Jefferson's Tree of Liberty Drinks the Blood of Patriots & Tyrants

7/29/2020

I woke up at 4am with this Jefferson quote on my mind...
Jefferson was evidently trying to calm some fellow delegates to the Constitutional convention, in the wake of Shay's rebellion.
The rebellion is perhaps most responsible for our nation having a ban on debtor's prisons, and even the constitutional right to bankruptcy and debt forgiveness by act of federal magistrates.
Jefferson believed rebellion may have virtue. Later in life he became a college president and youthful rebellion consumed his ability to provide a systematic educational process.

"We have had 13. states independent 11. years. there has been one rebellion. that comes to one rebellion in a century & a half for each state. what country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?
Let them take arms. the remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. what signify a few lives lost in a century or two?
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. it is it's natural manure. our Convention has been too much impressed by. . ."

In 1860 we had a very divided nation, based on which side of Mason/Dixon we lived on.
In 1968 we were divided by a generation gap & the rise of black

But neither side really won either of those battles quickly, when you observe the cultures that took generations to effectively change.
The Jim Crow laws, The War on Drugs; They cost us so many lives, long after the riots and battles ceased.
Today we see a massive urban/rural divide along political ideologies. The hostilities have led to virtual echo chambers and lobbing verbal grenades into the other side's trenches.
We don't have enough people sitting down to discuss issues in an open and patient discourse.
Let's not let hate win. Let's show grace and empathy. We have to value people who live differently from us. But we don't have to live like them, in order to respect them.
Be the salt of the earth...

Comments

Sooner Politics
Editorial

David Van Risseghem reports the events and adds some perspective.

Author

David Van Risseghem is the Publisher of SoonerPolitics.org. The resource is committed to informing & mobilizing conservative Oklahomans for civic reform. This endeavor seeks to utilize the efforts of all cooperative facets of the Conservative movement...

"No politician 'checks off every box" in your list of issues. You have to prioritize and use personal discretion regarding every current and future issue that you can imagine. Then you have to also judge integrity & consistency. A candidate's openness to study the issues & courage to think for themselves. Then you need to review their honesty & work ethic. I respect any voter's decision, when they've informed themselves and took voting seriously." - David Van Risseghem

FRONT PAGE • OKLAHOMA NEWS • EDITORIAL • SOONER ISSUES • STATE GROUPS • SOONER ANALYSTS • LAWMAKER'S JOURNAL • NATION • NATIONAL COMMENTARY • CARTOONS •

918 . 928 . 7776

SoonerPolitics.org is committed to informing & mobilizing conservative Oklahomans for civic reform & restored liberty. We seeks to utilize the efforts of all cooperative facets of the Conservative movement... Content of the diverse columns are solely at the discretion of the dozens of websites who create the content. David Van Risseghem is the founder of this platform.
Sooner Politics News is a platform, not a media site. All our bloggers get their feeds promoted regardless of content. As soon as We suppress or delete even one posting, we become an endorser of whatever We didn't censor..The publisher doesn't (and could not) logically agree with all the content, so we would not expect any rational reader to agree, either. What we do hope, is that readers will think for themselves, and at least be better informed of the issues, events, and values that our citizen journalists work hard to provide for free.. We automate much of the tasks so that our sources' content gets as much exposure as possible. We encourage constructive discussion & debate. The solution is more free speech, not less.