Big Government

This Internet meme is so easily debunked that I feel somewhat embarrassed choosing to write about it, but I suppose it's still important to remind people that Thomas Jefferson is one of the most often mis-quoted figures in American history.  

According to the historians at Monticello, "Neither this quotation nor any of its variant forms has been found in the writings of Thomas Jefferson."  So that's that.  End of blog entry.  I am free to get on with the rest of my day -- unless we want to talk a bit about why such a meme would be created and disseminated.  

I found this meme on a facebook page called Political Follies, shared from a blog of the same name.   No mission statement is given, but the content is consistently anti-Obama, anti-Democrat, anti-liberal.  

In such an environment, why quote Thomas Jefferson?

I suppose because he is one of our nation's 'founding fathers' and therefore perceived as an infallible authority on the way the United States should be run.  

The inference to be derived from this particular misquote is that Jefferson was in favor of smaller government and therefore, if alive today, he would be opposed to President Obama's administration because it favors larger government.  Apparently the opinion expressed would have less import without the Jeffersonion seal of approval.

Studying Jefferson a bit, it does seem that he generally favored decentralized power, but  he was able to put aside his qualms about employing the power of the federal government when it was expedient to do so -- like when he wanted to purchase the Louisiana territory.

Everyone knows that Thomas Jefferson is responsible for putting into words some of our nations most cherished principles --  ". . . all men are created equal. . . " being chief among them -- yet he owned slaves all his life and advocated the forced relocation of North America's indigenous peoples.  

The more one learns about Thomas Jefferson, the more clear it becomes that he was a complex individual living in complicated times, and that his viewpoints evolved in response to changing circumstances.  

I do not pretend to know for whom Jefferson would have voted in this past November's election or whether or not he would support a ban on semi-automatic weapons, but I am confident that he would give careful consideration before casting his vote or taking a stand on any issue. 

I am also confident that he would pay no heed  to groups who create Internet memes like the one pictured above, nor to those individuals who 'like' and 'share' such folderol indiscriminately and irresponsibly.

Trying to fit an idea of Jefferson's into a visual sound bite is like trying to catch the ocean in a tea cup:
those who try succeed only in revealing their own limitations.