Sen. DeMint wrote an article for RealClearPolitics recently that contained this alleged quote from Thomas Jefferson. It sounds plausible but the language seems unnatural for Jefferson. Perhaps it is paraphrased but I'd like to know for sure.
Since the dawn of our nation, Americans have resisted government control over their daily lives. Unlike Europeans who have mortgaged their futures in the name of nationalized health care, we have an innate distrust of big government schemes. We have seen time and time again that the greatness of our nation comes from its people, not from the government. Perhaps most importantly, we understand, as Thomas Jefferson understood, that "Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have." Jefferson went on to explain that "the course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."
Gerald Ford
Widely attributed to Jefferson, I could find no source citation. It seems actually to have been Gerald Ford in an Address to Congress 12 Aug 74, according to Simpson's Quotations. But I'd like to see the text from the Congressional Record before saying for sure.
Good catch, LD50!
Hi, Jim
I recognize your name! You have answered my quote questions before, and thank you. I am very familiar with that website. Clearly Jefferson made many remarks similar to the last clause, about liberty decreasing, yadda yadda, but that first clause is just not the way Jefferson wrote or spoke. My point is, this is Jim DeMint, a U.S. Senator, claiming Jefferson (appeal to authority) would be opposed to some of the health care proposals made by Democrats today, and using a false quote to do so. Nonsense! This is the same crowd (Norquist, Club For Growth) that claims Jefferson would be opposed to the Estate Tax. We have (had) an estate tax because of Jefferson! I think Jefferson, were he here today, would be in favor of some kind of universal health care, and I know he would tell us to not worry about what he said or thought, but to decide for ourselves.
Citation Confirmed
See page eight of Public Papers of the Presidents: Gerald R. Ford, 1974:
Note that Ford does not say "as Thomas Jefferson said" or anything like that. It would require some archival digging to uncover which speechwriter came up with the sentence, but it was not Jefferson.