Thomas Jefferson Defends the Slander of RedState and National Enquirer

Thomas Jefferson in Wikiquote ^ | 4/10/2016 | Pocono Pundit

[poconopundit]

Thousands of columns have been written that attack the Republican candidates.  And I daresay, Free Republic has probably excerpted several thousand of them.
As a Trumpster, I'd certainly rank RedState as the most outrageous liar and most vicious attacker of all the blogazines that seem to be dedicated to sinking Donald Trump.  National Review comes in a close second. And if you're a Cruzer, you probably wouldn't shed a single tear to discover the National Enquirer had been accidentally torpedoed and sent to Davy Jones' locker. But slander is actually as old as the Republic!
Have a listen to an intriguing dialog posted on Wikiquote between Thomas Jefferson — when he was President — and a visitor who later wrote down the conversation for posterity. Visitor: President Jefferson considers a free press as the safeguard of liberty.  I went today an hour before his time of dining, and was received in his cabinet while he was finishing a letter. I picked up one of the public journals which lay upon his table, and was astonished and shocked to find its columns filled with the lowest form of abuse, and the vilest slander of the President. I threw it down with indignation, and said, "Why do you not have the fellow hung who dares to write these abominable lies!"  But the President smiled and replied: President Jefferson: Hang the guardian of public morals?  No, sir.  Rather I would protect the spirit of freedom which allows even that abuse. Put that paper in your pocket, my good friend, and when you hear any one doubt the reality of American liberty, show them that paper, and tell them where you found it.  You cannot have a better proof of its existence. Sir, the country where public men are amenable to public opinion — where not only their official measures, but their private morals, are open to the scrutiny and censure of every citizen — is more secure from despotism and corruption than it could be rendered by the wisest code of laws or best formed constitution. Party spirit may sometimes blacken, and its erroneous opinions may sometimes injure; but, in general, it will prove the best guardian of a pure and wise administration.  It will detect and expose vice and corruption, check the encroachments of power, and resist oppression. Sir, it is a greater protector of the people's rights than arms or laws. But is it not shocking that virtuous characters should be defamed? Let their actions refute such libels.  Believe me, virtue is not long darkened by the clouds of slander.  In its course, virtue will shine forth like the sun at noon-day.  And its brightness will disperse the fog and vapors which obscured its rising light. When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself public property, and justly liable to the inspection and vigilance of public opinion.  The more he feels his dependence, the less danger he will abuse his power.  Abuse of power is that dangerous rock on which good government and the people's rights have so often been wrecked. Your doctrines would never be recognised in the old world. "Example" will enforce doctrines that philosophers have long preached in vain.  Example far outweighs doctrines.

 

---

Note: I made some modest changes to the text above, refreshing archaic words and improving the sentence structure a bit to make it more readable.

[Neu Pragmatist]

A month or two ago , FR was being inundated with Tedstate spam/crap ...glad FR put a stop to it ...

[poconopundit]

Here's what Thomas Jefferson had to say about the attack blogs and scandal journals of his time. 

The only thing new in the is world is the history you don't know. 

Harry Truman

[HarleyLady27]

Excellent article....

[SandRat]

Yet the “Academics,” Millennial’s, along with the Revisionist’s, belittle Jefferson’s thoughts and words.

[RitaOK]

Thank YOU, poco!!

God bless America of old, when men were MEN. Thanks.

The internet has killed duels. HA!

Lucky us!

[rockrr]

I regard Jefferson as the Bubba Clinton of his era. He had a tendency to say one thing and do another.

For instance, he wrote, “When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself public property, and justly liable to the inspection and vigilance of public opinion. The more he feels his dependence, the less danger he will abuse his power.”

And to illustrate this he supported the yellow journalistic flourishes of Philip Freneau to perpetuate character assassination against George Washington.

However, when he became president he was the first to avail himself of the “Alien and Sedition Act” to pursue critics.

[ifinnegan]

Trump us the one who has proposed the government limit the free press.

[poconopundit]

Good one! Yeah, plenty of duels on FR!

Hey, maybe when virtual reality arrives on the internet we'll be able to telepathically punch somebody in the nose.  Wouldn't that we grand?

[poconopundit]

Hmm.  Don't recall that one.  Do you have a reference?

[ifinnegan]

He wants to change the law so he can sue the press if they write things he doesn’t like.

Pretty much the exact opposite sentiment if this post about Jefferson.

[RitaOK]

LOL!

[DoughtyOne]

Thank you.

I wonder what folks will say of us in time.

[poconopundit]

Ridiculous.  But send me a transcript or YouTube as proof and I'll change my opinion.

BTW, fighting back against the press with tweets and speeches is certainly within Trump's freedom of speech rights.

[tinyowl]

Good post Poco -

"Sir, the country where public men are amenable to public opinion — where not only their official measures, but their private morals, are open to the scrutiny and censure of every citizen — is more secure from despotism and corruption than it could be rendered by the wisest code of laws or best formed constitution."

So, yes, a candidate's or public servant's behavior in the bedroom is absolutely fair game, and in fact, there isn't much of a better area of life, other than drugs and crime's involving theft of money, to determine if a man has control over his appetites, more specifically and importantly perhaps, if his control over his appetites is what he says or believes it is.

I think the fact that things get out of hand and the amount of pure negative unproductive drivel being hurled by both sides is just part of the fun. If you try to control it, you will mis-control it and those controlling it will abuse their control.

There is of course a line that is slander and libel, but that's not the equivalent of name calling and even brutal name calling and lying by innuendo. Human beings are extremely messy creatures. To believe we are high and refined, and that messiness should be disallowed would also crush everything good about us.

That's why I raise my glass to all the Cruz supporters, the stupidest bunch of embezzlers, cheaters, philanderers, cowards and wife beaters that ever lived, who single handedly seek intentionally to destroy America and replace it with a communist marxists dominionist hooker's lair where children are beaten cooked and eaten, and where bunny rabbits and kittens are paraded through town hanging by their necks. May they all contract rabies, that at the very least they will have an excuse for their mad drooling frothing lashing out at everything that is pure, honest and virtuous embodied by the godlike messiah and savior of man, Donald Trump, and we, those who support his candidacy, surely to be rewarded in heaven, whereas the Cruz supports will burn in a dominion, but the dominion of Hades, punishment for eating the apple in the garden of Teden :-)

[poconopundit]

Yes, it would be great to time travel one hundred years into the future and look back.

But I'm afraid by that time, almost nobody will care -- except a few FReepers surfing the web :- )

You know the more I read it, the more I like the last line of what Jefferson said: Example far outweighs doctrines.  Those four words explain why Trump stands above the pack.

[DoughtyOne]

Agreed.

[poconopundit]

For a lightweight creature, you're quite the eloquent rascal :- )  Methinks there's a Cruzer right now gritting his teeth to compose a long-winded reply... Let's hope so.

Duels occurs all the time here on Free Republic.  And the deadliest bullets are those shot by riflemen trained on the firing ranges of wit and intelligence.

[tinyowl]

For a lightweight creature,

If nothing else, I am a total lightweight. On another thread, being accused of being paid to post for Trump - I'm sure you've heard it too. It's like saying "the sky is blue" and a curmudgeonly old blind man accuses you of being a whore. I imagine there isn't really even a chance for much more good discourse ... people have chosen sides, dug in, the candidates are very very different human beings ... I know what I'm gonna know about Cruz, the Cruzies know what they're gonna know about Trump ... ... and now I think all we can do is wait to see how strongly the rest of the states support Trump, even while Cruz and his lame friends and future masters unleash the Howitzers.

Look forward to your next article ...

[Kartographer]

Well they slamed Ted, for something he didn’t do, then they slammed him for not apologizing for something he didn’t do and now like a bunch of 911 conspiracy nuts they slam him because even though there is nothing to show Cruz did anything wrong he still did it! Yeah that seems logical