Knowing more now than I knew then about Jefferson's own writings, the answer is clearly no. But I can point to it here instead of searching in vain for it. Jefferson did write to Madison that "No society can make a perpetual Constitution or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation." I had struggled with this, because I knew progressives were liars and were at times using this phrase in order to advance their narrative.
The problem is this: I separate the Constitution from our Rights as two distinct concepts or topics, and I have long believed that the Founders did the same. The Constitution's plain language makes it clear: This document is not the source of our rights, it merely acknowledges their existence while at the same time telling government that it shall not infringe upon them.
Now, Jefferson was fond of this statement of the earth belonging to the living. He also wrote it to another person, John Cartwright, and in this instance Jefferson was also more explicit. You see, the Founders, or at least Jefferson, did also separate our rights and our Constitution as two separate things just as I do. He wrote to Cartwright the same concept, that the earth belongs to the living, but he was also more explicit and he told Mr. Cartwright what does not belong to the living. He wrote:
Can one generation bind another, and all others, in succession for ever? I think not. the Creator has made the earth for the living, not the dead. rights and powers can only belong to persons, not to things, not to mere matter, unendowed with will. the dead are not even things. the particles of matter which composed their bodies, make part now of the bodies of other animals, vegetables, or minerals of a thousand forms. to what then are attached the rights and power they held while in the form of men? a generation may bind itself, as long as it’s majority continues in life; when that has disappeared, another majority is in place, holds all the rights and powers their predecessors once held and may change their laws and institutions to suit themselves. nothing then is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.
This was to John Cartwright, June 5th, 1824.
This is where the intense deception of progressives comes in. To progressives, they think that abolishing the Constitution means abolishing the first amendment(because they're tired of hearing the crazy things you have to say), abolishing the second amendment(because you shouldn't be allowed to defend yourself against progressivism), and etc etc etc. - AND! See, Thomas Jefferson agrees with us progressives! We should be abolishing your blasted constitution and all of its eternal principles in 19 years from now!
- except
That's not what Jefferson believed. He *only* meant to abolish the legal structures. The rock solid concrete foundation of God's gift of Liberty? - That is immutable and timeless. That has no 19 year or 39 year or 1426 year lifespan on it, according to Jefferson. Liberty is immortal. Liberty is forever. Liberty has more value than life itself.
You see, because our rights are a gift of God, they are not ours to abolish. We can only abolish what belongs to us, and Jefferson only wrote that the earth belongs to the living.
Ultimately, this exposes yet another lie that progressives tell. Progressives make it quite clear that these rights that we hold so dear are so inconvenient to their plans. But ironically enough, it is the progressives - not the Founding Fathers - who seek to bind future generations in their authoritarian schemes. When Government is put in control of every aspect of your life: your healthcare, trillions of dollars in debt, your education, your food, your housing, your entertainment(see Second Bill of Rights), etc - THAT is what binds future generations. Not God's gift of Liberty!
Everything about progressivism is bass ackward, and we see once again that what it is that they accuse others of doing is in reality what it is that they themselves are currently engaging in.
https://tinyurl.com/yddxedus
This actually presents a big problem for progressives, who erroneously believe that if they can just get rid of the constitution, they'll be rid of all their problems; while at the same time believing that Jefferson supports their machinations in 19 year increments.
ReplyDeleteIf we were to build a new Constitution today, using the same principles and the same unchangeable God-given rights as were used when the Constitution was written in 1789, just how much different would it really be if you had that very same starting point?
The progressives think they can propagandize their way toward something radically new and different. Well, as long as they control pretty much every college campus in the country, they may have a point. But that's a topic for another day.