Happy Birthday, Mr Jefferson:

One of the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, was born on this day back in 1743.

Mr Jefferson was quite more wise than people mostly credit. It would seem that the bulk of his writings and quotations are prescient and even more valid and applicable during these tumultuous times.

- A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.

- Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.

- Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

- I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

- 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.

268 years later, what do you suspect Mr Jefferson would think of our current government?

What might he think about our budget deficit and the government's profligate spending?

BZ