TDIH: Jefferson on Federalism
"What has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which has ever existed under the sun? "
On this day in 1816, Thomas Jefferson writes a letter. He speaks of the need to keep power separated between the national and state governments. Dividing power in this manner, Jefferson notes, protects liberty.
Hmm. We increasingly pretend that our Constitution does not demand such a separation of powers. We pretend that one-size-fits-all solutions can be created for the whole country. Perhaps the current state of things is unsurprising?
Jefferson’s full quote is here:
“[T]he way to have good and safe government, is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent to. Let the national government be entrusted with the defence of the nation, and its foreign and federal relations; the State governments with the civil rights, laws, police . . . . What has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which has ever existed under the sun? The generalizing and concentrating all cares and power into one body, no matter whether of the autocrats of Russia or France, or of the aristocrats of a Venetian senate.”
Dear regular readers: Stories resume Monday with Medal of Honor Monday! 🇺🇸🇺🇸 I hope everyone enjoys their weekend.
🇺🇸 It never ceases to amaze, how our Founding Father's saw the problems and provided the solutions.
It also still amazes that we have, ever so cleverly avoided those solutions, so that we could run headlong into those very problems. 😕
Thanks, TR! 🇺🇲
Well, Thomas Jefferson could now say, I told you so. The people in power didn't listen to him and we now have an all powerful federal government and state governments who have little power. Thank you Tara.