If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
– Thomas Jefferson

It has never been more difficult to be a Jeffersonian liberal in the history of United States. The very fact that a vast majority of Americans will have absolutely no idea what a “Jeffersonian liberal” even is should be sufficient evidence of this claim.

Though, don’t get me wrong, it’s never been particularly easy advocating for a small and limited government that leaves people alone when they aren’t causing anyone any actual harm. Historically speaking, human beings have always been kind of awful.

When people have the most power and thus the least reason to put aside their prejudice and bigotry, people have practically always blown it. Too often, the victims of one regime are just as quick to tyrannize their countrymen as soon as they get the chance.

It’s a vicious cycle of getting even, crushing one group under the boot of government right up the same boot is on the other foot. This is the plight of man, but the keys to break us free of this cycle of ruin and retaliation are three simple virtues:

1. Don’t deprive others of their health.
2. Don’t deprive others of their property.
3. Don’t deprive others of their peace.

Don’t get me wrong, human nature kind of ensures that we’re always going to have an abundance of the kinds of people who will oppose these liberal values. There will never be a shortage of tyrannical thugs, socialist thieves, or chauvinistic bigots.

Tyrannical thugs have no respect for human life. To them, people are just an expendable commodity for their own personal enrichment. They have been called kings, warlords, mob bosses, and dictators, and history is gorged with the blood they’ve spilled.

Socialist thieves have no respect for property. They talk a great deal about income equality and justice, but, when push comes to shove, what they always end up doing is using the state to take things that don’t belong to them for their own benefit.

Chauvinist bigots have no respect for peace. They actually believe they are better than everyone else and therefor are entitled to bother anyone that is different than them ethnically, religiously, sexually, or for even dumber reasons, like nationality.

Wherever you find people, you will find some number of these louts trying to ruin society for everyone else. They believe they are special and therefor exempt from having to obey the three basic virtues, often infringing on all three at once.

Unfortunately, it is simply impossible to convince most of these jerks to abandon what are essentially deeply held beliefs, even after they see that their beliefs are wrong or even demonstrate for them that their methods cause more harm than good.

The leftists will still strap on masks, smash store fronts, and embrace the epithet “radical“. The right will still wear their stupid red caps, punch journalists, and embrace the epithet “deplorable“. And the thug? He was never listening to begin with.

This doesn’t mean we give up. It means we keep fighting for the hearts and minds of the rare people who can and will embrace right over wrong. It means we take the fight to the young who haven’t yet learned to deeply hold the stupid beliefs of the old.

It begins today. Right here. Right now. If you haven’t yet, please follow this blog. You may not always agree with what I have to say, but I do ask that you at least listen. Then, and this is the important part, if you find this message valuable, share it.

If you agree, but you don’t share, what’s changed? If you already agreed with what I’m saying, then the answer is nothing. This message needs to get in front of someone who doesn’t agree and, once they’ve read it, might change their mind.

That is real change. That is one more freed mind. That is one new Jeffersonian liberal.

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Liberty is For The Win!