Friday, January 23, 2009

Jefferson & the Democrats

" -- a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise 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, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities." --Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson is often touted as being the founder of the Democratic Party. If so, today's Democratic Party has certainly rejected any allegiance to that quote. But the fact of the matter is, the party Jefferson founded was called the "Democratic Republican" Party, and I don't think either party can really lay claim to Jefferson as a founder.

If I'm looking to who at least gives lip-service to the quote, I have to hand it to the modern Republican party. But they've been emasculated by compromise and the desire of "the people" to vote themselves more and more money from the treasury.

The Democratic and Republican parties as we know them today didn't really take shape until the middle of the 19th century. Andrew Jackson is considered the father of the party we know today, and the Republican party we know today was formed in opposition to slavery in the mid 1800's.

Yeah, that's right. Opposition. To hear the Democrats tell it today, you'd never know that the real party of Civil Rights, (including through the 1960's) has been the Republican Party.

The Democratic Party has become the Party of the Nanny State. And they're in charge now. Great.

Our governor hasn't been governor for more than a couple of weeks and we're already talking about a statewide smoking ban. Now I will puff the occasional cigar or pipe, but I'm not as "smoker". And I do like smoke-free restaurants and bars. However ... that decision should be left up to the property owners and the patrons (ultimately the property owners), not to the Government.

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