I think it is a great error to consider a heavy tax on wines as a tax on luxury. On the contrary, it is a tax on the health of our citizens.
Interpretation
Thomas Jefferson argues that taxing wine is not just a luxury tax but one that affects public health.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of understanding the broader implications of taxation, especially on items like wine. He critiques the perception that such taxes are simply levies on luxury consumption, instead framing them as detrimental to the health and well-being of citizens, revealing a deeper responsibility of governance and economic policy concerning public health.
In practice
During a public health seminar, this quote could illustrate the connection between taxation and health outcomes.
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.
I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
We must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
Groups become more extreme and entrenched in their beliefs and polarized from others when members only exchange information that reinforces their views and filter out all else or never learn of alternatives. Thus they narrow their options, and magnify each other's prejudices and misconceptions. This trend leads to blind spots in decision making and to extreme behavior, even terrorism.
I stay away from heavy-handed stuff, the good guy and the bad guy. It just doesn't interest me; all it does is create more fences between people, I think.
It’s terrible to lie in chains,_x000D_ To rot in dungeon deep,_x000D_ But it’s still worse, when you are free_x000D_ To sleep, and sleep, and sleep.
The trouble with righting some wrongs is that it makes the remaining ones seem even more unbearable.
I asked the Zebra, _x000D_ are you black with white stripes? _x000D_ Or white with black stripes? _x000D_ And the zebra asked me, _x000D_ Are you good with bad habits? _x000D_ Or are you bad with good habits?
The longer I live, the more I am enabled to realize that I have but one life to live on Earth, and that this one life is but a brief life, for sowing, in comparison with eternity, for reaping.
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