To: koan who wrote (20953 ) 7/28/2012 4:56:06 PM From: sm1th 2 Recommendations Read Replies (2) | Respond to Liberalism is relative to the times. In 1776 it was OK to have slaves, but not be an athiest. 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 and bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. 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. I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive. Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. 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. To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone. The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. Most bad government has grown out of too much government. When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government
