[TheRealThing]

Actually, that particular factoid came up in a class, if I remember, in a 1987 political science class.

And, actually, I researched it. The quote does not exist. I don't doubt that Jefferson believed in limits on governmental power, but he never uttered nor penned those particular words.

I believe your research brought you to the conclusion that the quote does not exist. That still doesn't quite settle it for me because it was used back before 99% of the American public had the first clue what Big Government even meant. I know this however, more than one prof lied to me about more than one thing. Whether they meant to do it or whether they didn't think any damage was done by their distortions, is anybody's guess. Everything you hear in the college classroom is not exactly worthy of being chiseled into a chunk of granite.

Supposedly Gerald Ford used the quote in a speech he made and supposedly, it was attributable to Jefferson. I can't prove otherwise but the point of my post is as you ceded, none the less valid. And FTR, many of Benjamin Franklin's quotes are not to be found in any of his formal writings either. As I understand it, the quote is attributable to Jefferson though the liberals do not like it. They researched the body of work known to be penned by Jefferson and didn't find the words. I hardly accept the notion that back when the quill was still in use, that somehow everything that Jefferson wrote and said has been preserved.

Eisenhower's eloquence is timelessly applicable to the understanding of the Framers. The reason is obvious. The living document libs want to take up what they contend to be the intended meaning of the Framers, without benefit of these occasional 'windows' into the minds of the great American patriots at the various junctures across time. It is much more convenient to leap frog from the founding documents to present day, applying light and transient social fads and causes, in order to 'flavor' the interpretation to make the events of history seem the way they would like for them to have been. The speeches and writings of our great leaders gone on, are like oases in the desert of history. They refresh and refuel our attempt to understand our past and our beginning, and are the indispensable transitional links of our true heritage.

Not only do libs reject the journey, they are actively revising it through the written word. They are the revisionists, and their intent is to rewrite history in the liberal view. I call them liars. But, in saying that I am not attempting to tie you to these rats, that is unless you lay claim to it voluntarily.