Skip to content

Monthly Archives: January 2007

On lending money to support war and peace:

Thomas Jefferson was well aware that war had to be supported by massive amounts of money. He wrote to John Jay in 1787:
“No nation makes war now-a-days but by the aid of loans.”
The United States has recently promised to give the democratic government of Lebanon more than three times its usual amount of economic aid. [...]

On political dissension:

According to reports, Senate Democrats are working on a resolution with Republican Senator Chuck Hagel that will criticize President Bush’s plan to send additional troops to Iraq. Thomas Jefferson was wary of political dissension, once writing:
“There are many who think that not to support the Executive is to abandon Government.”
In today’s political climate, not supporting [...]

On the punishment fitting the crime:

On Tuesday, January 2, 2007, a special 13-member commission created in late 2005 by the New Jersey state legislature released a report in which it recommended that the death penalty be abolished in New Jersey and replaced by sentences of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Like the commission, Thomas Jefferson had reservations about [...]