Comment: Watch out for that

bunny hole!
Too late, I fell in.
OK, what is a Jacobist? And what is pernicious? (Having a subtle, gradual harmful effect. That one, I can answer.)
But that Jacobist thing...
Long answer:
http://french.lovetoknow.com/Reign_of_Terror_in_the_French_R...
Short answer: The folks who put Robespierre in power. He got a little bloodthirsty. His political philosophy was influenced by Rousseau and Montesquieu.
Rousseau:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau
I thought this gives a feel for his politics, and is funny:
"Rousseau published Du Contrat Social, Principes du droit politique (in English, literally Of the Social Contract, Principles of Political Right) in April. Even his friend Antoine-Jacques Roustan felt impelled to write a polite rebuttal of the chapter on Civil Religion in the Social Contract, which implied that the concept of a Christian Republic was paradoxical since Christianity taught submission rather than participation in public affairs."

Sounds like a DP thread - lol! And Montesquieu:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montesquieu
A nice snippet:
"Montesquieu's philosophy that "government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another[2]" reminded Madison and others that a free and stable foundation for their new national government required a clearly defined and balanced separation of powers."

Interesting characters, maybe we have all been through this whole thing before. I sure feel like I've been having the same debates for centuries - lol!