Freedom Lawyers of America

http://www.lewrockwell.com/ocregister/civilized-libertarian.html
The civilized libertarian
By ALAN W. BOCK
Senior editorial writer

If this country ever returns to the sturdy principles of liberty and
republican virtue on which it was founded, then today, Thomas Jefferson's
birthday, should be a national holiday. I suggest this despite the fact that
when some good citizens of Boston sought to do precisely that, he refused to
tell them his birthday, saying he did not approve of "transferring the
honors and veneration for the great birthday of our Republic to any
individual."

But Tom Jefferson was eminently practical, in theory and interests if not
always in practice (he tried so hard to be scientific, but he was a terrible
farmer), and at this late hour he might see utility in such a holiday.
Perhaps it would be merely an occasion for department stores to have white
sales. But if it inspired only a few to dip into Thomas Jefferson's writings
and to ponder the legacy he strove to leave to this country, it would be
worth it.

It has been fashionable of late, beginning with Joseph Ellis, to debunk
Jefferson - thoughtfully, regretfully and with respect, of course, but with
purpose - as a hypocrite on the issue of slavery, as a politician who didn't
practice what he preached, as a clay-footed human rather than a marble
statue to be venerated. That's fine. Jefferson, although he had a personal
reserve that left a certain mystery about who he really was, is more
valuable to posterity as an imperfect human being than as a marble statue.

What rankles modern intellectuals about Jefferson is that he distrusted
concentrated power with every fiber of his being, and most modern
intellectuals worship concentrated power and seek to serve it - to make it
constructive and refined and sensitive, of course, but to celebrate
political power rather than to decimate it or even to question it.

Worse, Jefferson was no backwoods yahoo spouting this retrograde nonsense,
although he got along with yahoos and saved his scorn for those ambitious
for power. "Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices," he noted, "a
rottenness begins in his conduct." He was perhaps the most cultivated,
civilized American of his era, and he wrote, "I predict future happiness for
Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the
people under the pretense of taking care of them."

Of course he needs to be taken down a few pegs, lest people take his ideas
seriously again.

If only.

Jefferson thought deeply and profoundly about the role of government but put
it simply and elegantly in the Declaration of Independence. After declaring
that we are all endowed by our creator with inalienable rights, including
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, he turns to government's
purpose. "That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, and that
whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the
Right of the People to alter or abolish it."

The purpose of government is to secure our inalienable rights. Not to feed
us, clothe us, medicate us, control us, lead us in worship, look after our
mental health or - perish the thought! - to nibble away at our rights and
freedoms and expand its own power. The sole legitimate function of
government is to secure our rights. When it fails to do so it ceases to be
legitimate and the people have the right to take matters (back) into their
own hands.

This doctrine is profoundly revolutionary, placing the individual person at
the center with the state conceived as servant rather than master. It was
close to conventional wisdom among American colonists who had decided to
break with Great Britain. But it is difficult to imagine anyone else
phrasing it so well as Jefferson did.

That radical simplicity makes Jefferson profoundly subversive today, when
the original republic has become a megastate with imperial pretensions. I
suspect he would be quietly pleased to be seen in this light.

A nation whose dominant party wants to make the intrusive USA Patriot Act
permanent would do well to ponder this: "Rightful liberty is unobstructed
action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal
rights of others. I do not add 'within the law,' because law is often but
the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the
individual."

Jefferson despised politics yet served two terms as president, during which
he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase and sent Marines to root out the
Barbary Pirates. Inconsistent? A bit. But he also paid down most of the
national debt, cut spending, cut taxes, abolished agencies, reduced the size
of the military and eschewed patronage. "We have set a good example" was the
closest he came to boasting. It didn't take, but that would not have
surprised him.

"A government regulating itself by what is just and wise for the many,
uninfluenced by the local and selfish views of the few who direct their
affairs," he believed, "has not been seen, perhaps, on Earth. Or if it
existed for a moment at the birth of ours, it would not be easy to fix the
term of its continuance."

An idealistic realist, a paragon of taste and manners, the man who said "I
have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of
tyranny over the mind of man" deserves to be celebrated, now more than ever.

A Thomas Jefferson primer

Born:
April 13, 1743

Died:
July 4, 1826 (same day as John Adams)

Education:
College of William and Mary

Posts:
Governor of Virginia, 1779-1781; U.S. secretary of state, 1789-1793; U.S.
president, 1801-1809