The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.
Interpretation
Jefferson advocates for a hands-off government approach, allowing citizens to pursue their own paths without interference.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson expresses a core principle of American democracy, emphasizing the importance of individual freedom and limited government intervention. He suggests that the role of government should not involve obstructing or excessively supporting its citizens, but rather providing an environment where individuals are free to pursue their own interests and aspirations, thereby fostering personal responsibility and autonomy.
In practice
A speaker at a political rally discussing the importance of personal freedom and minimal government interference.
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
βWe 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.
When you see the earth from the moon, you don't see any divisions there of nations or states. _x000D_ This might be the symbol, really, for the new mythology to come. _x000D_ That is the country that we are going to be celebrating. _x000D_ And those are the people that we are one with.
Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.
I'm trying to have a moment o' existential dreed here, right? Crivens, it's a puir lookout if a man canna feel the chilly winds o' fate lashing aroound his netheres wi'out folks telling him he's deid, eh?
Only those with no memory insist on their originality.
Charity is great, but the moment you say it is all, you run the risk of running into materialism.
A myth is an image in terms of which we try to make sense of the world.
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