My Inspiration: A Philandering Slave Owner

Here’s the brilliant idea (and man who thunk'd it up) behind the new blog:

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt. If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake." – Thomas Jefferson, written after the passage of the Sedition Act.

You see? Like Jefferson, I’m an optimist. TJ and I are a lot alike; well, except for that whole slavery thing…that was wrong. I’ll go out on a limb and say so. But we’re both genius patriots, so I think that we could hang if he were around today (as long as he didn’t smell like decomposed flesh – I have a weak stomach).

As poetic as TJ’s quote was, I’ve heard it argued that to relate it to the modern government, the “w” in “witches” should be replaced with a “b”. Frankly, I think it would be more appropriate if the “w” were replaced with a “c” and the “itches” with “unts”.

Hey, even optimists can be vulgar.

I suppose part of me still believes that if Jefferson’s 208-year-old quote feels like it were written yesterday, perhaps we’re not on the precipice of disaster after all. Maybe, just maybe, we still have a chance.

Of course, there’s always the possibility that I’m giving too much influence to misguided idealism. My more adult side thinks we’re headed downhill fast. That, and that my frosted side looks ridiculous in that oversized business suit.