As we look closely at the upcoming 2012 election, we cannot help but think about how far our nation has drifted from the vision our founding fathers had of a free people protected by a limited government. They would surely shake their heads in disbelief if they could see what has happened to their great experiment in self-government and liberty.
It is likely that if Thomas Jefferson came back for a day, after reading just one issue of the Washington Post and watching an hour of MSNBC, he would find a bar, drink himself stupid, and then call the Queen of England to apologize for the revolution. I can only imagine the horror he would feel as he looked over our 2012 federal budget, read through Obama’s healthcare bill, watched the unwashed idiots playing their bongo drums on Wall Street, and listened to Michael Moore waggle his triple chin about the rich. I cannot speak personally for Mr. Jefferson, but I am sure that after seeing these things, he would sprint at full speed back to the safety and sanity of his coffin.
To be sure, Mr. Jefferson’s return as a concerned “founding zombie” is not likely, but it really does make one wonder whose side he would really be on if he did. Many have acclaimed Mr. Jefferson as one our nation’s more “progressive” thinkers, so if any of our founders had the potential to belly up to Obama’s world view it could arguably be him.
So for the sake of argument, let’s say that some mad scientist was able to reanimate Mr. Jefferson’s corpse just in time for him to vote in next year’s election? Who would he pull the lever for? Put simply…WWJD? (Note to Readers: Zombies are not required to show a picture ID at polls in most blue states.)
Head Muscle submits that with only a bit of research, Mr. Jefferson tells us in his own words:
Jefferson On Liberty:
“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniencies attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”
“The last hope of human liberty in this world rests on us. We ought, for so dear a state to sacrifice every attachment and every enmity.”
“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”
“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
Jefferson On Government:
“A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.”
“The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.”
“Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government. Public servants at such a distance, and from under the eye of their constituents, must, from the circumstances of distance, be unable to administer an overlook all the details necessary for the good government of the citizens; and the same circumstances, by rendering detection impossible to their constituents, will invite public agents to corruption, p,under and waste.”
“I believe the States can best govern our home concerns, and the General Government our foreign ones.”
“The true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the States are independent as to everything within themselves, and united as to everything respecting foreign nations.”
“Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread.”
” Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”
Jefferson On Wealth Redistribution:
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”
“To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father’s 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 every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.'”
“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.”
Jefferson On Taxation:
“If we run into such 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, and 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 do now, on oatmeal and potatoes, have no time to think, no means of calling the mis-managers to account; but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains around the necks of our fellow sufferers.”
Jefferson On Gun Rights:
“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.”
“The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.”
Finally…Jefferson On Obama Care:
“Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now.”
So WWJD? Let’s take a quick tally. Were Mr. Jefferson suddenly walking among us again he would:
1. (Most importantly) Need a shower and some fresh privies
2. Be for a limited federal government
3. Put states in charge of their own domestic affairs
4. Be pro second amendment
5. Support personal property rights
6. Be firmly against wealth redistribution
7. Rebuff European-style taxation
and yes.., finally…
8. Support the repeal of Obama Care
We may be guilty of being a bit presumptuous here at Head Muscle from time to time…okay…all the time, but it seems pretty clear that we already know the answer to the question.
Head Muscle 
manonmona reblogged this on Espacio de MANON.
Ah, Thomas Jefferson, the hero among the founders of many a liberty and freedom minded type. Also a bit of a conundrum though. Very limited government was his main theme. Yet he was a huge supporter of public education. Staying out of foreign entanglements, wars, was also high on his list. Yet, the very first line of the Marine Corps Hymn came about as a result of his orders.
All in all though, I still rate him way up there on my list of American heroes.
Nicely researched and collated. You might be interested in an article on Andrew Jackson penned by Robert W. Merry that appears in the October issue of The American Spectator. Our Founding Fathers and those who followed them in the next century of so were men of principle and intelligence. They might not have always agreed with each other and there were certainly character flaws in abundance, but they seemed to be able to work out solutions to the problems that they faced. Their vision for America appeared to be based more on a strong, surging, growing national profile rather than a population subservient to a self-absorbed, grasping, hypocritical, elite class bent on establishing a new monarchy.
And, they were able to discern the difference between populism and anarchy.
I will most certainly look up the article. Thanks Maine.
Jefferson is probably rolling over in his grave. This great country has strayed too far from her foundation. Waiting for a revolution to take back this great country and renew freedom for every person. Great article…
Thanks for your comment AJC. Glad to hear from you. In this blogger’s opinion the revolution is already in full swing. We need to energize our base and restore Jefferson’s vision for our nation.
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