Thomas Jefferson was brilliant - ahead of his time

[gwb72tii]

here's a good quote i saw today that is spot fucking on with regards to our current state of affairs

"To take from one, because it is thought 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 everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."

-Thomas Jefferson

[joshh]

Because he saw the power grubbing and irrationality in many man.

[VasFinest]

Very true. Too bad 80% of the people here won't even understand that....

[mrsleeve]

My favorite Founder is Jefferson followed closely by Franklin and washingtion

[Vedubin01]

Amen!

[shiftbmw]

Jefferson is a legend. The man could forsee the future.

[Massive Lee]

Amen!

Indeed

"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth... "

Thomas Jefferson
1787 - Notes on the State of Virginia

[Charlie]

Jefferson is a legend. The man could forsee the future.

Yes, indeed. He lived way beyond his means, aqquired hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt (in 18th century money, not adjusted), and was the beneficiary of multiple congressional acts to protect him from his creditors and literally bail him out.

A true visionary.

-Charlie

[Ryan Stewart]

Yes, indeed. He lived way beyond his means, aqquired hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt (in 18th century money, not adjusted), and was the beneficiary of multiple congressional acts to protect him from his creditors and literally bail him out.

A true visionary.

-Charlie

More American than i.

[//MPower]

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. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.

That pretty much says it all.

[fiftytakedowns]

Thomas Jefferson smoked and grew pot; there is still a war on drugs.
Thats fucking right, I used a semicolon.

On a more relevant note, it is really a shame how such a smart group of people had this idea of how a country should be run and although their 'standards' are continually being implemented, they are hardly applicable now because of the powers of greed and the industry have enforced such lumpen standards in society that there is almost no possibility for advancement because of such strong opposition from either point. Nothing is getting done, there is no democracy anymore.

[Holland]

Thomas Jefferson smoked and grew pot; there is still a war on drugs.
Thats fucking right, I used a semicolon.

On a more relevant note, it is really a shame how such a smart group of people had this idea of how a country should be run and although their 'standards' are continually being implemented, they are hardly applicable now because of the powers of greed and the industry have enforced such lumpen standards in society that there is almost no possibility for advancement because of such strong opposition from either point. Nothing is getting done, there is no democracy anymore.

That could be said for most of the world, humanity is at a standstill if not a decline in evolution and expansion.

[fiftytakedowns]

That could be said for most of the world, humanity is at a standstill if not a decline in evolution and expansion.

whew, at least it's relevant than LOL.

at one point the founding fathers had it figured out (as it seemed)

[mrsleeve]

Yes, indeed. He lived way beyond his means, aqquired hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt (in 18th century money, not adjusted), and was the beneficiary of multiple congressional acts to protect him from his creditors and literally bail him out.

A true visionary.

-Charlie

Yes true, He INHERITED HIS FATHER IN LAWS DEBTS. Thats where the bulk of his debts came from and why he died penniless

[markseven]

Indeed

"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth... "

Thomas Jefferson
1787 - Notes on the State of Virginia

Context

The government in which he lived was wise enough to see that this was no question of civil jurisdiction, or we should all have been involved by authority in vortices. In fact, the vortices have been exploded, and the Newtonian principle of gravitation is now more firmly established, on the basis of reason, than it would be were the government to step in, and to make it an article of necessary faith. Reason and experiment have been indulged, and error has fled before them. It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desireable? No more than of face and stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes then, and as there is danger that the large men may beat the small, make us all of a size, by lopping the former and stretching the latter. Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions of people. That these profess probably a thousand different systems of religion. That ours is but one of that thousand. That if there be but one right, and ours that one, we should wish to see the 999 wandering sects gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we cannot effect this by force. Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free enquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves. But every state, says an inquisitor, has established some religion. No two, say I, have established the same. Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments? Our sister states of Pennsylvania and New York, however, have long subsisted without any establishment at all. The experiment was new and doubtful when they made it. It has

He's not bashing Christianity.

http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=JefVirg.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=17&division=div1