On Thomas Jefferson

I was going to write a long, thoughtful piece about Thomas Jefferson, his views on religion, and economy and social safety nets, but I am tired and lacking patience today, and I have progress reports to finish, so I'll just make this short and sweet, and save the deeper discussion on our Third President for a later day.

I just want to say, if you are going to make it a point to quote Jefferson in defense of your  ideology, please make sure he did in fact say what you think he did.  Please.  As the election season heats up in earnest, I am seeing and hearing the same old ridiculous quotations, and I really wish people would do some homework before repeating them. So, here it is, for those who can't be bothered to do their own homework.

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government has grown out of too much government."   

He never said this.  What he did write, in a letter penned in 1807 and addressed to John Norvell is that "History, in general, only informs us what bad government is."  He offers no indication what that is, nor any judgments on the size of government.  Interestingly, in the same letter, Jefferson recommends, among others, the writings of John Locke, who many consider to be the father of liberalism. 

As an aside, for those of us who follow politics, but are distrustful of today's media, this letter is an interesting read, in that it reveals Thomas Jefferson having the same misgivings.  You can read the letter here. This  is a taste of his reservation: "It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more compleatly deprive the nation of it's benefits, than is done by it's abandoned prostitution to falsehood. Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle."

If he only knew.

Moving on . . .

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

Another favorite of people who operate under the offensive assumption that those in need are lazy do-nothings who aren't willing to pull their own weight. A lazy excuse for not caring about others, in my opinion.  Some defend this one by referencing another quote, which appears to be a note to an editor regarding his translation of Destutt de Tracy's Treatise on Political Economy, "To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, -€˜the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, & the fruits acquired by it.'"   The ways that even this quote has been misused and abused is fodder for an entirely separate blog post. Suffice it to say that seniors, the poor and the disabled would not likely be classified by Jefferson as people who have "not exercised equal industry and skill." 

"That government is best which governs least." There is no record of Jefferson ever saying or writing this.

Aaaaand , last one for today.  Gotta get those progress reports turned in.

"Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%."  Contrary to this sentiment, what Jefferson said in his 1801 Inaugural Address was “All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression.”  

 Reasonable.  Does the Tea Party even understand that concept?

OK - Vent over. Progress reports, here I come.