A Little Rebellion
Posted by freedomforall 11 years, 4 months ago to Government
"Societies exist under three forms sufficiently distinguishable.
1. Without government, as among our Indians.
2. Under governments wherein the will of every one has a just influence, as is the case in England in a slight degree, and in our states in a great one.
3. Under governments of force: as is the case in all other monarchies and in most of the other republics. To have an idea of the curse of existence under these last, they must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep.
It is a problem, not clear in my mind, that the 1st. condition is not the best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of population.
The second state has a great deal of good in it. The mass of mankind under that enjoys a precious degree of liberty and happiness. It has it’s evils too: the principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject. But weigh this against the oppressions of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem. Even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to the public affairs.
I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
Unsuccesful rebellions indeed generally establish the incroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. It is a medecine necessary for the sound health of government."
- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, Paris, January 30, 1787
1. Without government, as among our Indians.
2. Under governments wherein the will of every one has a just influence, as is the case in England in a slight degree, and in our states in a great one.
3. Under governments of force: as is the case in all other monarchies and in most of the other republics. To have an idea of the curse of existence under these last, they must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep.
It is a problem, not clear in my mind, that the 1st. condition is not the best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of population.
The second state has a great deal of good in it. The mass of mankind under that enjoys a precious degree of liberty and happiness. It has it’s evils too: the principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject. But weigh this against the oppressions of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem. Even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to the public affairs.
I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
Unsuccesful rebellions indeed generally establish the incroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. It is a medecine necessary for the sound health of government."
- Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, Paris, January 30, 1787
during the time leading up to the French Revolution.
Where are we along this timeline?
When will American peasantry realize their serfdom and storm the American Bastille?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of...
I am dino. Hear me roar!
but carried a Goldwater 64 bumper sticker on my
school books in high school....... too bad that his
later years appeared to include Alzheimer's in a
grand way. -- j
started learning very early in life and never stopped.
At 5, began studying under his cousin's tutor.
At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French.
At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.
At 16, entered the College of William and Mary.
Also could write in Greek with one hand while writing the
same in Latin with the other.
At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.
At 23, started his own law practice.
At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
At 31, wrote the widely circulated "Summary
View of the Rights of British America?
And retired from his law practice.
At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence.
At 33, took three years to revise Virginia's
legal code and wrote a Public Education bill
and a statute for Religious Freedom.
At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia
succeeding Patrick Henry.
At 40, served in Congress for two years.
At 41, was the American minister to France and
negotiated commercial treaties with European nations
along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.
At 46, served as the first Secretary of State
under George Washington.
At 53, served as Vice President and was elected
president of the American Philosophical Society.
At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and
became the active head of Republican Party.
At 57, was elected the third president of the
United States.
At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling
the nation's size.
At 61, was elected to a second term as President.
At 65, retired to Monticello.
At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.
At 81, almost single-handedly created the
University of Virginia and served as its first president.
At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the
Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams.
Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous
failed attempts at government. He understood actual history,
the nature of God, his laws and the nature of man.
That happens to be way more than what most understand today.
Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the past
to lead us in the future:
John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: "This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
"When we get piled upon one another in large
cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe."
-- Thomas Jefferson
"The democracy will cease to exist when you
take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
-- Thomas Jefferson
"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its
own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."
-- Thomas Jefferson
"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."
-- Thomas Jefferson
"My reading of history convinces me that most
bad government results from too much government."
--
Thomas Jefferson
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of
arms."
-- Thomas Jefferson
"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."
-- Thomas Jefferson
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time with the blood of patriots and
tyrants."
-- Thomas Jefferson
"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes
the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:
"I believe that banking institutions are more
dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
If the American people ever allow private banks
to control the issue of their currency, first by
inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on
the continent their fathers conquered."
of the latter, in the last 65 years that I've lived!!! -- j
A rebellion, looked at as a necessary medicine for government is a brilliant concept. But after the Civil War, government and society instituted so many blocks to such ever happening again, that even the little uprisings were stomped or hidden from history textbooks, examples being The Deacons of Defense and the small town in Georgia (?) of WWII vets taking back their government. The Bundy Ranch stand up of men from around the nation may well have been such an event as Jefferson sought to describe that may serve to remind government that what people will stand for is important for them to consider. Let's hope for more Bundys and some momentum of little rebellions.
from this rut of national immolation by fascism -- we
have lost our lust for freedom and integrity, the stuff
which built the U.S. -- j
p.s. any volunteers?
A prominent land owner in an established area of Virginia, he actually knew little of "Our Indians." Had he, he would not have written what he did.
The Iroquois League (1080 - 1530) [Estimated, English and American Colonists destroyed most of the records and evidence.] was an empire of the Seven Tribes, governing most of the northeast from central Massachusetts to the Catskills and holding domain over lands as far south as the Carolinas [The Tuscarora were a member of the League]. It was a Matriarchal Society, the women ran things and did foreign policy, the men hunted and made war.
The Appalachian Trail, known by Native Americans as the "Warrior's Path" was as much a communication and dominion road as the Royal Road of the Assyrian Kings and Darius of Persia.
After 1530 Native Americans still maintained a Matriarchal or Patriarchal Tribal Society, often with strong interlocking alliances. Western Europeans did not recognize them because they did not understand them and thought that they were superior. The great Kahn would have, they were much like the Mongol Government that raised him to power.
- Babylon 5: The Long, Twilight Struggle
An interesting statement, considering that the US constitution was influenced by that of the Iroquois.
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