Of course we can’t have anyone pay any attention to anything Thomas Jefferson said these days, so all they teach about him (if you can call it teaching) is that he might have had a thing for Sally Hemings.
“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”
– William Shakespeare
Reality is a little messier than ideals when it comes to Jefferson. Now, granted, since Presidents generally didn’t enrich themselves at public expense off of the general public via pensions at that time, it was not uncommon for Presidents of ANY party to die broken at that time — but if you look at Jefferson’s own conduct, he died so broke that his heirs had to sell EVERYTHING to cover the debts, which might I remind you, included selling most of the Slaves they “owned” rather than freeing them. Jefferson was more about doing cool stuff with his money like building homes with impractical but neato looking domes and devices for making two copies of letters at once and big libraries (sold before he died…) than making books balance.
“It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.
Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town.
He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.
The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.
The Butcher takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.
The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.
The supplier of feed and fuel takes the note and runs to pay his debt to the town’s prostitute that, in these hard times, gave her “services” on credit.
The hooker runs to the hotel and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.
The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.
At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, takes his 100 Euro note after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.
No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is doing business.”
@7 – I’ll note that the hotel proprietor is a thief, and should be thrown in jail. The fact that the stolen property was recovered doesn’t change the nature of the crime.
Harvey – THAT was exactly my first conclusion, as well. So, I think the story is also implying that Americans have been – and continue to remain – fully complicit with living this lie.
Of course we can’t have anyone pay any attention to anything Thomas Jefferson said these days, so all they teach about him (if you can call it teaching) is that he might have had a thing for Sally Hemings.
“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”
– William Shakespeare
No, as a matter of fact, I do not remember when Democrats abhorred federal debt.
What are these “Democrats” of which you speak? I think they only exist in nightmares.
@3 – Ok, technically Jefferson was a Democratic-Republican:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic-Republican_Party
Reality is a little messier than ideals when it comes to Jefferson. Now, granted, since Presidents generally didn’t enrich themselves at public expense off of the general public via pensions at that time, it was not uncommon for Presidents of ANY party to die broken at that time — but if you look at Jefferson’s own conduct, he died so broke that his heirs had to sell EVERYTHING to cover the debts, which might I remind you, included selling most of the Slaves they “owned” rather than freeing them. Jefferson was more about doing cool stuff with his money like building homes with impractical but neato looking domes and devices for making two copies of letters at once and big libraries (sold before he died…) than making books balance.
I barely remember when Republicans used to abhor debt.
From an unknown but astute source:
“It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.
Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town.
He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.
The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.
The Butcher takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.
The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.
The supplier of feed and fuel takes the note and runs to pay his debt to the town’s prostitute that, in these hard times, gave her “services” on credit.
The hooker runs to the hotel and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.
The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.
At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, takes his 100 Euro note after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.
No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is doing business.”
But what happens when he lays down a 100 Euro note but everybody owes everyone else 500?
Not gonna happen, walruskkkch. Who can afford a $500 hooker in this economy?
@7 – I’ll note that the hotel proprietor is a thief, and should be thrown in jail. The fact that the stolen property was recovered doesn’t change the nature of the crime.
Harvey – THAT was exactly my first conclusion, as well. So, I think the story is also implying that Americans have been – and continue to remain – fully complicit with living this lie.
@9 Eliot Spitzer? The Secret Service? Sen. Menendez?