In Victory Speech, Rand Paul Misquotes Thomas Jefferson

[deminks]

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/11/02/in-victory-speech-rand-paul-misquotes-thomas-jefferson/

Maybe there is something in the tea--this habit that Tea Party candidates have, on election night, of misquoting the nation's founding fathers. Just now, in a rousing victory speech, Kentucky's newest senator, Rand Paul, announced, "Thomas Jefferson wrote, 'That government is best that governs least.'"

Except, no. He didn't. Henry David Thoreau did. According to the official Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia, kept by his estate at Monticello, "Although the saying 'That government is best which governs least' is often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, we have not found this particular statement in his writings."

(snip)

Since we are on the topic, it might be worth recounting the probable source of the quote Paul used today. According to Bartleby, here is the passage, from Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, which argues for a sort of benevolent anarchy.

I heartily accept the motto,—“That government is best which governs least;” and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe,—“That government is best which governs not at all;” and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.



(end snip)

So, Aquabuddhaman is really an anarchist? I knew it! /sarcasm off.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I hope The Good Senator will not mind

if we use some old fashioned ... civil disobedience... Henry was a fan of it.

[Drale]

2. What a surprise

but wait I thought Jefferson was un american because of his views on separation of church and state?

[Adsos Letter]

3. They consistently misinterpret the Constitution

as well as the intent of the Founders. Their ignorance no longer surprises me.

[calimary]

4. ... because he's an IDIOT.

As he would say, himself - "hey, mistakes happen."

[Dappleganger]

5. Maybe he picked up that quote while self-administering his "MD" degree...

greatonlineprose4losers.com?

[Journeyman]

6. Henry David Thoreau didn't write it. He borrowed it from the masthead. . .

of The Democratic Review, a publication for which Thoreau wrote occasional pieces.

Source: Civil Disobedience: The Variorum Edition, published by the Thoreau Society, Washington Square Press, 1968.

[Rex]

7. Then he is totally qualified to be a Teabagger!

If he said ANYTHING correctly or FACTUAL, I would be instantly suspicious!!!

[Naturyl]

8. Well, great. I'm sure the people didn't elect you to govern

So please follow your own misquoted advice and don't.

[lunasun]

9. The least we hear from Rand Paul the best it is! nt

[SlipperySlope]

10. Didn't originate with Thoreau exactly.

"Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience (1849) is often identified as the real source of this quotation, but there may be an even earlier source. Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations points to The United States Magazine and Democratic Review, whose editor wrote in 1837, "The best government is that which governs least."

Although the ideas expressed in this quotation may be in line with Jefferson's opinions, the exact phrasing is almost certainly not Jefferson's."