each respond to this statement? Please add your reasoning for your response; please be as detailed as possible.

Answer 1

If they were living now, citizens in the US after the Reagan Revolution, they would say, "See, you waited six years too late."

Mill, then, would scratch his chin, meditate, and soflty whisper, "You know, it's never too late."

Marx, at last, would scratch his head, and grimace, and gruffly mutter, "It's always too late."

Then William Blake, wielding words, like hammer and tongs on the anvil of time, would blast,

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.

A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.

If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.

The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity too great for the eye of man.

The fox condemns the trap, not himself.

Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.

The eagle never lost so much time, as when he submitted to learn of the crow.

The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.

You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.

If others bad not been foolish, we should be so.

Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd.

Opposition is true Friendship.

One Law for the Lion & Ox is Oppression.

Empire is no more! and now the lion & wolf shall cease.


Empire is no more!


So be it.

Answer 2

John Stuart Mill would probably think about it for a good long time, weighing the good and the bad of a recurring revolution. Utilitarianism is always so hard to think on. "The greatest good for the greatest number," right? Therein lies the quandary. We can't see the future, we can only give it our best guess.
Karl Marx would probably say not every twenty years, but just once, after enough money has been built up to provide for the perfect communist state.