I always keep an eye out for Thomas Jefferson quotes.  It tickles me to see how Jefferson's words are used because most people who quote him aren't aware that Thomas Jefferson was a liberal menace by today's standards.  Honey, if word of some of Jefferson's statements ever got out, I'm convinced a pitchfork mob would descend on Washington to destroy the Jefferson Memorial.  I was recently alerted to a Thomas Jefferson quote that appears to be all the rage right now among those worried that Barack Obama might be a socialist:

"To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father's 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, and the fruits acquired by it." --Thomas Jefferson

Apparently some folks have decided that this quote by Jefferson is somehow a damning repudiation of Barack Obama. Well, I'd like to take issue with what I believe is a misuse of Jefferson's words.

This quote was taken from a larger comment Jefferson wrote about a section on taxes in Destutt Tracy's "Political Economy."  I've provided the full comment below.  Jefferson was remarking that specific rich individuals should not be targeted by the state for extra taxation, but that taxes should be applied to all individuals consistent with the tax laws on the books.  He then went on to add that inheritance law was the best way to prevent the overgrown wealth of an individual from becoming a threat to the state.  It appears to me that Jefferson was offering advice on how to democratically check the wealth of ultra rich folks!

Imagine what would happen today if an elected official suggested that someone's overgrown wealth could be a threat to the state.  Let's face it:  one of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, was suspicious of concentrated wealth.  I think Jefferson likely would have supported the "Death Tax!"  If that isn't bad enough, Jefferson also passed several landmark education bills in Virginia ensuring that the State supplied a free education to the poor funded at the common expense!  Even worse, Jefferson established a free public library!

Honey, I hate to even bring up Jefferson's comments about religion.  We all know Jefferson as the author of the "Declaration of Independence" who penned the phrase "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights."  What is less commonly known is that Jefferson did not believe in the divinity of Jesus or the miracles of the Bible.  He wrote that the Bible contained "so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same Being."  He determined to separate the "gold from the dross", the "diamonds" from the "dunghill," and he put together his own "Jefferson Bible." Now, I'm not sure what church you grew up in, but my folks would not have allowed me to have anything to do with such a person, and "liberal" would have been the nicest thing said about him.

I don't think there is any alternative but to accept that Thomas Jefferson was a liberal menace by today's standards.  Before we destroy the Jefferson Memorial or blast his likeness off Mount Rushmore, let's pause to remember that his rise was facilitated by our Founding Fathers and the American people of his time.  Thomas Jefferson was well-regarded and actively sought out by all our Founding Fathers. There wasn't a committee or assignment that Jefferson wasn't nominated for and unanimously appointed to by those wise men who forged our nation.  George Washington enlisted James Madison to visit Monticello and personally prevail upon Jefferson to serve as Washington's Secretary of State.  Jefferson was selected by the American people to serve as our third President.  The fact is, liberal menace Thomas Jefferson was hand-picked by the patriots of his day to serve our nation, and our country is all the richer for his contributions.

So when TV and radio talkers rant on and on about the "liberals" who are destroying our country, remember that far from being pariahs, liberals have been embraced and elevated since the inception of America.  Those who seek to villify liberals are demonizing not only Thomas Jefferson and contemporary liberals such as Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama, but at least half of the voting population who voted for democrats in the last two and likely three elections. We all have family members, friends, neighbors and coworkers who vote for democrats.  How can folks say they love America when they deny our history and despise half the people living in our country?

We need to put a stop to all this divisive politics nonsense and accept the fact that we might not all agree, but we are all brothers of the same nation.  Calling folks names who disagree with you at election time isn't going to elevate our discourse but will instead harden us all against each other.  We are going to have to work together, liberals and conservatives alike, as we have always done to solve our problems and ensure that our country remains a beacon of freedom and hope in the world.  We became that beacon of freedom and hope because of, not despite, the contributions of liberals like Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson's full comments courtesy of The Jefferson Cyclopedia, page 852 section 8279:

* * * To this a single observation shall yet be added. Whether property alone, and the whole of what each citizen possesses, shall be subject to contribution, or only its surplus after satisfying his first wants, or whether the faculties of body and mind shall contribute also from their annual earnings, is a question to be decided. But, when decided, and the principle settled, it is to be equally and fairly applied to all. 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, and the fruits acquired by it ". If the overgrown wealth of an individual be deemed dangerous to the State, the best corrective is the law of equal inheritance to all in equal degree ; and the better, as this enforces a law of nature, while extra-taxation violates it. — NOTE IN DESTUTT TRACY'S POLITICAL ECONOMY, vi, 573. (1816.)