About
to enter, fellow citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend
everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper that you should understand
what I deem the essential principles of our government, and consequently those
which ought to shape its administration. I will compress them within the
narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all
its limitations.
Equal
and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or
political;
peace,
commerce, and honest friendship with all nations — entangling alliances with
none;
the
support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent
administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against
anti-republican tendencies;
the
preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, as
the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad;
a
jealous care of the right of election by the people — a mild and safe
corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of the revolution where
peaceable remedies are unprovided;
absolute
acquiescence in the decisions of the majority — the vital principle of
republics, from which there is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and
immediate parent of despotism;
a
well-disciplined militia — our best reliance in peace and for the first moments
of war, till regulars may relieve them;
Principles
of Jefferson: the militia is EVERY able-bodied man between the ages of 18-55.
He provided NO exceptions!
the
supremacy of the civil over the military authority;
economy
in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; the honest payment
of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith;
encouragement
of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid;
the
diffusion of information and the arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public
reason;
freedom
of religion;
freedom
of the press;
freedom
of person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries
impartially selected — these principles form the bright constellation which has
gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and
reformation.
Jefferson promised to govern as he felt the
Founders intended, based on decentralized government & trust in
the people to make the right decisions for themselves. He favored a more
literal interpretation of the Constitution and thought that governmental powers
shouldn’t be so far-reaching. These are the Principles of Jefferson and these
are my principles and why I am a Jeffersonian Democrat. Many continue to ask me
what a Jeffersonian Democrat is - read and understand please. I always have
been and I always will be a Jeffersonian Democrat.
Se e also, Je ffe rson ’s
Platform: http://bit.ly/gkImNv
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