We have already given in example one effectual check to the dog of war by transferring the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of legislative power in controlling military actions. Jefferson advocates for a system of checks and balances to prevent war from being waged impulsively.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson argues that transferring the authority to declare war from the Executive branch to the Legislative body serves as a crucial check against the impulsive use of military force. By doing so, it ensures that elected representatives, who are accountable to the public, must deliberate and justify the need for war, reflecting the will and interests of the people rather than the whims of a single individual.
In practice
During a debate about military intervention, one might quote Jefferson to highlight the importance of legislative approval.
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.
I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
βWe must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
Some people are surprised that the Republicans are waging a war on women, or that they voted against equal pay for women. I'm not surprised at all. In some ways, it may be a good thing. They're defending the patriarchy, which is a wounded beast! And wounded beasts are always dangerous.
My point was that the war was intrinsically wrong, and as a result of our participation we haven't improved Australia's security but created a greater danger at home and abroad.
Whenever you put a man on the Supreme Court he ceases to be your friend.
Only votes talk, everything else walks.
Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us.
Al Qaeda is nothing more than a mutant supply chain. They're playing off the same platform as Wal-Mart and Dell. They're just not restrained by it. What is al Qaeda? It's an open source religious political movement that works off the global supply chain. That's what we're up against in Iraq. We're up against a suicide supply chain.
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