I hope we shall . . . crush in [its] birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a desire to eliminate the influence of wealthy corporations over democracy.
Thomas Jefferson's quote reflects a concern about the potential for economic power, concentrated in the hands of wealthy corporations, to dominate political systems and social structures. He advocates for proactive measures to prevent this 'aristocracy' from gaining strength, suggesting a commitment to preserving democratic values and ensuring that wealth does not dictate the framework of governance.
In practice
In a speech about corporate influence in politics, this quote can be used to emphasize the need for reform.
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.
If the church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.
The protective system of scapegoats is finally destroyed by the Crucifixion narratives as they reveal Jesus' innocence and, little by little, that of all analogous victims.
But we do now receive a certain portion of His Spirit, tending towards perfection, and preparing us for incorruption, being little by little accustomed to receive and bear God
Do not mistake the rule of force for true power. Men are not shaped by force.
Propaganda is to a democracy what violence is to a dictatorship.
The values by which we are to survive are not rules for just and unjust conduct, but are those deeper illuminations in whose light justice and injustice, good and evil, means and ends are seen in fearful sharpness of outline.
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