A short reminder from history quite relevant to the times: Thomas Dixon Jefferson on PORK A most powerful objection always arises to propositions of [public works]. It is that public undertakings are carelessly managed and much money spent to little purpose. --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1784. Papers 7:27 Thomas Jefferson on National banks Paper is poverty,... it is only the ghost of money, and not money itself. --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1788. ME 7:36 Experience has proved to us that a dollar of silver disappears for every dollar of paper emitted. --Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1791. ME 8:208 It is a [disputed] question, whether the circulation of paper, rather than of specie, is a good or an evil... I believe it to be one of those cases where mercantile clamor will bear down reason, until it is corrected by ruin. --Thomas Jefferson to John W. Eppes, 1813. ME 13:409 Thomas Jefferson on The duty of the citizen What duty does a citizen owe to the government that secures the society in which he lives? What can it expect and rightly demand of him in support of itself? A nation that rests on the will of the people must also depend on individuals to support its institutions in whatever ways are appropriate if it is to flourish. Persons qualified for public office should feel some obligation to make that contribution. If not, public service will be left to those of lesser qualification, and the government may more easily become corrupted. Thomas Jefferson No government can be maintained without the principle of fear as well as duty. Good men will obey the last, but bad ones the former only. If our government ever fails, it will be from this weakness. --Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 1814. Samuel Adams on the quality of Public Servants “If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” ― Samuel Adams John Quincy Adams on Foreign Policy “America... goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.” ― John Quincy Adams on the vote “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” ― John Quincy Adams Thomas Jefferson on religion in public schools Ministers of the Gospel are excluded [from serving as Visitors of the county Elementary Schools] to avoid jealousy from the other sects, were the public education committed to the ministers of a particular one; and with more reason than in the case of their exclusion from the legislative and executive functions. --Thomas Jefferson: Note to Elementary School Act, 1817. ME 17:419 No religious reading, instruction or exercise, shall be prescribed or practiced [in the elementary schools] inconsistent with the tenets of any religious sect or denomination. --Thomas Jefferson: Elementary School Act, 1817. ME 17:425
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 14:38:34 +0000