What Would Thomas Jefferson Think?

By Shane Van Cleve

“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industries.” Thomas Jefferson (1824)

As I stated in earlier articles, I have been studying the founding fathers and would like to share their view on government. I have chosen Thomas Jefferson for this article.

Let’s take a look at the view the founding fathers had when they established this great country. Thomas Jefferson played a tremendous role in establishing the United States of America. But Thomas also feared the future... He knew that when government got involved, it made a mess. He knew governments corrupt.

The quote by Thomas Jefferson above was made in 1824. At that time the Federal government had about 8,500 employees. Thomas Jefferson thought that they had too much government then. But what would he think now seeing that we have over three MILLION Federal government employees?

What would Thomas Jefferson think about the U.S. involvement in the U.N.? I have recently been studying and reading the constitution and major goals of the U.N. The U.N. constitution is not a very pretty thing to read. Neither are their goals.

One of the main goals of the United Nations is to promote world peace. But how much world peace have they promoted? Since their establishment, just after WW2, how many wars have come to pass? And how many were THEY involved in? It is clearly visible that the UN has still not met their goal of promoting world peace and we have no reason to believe that they ever will.

Of course, you know the stand Jefferson took with gun control...but where does the U.N. stand on that issue? As I was recently viewing the U.N. website I found that one of the MAJOR goals of the U.N. is to disarm the citizens of the world. Why would a government want to disarm the citizens? It has been proven that when the citizens have guns crime is almost completely eliminated. The answer is that governments want control. They have an attraction to power and more control. When the citizens are disarmed they have no defense whatsoever against invasion or even the government itself.

What about war and alliances? Where did Thomas Jefferson stand on that? Here’s the answer in two quotes:

“I have ever deemed in fundamental for the United States, never to take active part in the quarrels of Europe. Their political interests are entirely distinct from ours... They are nations of eternal war.” Thomas Jefferson 1823

“Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.” Thomas Jefferson (1799)

What do you think Thomas Jefferson would say about the Iraq War, the U.S. involvement in Pakistan, the war in Afghanistan, and U.S. troops in 130 other countries around the world?

What about the recent Russia-Georgia conflict? What would he say about that? What right does the U.S. have to get involved in the recent crisis? Just this past week the U.S. sent $1 billion in supplies to Georgia when we ourselves our $9 trillion in debt, have illegal immigrants (possibly terrorists) crossing the border, and abortions being performed every day. Let Russia and Georgia settle their problems and let us deal with ours.

That’s what happens when the U.S. starts getting involved with alliances. Alliances only bring more problems and bigger wars. Other countries problems become our problems too. That’s exactly why Thomas Jefferson said, “Alliance with none should be our motto”.

What about taxes? Every employee knows how frustrating taxes are. I believe the income tax should be abolished as well as the state sales tax. There are other ways governments can get money without forcing it out of its citizens. So where did Thomas Jefferson stand on this one?

Read his quote here:

“If we run into such [government] debts, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses; and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes; have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account; but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1816

Doesn’t that sound like us today? No time to think...working our tails off. Looks like Thomas Jefferson was warning us again.

What about inflation? I talked about this in an earlier article but I want to cover it briefly again.

The government assumes the power to control our money supply. And you know what that means right? When the government gets involved, it makes a mess. I’ve found that to be true in nearly every case. Paper money is just not the way to go.

Gold and silver are the only true currencies that will last. Let’s look at what Thomas Jefferson had to say about paper money:

“That paper money has some advantages, is admitted. But that its abuses also are inevitable, and, by breaking up the measure of value, makes a lottery of all private property, cannot be denied. Shall we ever be able to put a constitutional veto on it?”
Thomas Jefferson 1817

These are just some of the issues America is facing today. We have so many more problems such as educational issues, the corruption of NATO, the U.N.’s corrupted law of the sea, environmental issues, energy issues, economy issues, abortion, illegal immigration, and Social security issues just to name a few.

We will cover some (if not all) of these in future articles but for now, let us hold on to liberty, spread the word, and Let Freedom Ring!