Quote:
Originally Posted by StickyGreen
"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
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Putting the Founders to Work
When widely syndicated columnist Cal Thomas posted a commentary on his website (1/15/09) opposing federal bailouts, he cited quotes from Thomas Jefferson to bolster his argument:
?The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not?;
It is incumbent on every generation to pay off its own debts as it goes. A principle, which, if acted on would save us one-half of the wars of the world?;
?I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them?; and,
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
Thomas described these quotes as ?ancient wisdom,? which, he said, ?is almost always better than what people come up with today. Consider that it became ancient because it was wise.?
But consulting The Works of Thomas Jefferson available in full at the Online Liberty Library, as well as the Library of Congress? online Jefferson site, Ed Darrel of Millard Fillmore?s Bathtub (2/1/09) could find no evidence authenticating any of the quotes. [See correction below.] As Darrel, whose website targets historical falsehood, observed, ?Jefferson seem[ed] oddly prescient in these quotes, and, also oddly, rather endorsing the views of the right wing.?
None of the quotes could be authenticated on the Jefferson Library website (
www.monticello.org) either, which includes the first and the last quotes in Thomas? column in its list of frequently cited ?Spurious Quotations.?
CORRECTION: Variants of two of the four quotes offered by Cal Thomas have been found in the Jefferson Cyclopedia database at the University of Virginia: The second quote appears with slight wording variations, and the third quote is a close paraphrase of an actual Jefferson quote. The first and fourth quotes can still not be verified.