Pic of the Day: Barack Obama v The Founding Fathers

The guy, who has disparaged those 'old, wealthy, white guys' since he was weaned, is out today pontificating on the Founding Fathers and Republicans (read: the Tea Party):

'Let’s work together to make government work better, instead of treating it like an enemy or purposely making it work worse. That’s not what the founders of this nation envisioned when they gave us the gift of self-government.'

But, since we are on the subject of the Founding Fathers, let's take a stroll down Framers' Lane:

'To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.'

- Thomas Jefferson

'I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.' 

- James Madison

'I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.'

- Thomas Jefferson
 

'If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.'

- Samuel Adams
 

'We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land -- nor, perhaps, the sun or stars. But there is a chart and a compass for us to study, to consult, and to obey. That chart is the Constitution.'

- Daniel Webster

'Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!'

- Patrick Henry
 

'The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.'

- Thomas Jefferson
 

'They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.'

- Benjamin Franklin
 

' Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.'

- Thomas Jefferson
 

'I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and in our 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.'

- Thomas Jefferson  

 
'To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.'

- Thomas Jefferson
 

'I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.'

- Thomas Jefferson
 

'With respect to the words general welfare, I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.'

- James Madison

'The principle of spending money to be pad by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.'

- Thomas Jefferson
 

'Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States.'

- Noah Webster
 

'A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.'

- Benjamin Franklin
 

'The Tenth Amendment is the foundation of the Constitution.'

- Thomas Jefferson
 

'Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure.'

- Thomas Jefferson
 

'If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare... they may appoint teachers in every state... The powers of Congress would subvert the very foundation, the very nature of the limited government established by the people of America.'

- James Madison  

 
'As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is, to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen, which we ourselves ought to bear.' 

- George Washington, 17 September 1796
 

'To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father's has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association -- the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, and the fruits acquired by it.'

- Thomas Jefferson
 

'A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.'

- Thomas Jefferson
 

'Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.' 

- Thomas Jefferson  

 
'The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.'

- John Adams
 

'If there be a government then which prides itself in maintaining the inviolability of property; which provides that none shall be taken directly even for public use without indemnification to the owner, and yet directly violates the property which individuals have in their opinions, their religion, their persons, and their faculties; nay more, which indirectly violates their property, in their actual possessions, in the labor that acquires their daily subsistence, and in the hallowed remnant of time which ought to relieve their fatigues and soothe their cares, the influence [inference?] will have been anticipated, that such a government is not a pattern for the United States.' 

- James Madison

 
'When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.'

- Benjamin Franklin

 
'I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth, I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.' 

- Benjamin Franklin

 
'If ever the Time should come, when vain & aspiring Men shall possess the highest Seats in Government, our Country will stand in Need of its experienced Patriots to prevent its Ruin.'

- Samuel Adams

'What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?  Let them take arms.'

- Thomas Jefferson

 

'A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.'

- Thomas Jefferson

'Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.'

- Benjamin Franklin, 1776

'The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.'

- Thomas Jefferson

'In short, the flames kindled on the 4th of July, 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of depotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them.'

- Thomas Jefferson

'Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.'

- Thomas Paine

'If we wish to be free; if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending; if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained—we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms, and to the God of hosts, is all that is left us.'

- Patrick Henry, Speech in Virginia Convention, Richmond, 23 March 1775

'Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated.'

- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1, 23 December 1776

'The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government . . .' 

- George Washington, Farewell Address, 17 September 1796

'There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.'

- John Adams, Notes for an Oration at Braintree, Spring 1772

'If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom—go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!' 

- Samuel Adams, speech, Philadelphia State House, 1 August 1776

'God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty . . . And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.'

- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Stevens Smith, 13 November 1787

 

Thomas Jefferson speaking on the first attempt to establish a central bank in America:

'The system of banking is a blot left in all our Constitutions, which, if not covered, will end in their destruction. I sincerely believe that banking institutions are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity is but swindling futurity on a large scale.'

'The end of democracy, and the defeat of the American revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of the lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.'

'If the people ever allow the banks to issue their currency, the banks and corporations which will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property, until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'

'Paper is poverty... It is not money, but the ghost of money.'

'There is an artificial aristocracy, founded on birth and privelege, without virtue or talents... The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendency.'

'The bank of the United States is one of the most deadly hostilities existing against the principles and form of our Constitution. I deem no government safe which is under the vassalage of any self-constituted authorities, or any other authority than that of the nation, or its regular functionaries. What an obstruction could not this bank of the United States, with all its branch banks, be in a time of war? It might dictate to us the peace we should accept, or it might withdraw its aid. Ought we then to give further growth to an institution so powerful, so hostile?'

James Madison speaking on the first attempt to establish a central bank in America:

'History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit and violent means possible, to maintain their control over governments, by controlling money and its issuance.'

'It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens and one of the noblest characteristics of the late revolution. The free men of America did not wait until usurped power has strengthened itself by exercise and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the consequences in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle.'

'I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.'

- George Mason, co-author of the Second Amendment during Virginia's Convention to Ratify the Constitution, 1788

'A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves …'

- Richard Henry Lee, writing in Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republic, Letter XVIII, May, 1788.

'The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them.'

- Zachariah Johnson, Elliot's Debates, Vol. 3 The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution.

'And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the Press, or the rights of Conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms; …'

- Samuel Adams, Philadelphia Independent Gazetteer, 20 August 1789, "Propositions submitted to the Convention of this State"

'Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurrences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that's good.'

- George Washington, First President of the United States

'To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.'

- Richard Henry Lee, American Statesman, 1788

'The great object is that every man be armed.' and 'Everyone who is able may have a gun.'

- Patrick Henry, American Patriot

'Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?'

- Patrick Henry, American Patriot

'Those who hammer their guns into plowshares will plow for those who do not.'

- Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States

'The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that … it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; …'

- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Justice John Cartwright, 5 June 1824. ME 16:45

'The best we can help for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.'

- Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-8

'A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.'

          

- Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1785, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson

'One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.'

- Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson

'We established however some, although not all its [self-government] important principles. The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, (as in electing their functionaries executive and legislative, and deciding by a jury of themselves, in all judiciary cases in which any fact is involved,) or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.'

- Thomas Jefferson to John Cartwright, 1824

'No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms.'

- Thomas Jefferson: Draft Virginia Constitution, 1776.

'For example. If the system be established on basis of Income, and his just proportion on that scale has been already drawn from every one, to step into the field of Consumption, and tax special articles in that, as broadcloth or homespun, wine or whiskey, a coach or a wagon, is doubly taxing the same article. For that portion of Income with which these articles are purchased, having already paid its tax as Income, to pay another tax on the thing it purchased, is paying twice for the same thing; it is an aggrievance on the citizens who use these articles in exoneration of those who do not, contrary to the most sacred of the duties of a government, to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens.'

- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, 6 April 1816

'The genius of liberty reprobates everything arbitrary or discretionary in taxation.'

- Alexander Hamilton, The Continentalist, no. 6. N.Y. Packet – 4 July 1782

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