I predict future happiness for
Americans if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people under the
pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
When we get piled
upon one another in large cities, as in Europe,
we shall become as corrupt as Europe .
Thomas JeffersonThe democracy will cease to exist
when you take away from those
who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.
A principle which if acted on would save
one-half the wars of the world.
Thomas JeffersonMy reading of history convinces me
that most bad government results from too much
government.
Thomas Jefferson
No free man shall ever be debarred
the use of arms.
Thomas JeffersonThe strongest reason for the
people to retain the right to keep and bear arms
is, as a last resort, to protect themselves
against tyranny in government. Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to subsidize with
his taxes the propagation of ideas which he
disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson said in 1802:
'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to
our liberties than standing armies.
If the American people ever allow
private banks to control the issue of their
currency, first by inflation, then by
deflation, the banks and corporations that will
grow up around the banks will deprive the people
of all property - until their children
wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers
conquered.'Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826
(A top of the hat to Scotty Hood)
I think that more caution might be better when playing with Jefferson. While I understand that Thomas Jefferson was a marvelous writer, and possessed one of the better minds of any recorded time, we might also, in the name of truthfulness, remember that as an agronomist in land and at a time when many social conventions could be cast to the wind, he was a tad more complicated. Selecting quotes may provide insight, but those quotes do not guarantee the measure of the man’s actions. For example:
ReplyDeleteJefferson believed in private and the collective man. One could directly oppose the other. Just as today there is a difference in the President and the Office of the President. (Think Kennedy, Nixon, Clinton, Bush II) As did Jefferson, we all need to remember that the man and his thoughts can be separate and distinct (but not unrelated). Most of us know that Jefferson was also a slave owner who had the opportunity but refused to free them in his lifetime. He was the illegitimate father of at least one DNA certified child with a slave mistress of many years, and likely the half sister of his diseased wife. He freed these people after his death, but made no accommodation for them. In spite of what he wrote he was extravagant and a large debtor all of his adult life. He was a loner and was repeatedly rude to guests, workers, and suppliers for his tasks. He was somewhat religious but created his own cut and paste bible to eliminate “miracles”. In truth, Jefferson’s “bible” was more in line with the conversational teachings of the far and Middle East than that of Rome and Henry’s England. He was the reason for boundless separation of church and state. Jefferson hated politics, so much so, he resigned as Governor, in public office, in a time of war when Virginia was in the thick of things for the colonies right to independence. Without doubt Jefferson believed in natural rights, but did not extend those rights beyond white males and specifically excluded blacks, Indians, and women. I think that in today’s world I can make a strong case that Jefferson would have hated the internet where mass communications from not qualified individuals and groups could determine policy.
Jefferson was a man of his time, a opportunist with a curiosity and knack for gathering, amending and reusing things he had the opportunity to see in his travels. His inventions, while cleaver and unique for him and his use were available in other parts of the world, sometimes many centuries before they appeared with Jefferson. All I’m saying is do not believe all that Jefferson wrote, not only can it be not true, but he never lived it himself.