...are doomed to repeat it. I know that the luster has gone off Thomas Jefferson's star due to his history regarding slaves and slavery, but nevertheless, he was a powerful intellect and his views regarding government and freedom sound remarkably pertinent today. Read and learn. And while you are at it, consider the current situation our nation finds itself in, the actions being taken on our behalf by a Congress gone mad with spending and the imposition of nanny state legislation on the local, state and national levels. Jefferson saw these things as potential perils for our nation. How he could have looked so far into the future to see the how the nature of men to serve themselves first would warp our free government is truly amazing. It is so forward thinking when you consider many of these quote date from the late 1700's/early 1800's. Please note his subtle delineations between a "democracy" and a "republic." What Jefferson was striving for was a nation of independent state that cooperated on matters of common interest such as defense. So while he did support the idea of representation of the separate "republics" or states as independent entities. Also note the references to corporate greed overriding allegiance to nation for the purpose of money. I think with the cratering of the attempt at a "global economy" we are seeing that his words are not only legally important, but prescient. Also note his views on Second Amendment issues. For those who oppose personal guns, please recall that Switzerland mandates that all men spend two years in the military and that they keep a weapon on their premisis in case of attack.
To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson
The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.
Thomas Jefferson
The 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
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
Thomas Jefferson
The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.
Thomas Jefferson
The 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
The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.
Thomas Jefferson
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
Thomas Jefferson
One man with courage is a majority.
Thomas Jefferson
Peace and abstinence from European interferences are our objects, and so will continue while the present order of things in America remain uninterrupted.
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 Jefferson
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.
Thomas Jefferson
Never spend your money before you have earned it.
Thomas Jefferson
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
It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others: or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own.
Thomas Jefferson
I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
Thomas Jefferson
Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
Thomas Jefferson
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.
Thomas Jefferson
For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.
Thomas Jefferson
A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.
Thomas Jefferson
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.
Thomas Jefferson
Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.
Thomas Jefferson
Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.
Thomas Jefferson
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