Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Quote of the Day

How right he was:

"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.' To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition."

-- Thomas Jefferson (Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National
Bank, 15 February 1791)

From The Patriot Post

5 comments:

Timothy W Higgins said...

He also said:

The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.

and...

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

It is no small wonder that we revere this man for his beliefs, and his ability to put clear thinking into words.

Peahippo said...

If "Tho. Jefferson" were alive today, he'd be in Gitmo.

Peahippo said...

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_jefferson.html

Timothy W Higgins said...

I have to disagree with the comment from peahippo,even though I understand where its coming from. If Thomas Jefferson were alive today, he would have a nationally syndicated conservative talk radio show and would probably be #1 in his markets.

Art A Layman said...

Thomas jefferson is a man to be revered. This does not necessarily suggest that every quote from him deserves absolute reverence.

The quote by the way was directed at a specific issue. As is often the case it is presumed and used as some sort of universal truth that applies to whatever issue one decides is not that one's cup of tea.

Though Tim may be right about the radio talk show host thing, it seems a significant degradation to remand Thomas Jefferson to the likes of Rush or Hannity or any other conservative talk show hack.

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