“Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Freedom”

I hope you all have a wonderful Independence Day! The word “patriot,” meaning loyal to your country, comes from two Latin words smashed together “pa” (father) and “terra” (land).? As in, dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.? (“Sweet and fitting it is to die for one’s country.”)?

As much as everyone likes to complain about the government, take heart that this is nothing new. This friction is by design. I will let Thomas Jefferson explain below, why we do it this way in his Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781, which is a fascinating read, if you want to Google it.?

?The idea here is that in America, everyone has a say in governance. But, you have to watch those we elect like a hawk.? If all the elected officials begin acting in a despotic manner, it doesn’t matter whether we elect one, or many. As Jefferson wrote,? “173 despots would surely be as oppressive as one.”

?Jefferson also warned that corruption is inevitable. It won’t take long for money to figure out a way to corrupt our officials, because as in England, “Mankind will soon learn to make interested use or every power they possess. . . . human nature is the same on both sides of the Atlantic.”

?He continued, “With money we will get men and with men we will get money, said Caesar. ??The time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is before they shall have gotten hold on us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.”

?Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781

?“The purpose of establishing different houses of legislation is to introduce the influence of different interests or different principles. Thus in Great-Britain it is said their constitution relies on the house of commons for honesty, and the lords for wisdom; which would be a rational reliance if honesty were to be bought with money, and if wisdom were hereditary.

?But with us, wealth and wisdom have equal chance for admission into both houses. ?

?The concentrating these in the same hands is precisely the definition of despotic government. All the powers of government, legislative, executive, and judiciary, result to the legislative body. It will be no alleviation that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one.

173 despots would surely be as oppressive as one. An elective despotism was not the government we sought for? . . .the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.

?“The purpose of establishing different houses of legislation is to introduce the influence of different interests or different principles. Thus in Great-Britain it is said their constitution relies on the house of commons for honesty, and the lords for wisdom; which would be a rational reliance if honesty were to be bought with money, and if wisdom were hereditary.

?But with us, wealth and wisdom have equal chance for admission into both houses. ?

?The concentrating these in the same hands is precisely the definition of despotic government. All the powers of government, legislative, executive, and judiciary, result to the legislative body. It will be no alleviation that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one.

173 despots would surely be as oppressive as one. An elective despotism was not the government we sought for? . . .the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.

?Mankind soon learn to make interested uses of every right and power which they possess, or may assume. The public money and public liberty, intended to have been deposited with three branches of magistracy, but found inadvertently to be in the hands of one only, will soon be discovered to be sources of wealth and dominion to those who hold them; distinguished too by this tempting circumstance, that they are the instrument, as well as the object of acquisition.

With money we will get men, said C?sar, and with men we will get money. Nor should our assembly be deluded by the integrity of their own purposes, and conclude that these unlimited powers will never be abused, because themselves are not disposed to abuse them.

They should look forward to a time, and that not a distant one, when corruption in this, as in the country from which we derive our origin, will have seized the heads of government, and be spread by them through the body of the people; when they will purchase the voices of the people, and make them pay the price.

?Human nature is the same on every side of the Atlantic, and will be alike influenced by the same causes. The time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is before they shall have gotten hold on us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.

Mankind soon learn to make interested uses of every right and power which they possess, or may assume. The public money and public liberty, intended to have been deposited with three branches of magistracy, but found inadvertently to be in the hands of one only, will soon be discovered to be sources of wealth and dominion to those who hold them; distinguished too by this tempting circumstance, that they are the instrument, as well as the object of acquisition.

With money we will get men, said C?sar, and with men we will get money. Nor should our assembly be deluded by the integrity of their own purposes, and conclude that these unlimited powers will never be abused, because themselves are not disposed to abuse them.

They should look forward to a time, and that not a distant one, when corruption in this, as in the country from which we derive our origin, will have seized the heads of government, and be spread by them through the body of the people; when they will purchase the voices of the people, and make them pay the price.

?Human nature is the same on every side of the Atlantic, and will be alike influenced by the same causes. The time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is before they shall have gotten hold on us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.

?In sum, if you don’t like what our elected officials are doing, and feel that corruption? has seized the heads of government, vote the bastards out. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.