“I am for a government rigorously frugal & simple, applying all the possible savings of the public revenue to the discharge of the national debt.”
Category Archives: Current Events
On gambling:
Friday, July 6, 2007
“Gambling . . . corrupts our dispositions, and teaches us a habit of hostility against all mankind.”
On the Fourth of July:
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
“The flames kindled on the Fourth of July, 1776, have spread over
too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of
despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and
all who work them.”
—Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1821
On acts of terrorism uniting people against a common enemy:
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Thomas Jefferson believed that atrocities committed by an enemy tended to unite the nation being targeted, increasing its ability to fight back against the aggressor. He wrote:
“I am exceedingly sorry to learn that the enemy are committing such cruel depredations. . . . [H]owever, it may tend to produce immoveable hatred against so detestable a [...]
On compromise in politics:
Thursday, March 1, 2007
“I see the necessity of sacrificing our opinions sometimes to the opinions of others for the sake of harmony.”
On lending money to support war and peace:
Thursday, January 25, 2007
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:
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
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:
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
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 [...]
On New Year’s Resolutions:
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Now that the frantic preparations for the holidays are finally over, we have a chance to sit back and take a look at our lives: our successes and failures, progress made toward our goals, and our hopes and dreams for the future. Many of us will look ahead to the approaching new year and make [...]
On privacy:
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
On Sunday, December 03, 2006, the International Telecommunication Union, a branch of the United Nations, said publicly that computer users are at substantial risk of identity theft and violations of privacy. Although Thomas Jefferson could not have envisioned the fast-paced, computerized world in which we live today, he did recognize the importance of privacy. He [...]