Happy Birthday, Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson fought for a country in which the government had no power to encroach on the mind, the life, the liberty, or the property of the individual. He fought for a country in which the individual was unshackled for the first time in history and could live for the pursuit of his own happiness, instead of being a pawn in the hands of the state.

On April 13th every American should raise a Champagne glass high to toast
the farmer, architect, scholar, revolutionary, and American president born
that spring day in 1743: Thomas Jefferson. One of our greatest Founding
Fathers, Jefferson lovingly carved much of the government and character of
his precious gem, America.

He penned numerous documents extolling the revolutionary ideas of his time,
including the stirring words on the parchment that is the soul of America,
"The Declaration of Independence." Yet how many of our current
citizens---and elected officials---truly understand its meaning?

The Declaration launched the first country in history based on the principle
that every individual possesses certain "unalienable" rights. According to
Jefferson, "free people claim their rights as derived from the laws of
nature, and not as the gift of their Chief Magistrate." No tyrant can
violate the rights of man, nor can any majority vote in Congress. "The
majority, oppressing an individual," says Jefferson, "is guilty of a crime .
. . and by acting on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of
society."

Our rights belong to us as individuals, with each of us possessing the same
rights. There are no "rights" of groups to any special favors or privileges.
It is inappropriate, for example, for pizza eaters to lobby Congress for a
"right" to a free pizza every Thursday. If Congress grants their wish, out
of concern for their nourishment or their votes, it acts outside of its
proper function. According to Jefferson, "Congress has not unlimited powers
to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated
[in the Constitution]."

Our rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness are
rights to take action; they are not entitlements to the goods and services
of others without their consent. Jefferson defined liberty as "unobstructed
action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal
rights of others." This means we may act in our own behalf, such as by
earning money and buying a house, but we may not expect the government to
tax others to provide us with a house for free. Life requires productive
effort to sustain it, a fact that Jefferson considered to be our glory. When
his Monticello farm fell on hard times, he began producing nails, and did so
proudly because "every honest employment is deemed honorable [in America]. .
. . My new trade of nail-making is to me in this country what an additional
title of nobility . . . [is] in Europe." He scorned the "idleness" of the
European aristocracy, calling their courts "the weakest and worst part of
mankind." What would he think of our current government's grants and
handouts to countless special interest groups, a practice that rewards
people for non-effort?

Our right to property means we are entitled to keep the things we acquire.
Does a rich person have less of a right to property than a poor person?
According to Jefferson: "To take from one because it is thought his own
industry . . . has acquired too much, in order to spare others who have not
exercised equal industry and skill is to violate the first principle of
association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and
the fruits acquired by it." What would he think of the persistent cries of
today's politicians to "tax the rich," thereby depriving them of their
property and the pursuit of their happiness?

Jefferson ardently championed the spiritual and intellectual independence of
the individual. He was so proud of authoring the "Bill for Establishing
Religious Freedom" in Virginia that he had this fact etched on his
tombstone. The bill ended the practice of paying the clergy with public
funds because "to compel a man to furnish . . . money for the propagation of
opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical." Jefferson believed
that religion was a completely private matter and fought for a "wall of
separation between church and state." He was "against all maneuvers to bring
about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another"; and he swore "eternal
hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." What would he
think of today's faith-based initiatives, which allocate public funds to
religious organizations, and the attempts by religious lobbyists and elected
officials to dictate public policy based on their faith?

Because we possess rights, governments are instituted. Wise government,
explains Jefferson, "shall refrain men from injuring one another, 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." Government acts only to protect us from acts of force or fraud,
apprehending perpetrators who pick our pockets or break our legs; otherwise,
it does not regulate or control our lives in any way. Jefferson was "for a
government rigorously frugal and simple . . . and not for a multiplication
of officers and salaries merely to make partisans . . . " What would he
think of the 150,000-page Code of Federal Regulations and the swarms of
agencies, commissions, and departments that today swallow 40 percent of our
national income?

Jefferson believed citizens to be capable of self-sufficiency because they
possess reason. "Fix reason firmly to her seat and call to her tribunal
every fact, every opinion." He expected people to use their minds to
overcome obstacles and control their own lives. He gently chastised his 15
year-old daughter when she had difficulty reading an ancient text on Roman
history without the aid of her teacher. "If you always rely on your master,
you will never be able to proceed without him. It is part of the American
character to consider nothing as desperate---to surmount every difficulty .
. . " Americans, he continued, "are obliged to invent and to execute; to
find the means within themselves, and not to lean on others." To do
otherwise, his daughter would be "thought a very helpless animal, and less
esteemed." What would he think of today's entitlement programs, which
destroy a person's capacity to think and act for himself, and transform him
into a helpless dependent?

Within a mere page in the calendar of history, the powerful doctrine of
individual rights led to the abolition of slavery, the suffrage of women,
and the spread of freedom to many countries around the globe. It all began
with the founding of America.

Jefferson fought for a country in which the government had no power to
encroach on the mind, the life, the liberty, or the property of the
individual. He fought for a country in which the individual was unshackled
for the first time in history and could live for the pursuit of his own
happiness, instead of being a pawn in the hands of the state. On his
birthday, the way to pay tribute to Jefferson---and to ourselves---is to
protest the hammering of our rights by officials who can't tell a diamond
from a rhinestone, to hold dear the jewel that is America, to polish the
ideals for which Jefferson in the Declaration pledged his life, his fortune,
and his sacred honor.

Happy Birthday, Thomas Jefferson by Genevieve LaGreca

Genevieve (Gen) LaGreca holds a master's degree in philosophy from Columbia
University and is the author of "Noble Vision," a ForeWord magazine
Book-of-the-Year award-winning novel about liberty. To learn more about her
and her writings, visit www.wingedvictorypress.com. Copyright © 2007 by
Genevieve LaGreca.

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