Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Thomas Jefferson on Debt

"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our calling and our creeds...[we will] have no time to think, no means of calling our miss-managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers... And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for[ another]... till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery... And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression."
Thomas Jefferson


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3 comments:

Dylan John Callahan said...

And the terrors of over-taxation in America have been long in the making, especially with the creation of the income tax.

We could eliminate most taxes and fees that keep our overly powerful government fed and the people poor if we eliminated most of the bureaus and charities that overpopulate the budget.

With the steady increase in departments and secretaries in government since the 1860's, each requiring really nice salaries and fringe benefits, it's no wonder we're trillions of dollars in debt.

Return to the gold standard, end the income tax, end the fed, gut the number of bureaus and departments in federal government, and stop the flow of money that either goes out of the country and/or into the hands of Communists.

Kyla Denae said...

We need to streamline government.

LOL

Kendra Logan said...

Boy did he call it. Lol!

~Kendra