Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Caution

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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4 comments:

  1. MichaelApril 5, 2010 at 3:07 PM

    Actually, the Jefferson Encyclopedia (http://wiki.monticello.org/mediawiki/index.php/The_democracy_will_cease_to_exist) points out:

    "This exact quotation has not been found in any of the writings of Thomas Jefferson. It bears a very vague resemblance to Jefferson's comment in a prospectus for his translation of Destutt de Tracy's Treatise on Political Economy: "To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, ‘the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, & the fruits acquired by it.'"

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  2. Josh83April 6, 2010 at 3:32 PM

    The quotation ascribed to Jefferson was included in the text of a recent speech offered by a well-known official at a prominent Washington think tank.

    I had assumed, quite naturally, that this individual had checked his sources.

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  3. AnonymousDecember 18, 2012 at 8:25 AM

    Is your quote from Thomas Jefferson about those who would not work or those who are not allowed to work when they want to?

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  4. Josh83December 18, 2012 at 10:54 PM

    In a free-market economy, there is no such thing (convicted felons aside) as "those who are not allowed to work [even though] they want to".

    Such is a fallacious opinion, held only by uneducated and unintelligent persons such as yourself.

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