Some Timely Quotes From Mr. Jefferson

"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual. "

-Thomas Jefferson

"That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves. "

-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 natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. "

-Thomas Jefferson

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive."

-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

"To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. "

-Thomas Jefferson

"We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of its majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country. "

-Thomas Jefferson

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."

-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

"Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it. "

-Thomas Jefferson

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories. "

-Thomas Jefferson

"Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. "

-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

The Nature of Rights

So where do rights come from?  You may feel in your gut or have learned that each person has certain rights, but where do they come from?  Are they granted by Gods?  Are they granted by governments?  In my logical analysis; although God may have created nature, nature is the thing grants us rights; not God directly.  This is to say, the position of God on rights is vague, it all depends to whom you speak.  Where as nature has made it clear; in a state of nature each person has the right to their own body and the fruits of their labour.  In other words, property rights extending from the right of self ownership.

Then where does the right to free speech come from?  Well; your vocal chords are part of your body, therefore you can say what you want.

Then where does the right to free press come from?  Well; as long as you own the press or have permission to use it, that is an extension of your voice.

Then where does the right to religion come from? It is your mind and your body, do with it as you wish.

Then why is (stealing, murdering, beating...) wrong; because you have a right to your body, since it is property, and those whom harm your property are can be persecuted.

So why don't animals have this same right?  The key to human ability to have rights is based on the fact that humans as a species can understand rights.  If anyone can prove that another species understands t not only the benefit, but also the consequence of rights; then I will gladly grant that species rights.

Marxy Marx

I thought this would be a good time to take another look at Karl Marx's ten steps to make a capitalist country into a socialist country, lets check off the ones already completed.

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

Getting there; although we still may own our land, it isn't really ours, what with the abuse of emminant domain going on and all the regulations and zoning requirements put on the land.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

Check

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

Getting there; with the "Death Tax"

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

Well; we don't really have emmigrant issues or rebels, yet.

5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.

Check

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state.

Getting there; the government now contorls the big three automakers, Amtrak and is giving money away to telecommunications in the new recovery act.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

Well; with the state buying up everything, this could be happening, I'm not quite sure.

8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

It seems more like they don't want people to work at this stage, so as to get them on their side; this one probably isn't far off.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.

Check

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.

Check

These united states are not a Democracy!

You see it every where you look; from school books to TV even from our own federal government, that these united states are a Democracy.   But this is not, nor has it ever been the case.  From it's very inception this country has been a Constitutional Republic.  What's the difference? Well; in a Democracy it is rule of the majority directly or indirectly.  In a Direct Democracy every person votes on every issue and what ever the majority wants becomes law.  In an Indirect or Representative Democracy the people elect representatives who vote for them; but are still supposed to vote the way they think they people they are representing would vote, and what ever the majority wants becomes law.  On the other hand in a Constitutional Republic the people elect representatives who vote for them; but cannot make any law which abridges that of the contitution and do not need to vote how they think the people they are representing would vote.  The difference comes down to the power of the majority and collectivism.  If we define ourselves as a Democracy it is easy to do as we have been doing for past decades and assume what ever the majority wants is what should be law; say for instance in a Democracy if the majority want to own slaves, they're elected officials have no right to stop them.  However if this same place were a Constitutional Republic, even if the Constitution did not explicedly say slavery is wrong, the representatives have the right and the duty to tell the majority that slavery will be outlawed (unless of course the Constitution were to grant the right of slavery).  So, a Democracy can quickly lead to mob rule and harm the rights of others simply because the majority want to.  It may seem like a small difference, but come the time when you are in the minority, it can be a big difference.

*Republics are also explicitly categorized as not allowing monarchy, where as Democracies do not make that distinction.