I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
Interpretation
A modest uprising can be beneficial and is as essential in politics as storms are in nature.
In this quote, Thomas Jefferson suggests that occasional rebellion is an important part of a healthy political system. Just as storms are crucial for cleansing the environment and bringing about change in nature, rebellions can serve to rejuvenate governance and ensure that the power remains with the people, preventing stagnation and oppression in society.
In practice
In a speech advocating for democratic reform.
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.
Unfortunately, very few governments think about youth unemployment when they are drawing up their national plans.
One of the surest signs of the estimated changes in the consciousness of the American proletariat is to be found in the character of the demands now being put forward by the leadership.
In the relations of a weak Government and a rebellious people there comes a time when every act of the authorities exasperates the masses, and every refusal to act excites their contempt.
You canβt have meaningful political democracy without functioning economic democracy.
The world must be made safe for democracy.
Democratic nations must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend.
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