"I believe the States can best govern our home concerns, and the General Government our foreign ones. I wish, therefore, to see maintained that wholesome distribution of powers established by the constitution for the limitation of both; and never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where, further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold as at market."
by:
Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826), US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President
Source:
letter to Judge William Johnson, June 12, 1823
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Reader comments about this quote:
The powers certainly reside in Washington these days. The political hacks are running the show.
 -- jim k, Austin, Tx     
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    WOW ! ! ! It doesn't get more prophetic than that ! ! ! A horrible nightmare come true. The liars have been bought and paid for by the nationally (locally and in all ways) occupying statist theocracy now infesting this land. How about that federal States united having the unconstitutional (anti-forth) application in practice of recording each individuals private papers (communications) and keep such. How about Washington's ability to determine what food and the manner at which each individual may grow that which would sustain him in his own back yard? ETC., ETC., ETC. Jefferson's representative republic of individual sovereigns protected by a limiting constitution is now just a distant memory.
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    Jefferson's statements were alright for his time but not for 2013.
     -- Lu, Manassas, VA     
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    @Lu

    Look closely, his statements still ring true. As the saying goes "There is nothing new under the sun."
     -- Lazarus, Los Angeles     
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    Lu, please expand on your comment. What part of Jefferson's here quote is not appropriate for 2013 ?
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    Lu, by way of extremely terse example: A license is a competent authority's permission to perform an otherwise illegal act. Where did the servant get the authority to act on a specific subject matter that binds the individual sovereign master when, that same individual sovereign master can not act on that same binding edict. - i.e. - By what lawful mechanization did marriage, certain personal travel or certain contract obligations become unlawful acts that such needed a servants authority for the master to act ? Freedom, liberty, and prosperity all derive from natural law, equally and the same yesterday, today, and for ever !
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    My point above was; the States are bad enough. When Washington supports the anti-law regimes as the over-lord, the entire philosophy and practice of an occupying statist theocracy becomes set by the omnipotent centralized gods.
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    'Power secretly bought and sold as at market' -- that about sums it up. Washington DC has become a super-state of its own, laying claim like a monarch upon all as 'American interests.' Cut them off and shut them down.
     -- E Archer, NYC     
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    Waiting in the Wings, Hidden in the Shadow, A prophetic statement made by an Individual who knew very well the prophecy of this Nation, therefore they ( those in the know ) put forth the experiment of a Gracious and Merciful Creator, granting Liberty and Freedom for all, without Threskeia religious bias. To the extent, some, new of these times we now live in. that the elect would come forth, in due season, "crying grace, grace, unto it."
    Those " low am I " would eventually receive mercy. being corrected through measure. Knowing " the bed is shorter than one can lie down in." Science seeks to reveal a mystery held in guard by the Elect Steward. Such knowledge, for administering, cannot be run on a local track, seeing it has global implications and very sure outcomes.
    " But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be unto the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." Isaiah 6:13. 55:13 befitting for the day.
     -- Ronw13, OR     
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    Thomas Jefferson's statement was and is absolutely honestly correct. And, it is just as relevant today as on the very day it was first spoken.
     -- Mary - MI     
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