On March 4th, 1801, Thomas Jefferson delivered his first inaugural address in the still unfinished Washington Capitol. This quote caught my eye. As one of the key Founding Fathers, his thoughts on government carry much weight in the ongoing debate over the true role of government.
Still one thing more, fellow citizens: a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government…
Do you think that when Jefferson talked of the need to "restrain men from injuring one another," he meant "injurious" speech too? I kinda doubt it. Can you imagine what he would have thought about a Federal government that would impose something like this upon its citizens?
