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Thomas Jefferson and George Bush on War

By Ben Cohen

Last week, I posted some comments from a reader about Thomas Jefferson’s views on religion. The article caused a bit of a storm, with literally thousands of people spreading the article around the net.

It got me thinking, why do the words of a man dead for almost 200 years mean so much to Americans today?

I am convinced the reason Jefferson still inspires many Americans is because he causes them to believe in the country the current Administration is doing its best to annihilate.

It is the contrast between the bombastic rhetoric of the Bush Administration, and the reasoned, thoughtful words of the man almost universally as one of the countries greatest presidents that gives Americans hope in their nation.

Where Bush uses war as an instrument of policy, Jefferson saw it as an affront to humanity.

“I love peace”, he said, “and am anxious that we should give the world still another useful lesson, by showing to them other modes of punishing injuries than by war, which is as much a punishment to the punisher as to the sufferer.”

Where Bush sees debt and war as the engine of American society, Jefferson saw the ruining of a nation:

"Having seen the people of all other nations bowed down to the earth under the wars and prodigalities of their rulers, I have cherished their opposites, peace, economy, and riddance of public debt, believing that these were the high road to public as well as private prosperity and happiness."

Thomas Jefferson on the role of religion in politics

By Ben Cohen

Last Sunday, I wrote a post in response to a reader who had commented negatively on my assertion that most Americans felt Dick Cheney should be impeached. Claiming that I had 'lost all credibility' on the subject, and that Democrats were all 'socialists and closet communists' that want to create a 'Stalinist type regime', the reader also made the bold claim that the United States was founded on 'Christian principles'. It appears I was not the only one who took exception to the readers comments, and other readers of The Daily Banter promptly joined in the argument.

Here's an interesting comment from Buckler, who quotes one of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson:

"As for America being founded on Christian principles, perhaps we should look at a few quotes from Thomas Jefferson, arguably one of the greatest of our Founding Fathers. These are just a few, extracted from a collection of many, many more:

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
-- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781-82 (capitalization of the word god is retained per original; see Positive Atheism's Historical Section)