"We exist, and are quoted as standing proofs that a government, so modeled as to rest continually on the will of the whole society, is a practicable government." --Thomas Jefferson to Richard Rush, 1820. ME 15:284
Thomas Jefferson was capable of truly stunning thought, but no more than we all are !
As a people our will can be a stunning force for the common good, for our world.
I realize that it is way too early in history to even hope for a world without borders or even one where our differences are praised, but neither is this country, this world, made of opposing parties each hoping to rule the others.
We have as Americans & as a world learned to sacrifice our common will to those with a "vision", our new "Kings" unfortunately we have also learned to believe that we have no right to self govern.
We play right into their hands, becoming more isolated, lonely & pathetic with every liberty that is taken from us, our power & strength being eroded away slowly until one day soon, our lives won't be worth living!
What fools we are!
We once protested any curtailing of our rights... And now we give them up freely.
We tell ourselves we have respect & reverence for our history, but our actions tell the real tale.
Protest has become comic and impotent.
So many sides pulling against the same piece of cloth tearing and ripping till there is nothing left and never thinking that the best fabric had been taken long before that threadbare swatch was thrown to us.
"The qualifications for self-government in society are not innate. They are the result of habit and long training." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Everett, 1824. ME 16:22
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