NY Mag: "AOC Thinks Concentrated Wealth Is Incompatible With Democracy. So Did Our Founders."

You can read the link here. It relies mainly on Thomas Jefferson and James Harrington to represent "our Founders." Historian Kevin Gutzman, writing on Facebook noted:

George Washington was the wealthiest president of the United States. A recent study of the question estimated his wealth at approximately $5B. Article II of the Constitution was written with him in mind, and in both 1789 and 1792, he won unanimous Electoral College victories.

On the other hand, James Madison wrote extensively of "agrarian laws" (that is, government redistribution of wealth), which he considered both harmful and immoral.

Thomas Jefferson's criticism of the French nobility was of a legally privileged class. There is no such class in today's United States.

In short, this story is bunk.

(Rep. Ocasio is a walking advertisement for Jefferson's insistence that prior to citizenship, Americans should be taught the history of republican regimes--so that they could avoid repeating the mistakes that had led prior ones to fail.)

I agree that the author's thesis ultimately fails; it was too broadly stated. However, I wouldn't write it off entirely as "bunk." That's because, as I noted in the comments, some notable "republican" thought both on the Continent, but more importantly in Great Britain was in favor of such sentiment and I think such policies were implemented in various cases. 

James Harrington who was referenced in the original piece really did believe in Agrarian redistribution and he really was influential on America's founders. And Jefferson DID flirt with such sentiment as Harrington's. It probably was his friend Madison who convinced him that these ideas were unwise. Madison's vision prevailed at the time of the American founding.

But Harrington's vision perhaps prevailed in the modern era of Western Civilization. That is, when we focus, not just on America, but Western Europe and the other industrialized nations.  The "modern world" as Eric Nelson puts it. That's one of his core theses and he pins such present day redistributionist policies on the Hebrew Bible.

Another commenter at Dr. Gutzman's site noted:

Agrarian Laws and similar legislation have created little but trouble since Roman times, but every government since has, in one way or another, engaged in such legislation. It's simply too easy and appealing to engage in what amounts to massive payoffs to influential factions.