"On every question of construction [of the Constitution], let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invent against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed." - Thomas Jefferson
"When all government, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the Center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated." – Thomas Jefferson
"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." President Thomas Jefferson
Thanks for the wonderful quotes! They keep this thread alive and keep people thinking.
The last quote reminds me of something I heard on some talk show....something like “any organization that has any political element at all, will, in time, turn liberal in its philosophy unless continual weeding of non-conservative elements is undertaken.”
Hmmm....they may have put it better...