Jimmy Carter worked to keep Washington insiders out of the top posts of his administration. He ended up with a lot of very inexperienced people in charge. This brought change, alright — the kind of change that was roundly rejected four years later.

Michael Barone has documented a cyclical pattern where Americans get fed up with Washington every four election cycles and opt for less experience (as a new generation of voters hits middle age). 1976 was one of those years. So were 1992 and 2008. 1944 was an anomaly because WWII was raging.

The pattern continues with Americans having some buyer’s remorse for betting on inexperience. They tend to opt for experience the next three times around. This isn’t a perfect pattern, but it generally holds true.

The fact is that Americans seem to usually prefer experience, even though, that experience carries with it all of the baggage of the bizarre world inside the DC beltway. After a few years of this, they’ve had their fill of insider corruption and go for less experience.

What this means is less that the players in Washington need to change than that Americans need to change. If we really want different government, we can have it. Experience shows that in general, Americans really don’t want it — or at least don’t want to pay the price to get it. We get the government we tolerate, thus, we get the government we deserve.

I agree that we do get the government we deserve as well. But do American’s really know what they can get? If we really understand the role of government, it is that government is the servant and We The People are the ruler. BUT only as long as we are a moral and good people. Then, would we not get a balanced government? Thus, government has found it’s way to make us The People, the servant.

One of the reasons that American’s get what they want is because they DO NOT KNOW that they can get something better. We are brainwashed by the media, our education system, and so called public opinion etc. We are not given TRUTH in America. We are given a warped version of the truth and make erroneous decisions from a point of view that does not work. When we Americans learn to find truth as it is found in scripture, history and in the morals that have passed the test of time, THEN we can make a better estimate of where we wish to be.

As Jefferson once stated the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. But who is being vigilant? Not very many people. But it seems to me that education is the key to finding the light. But it is the type of education that goes beyond the school house, the class room or the lab. It is found in the desires of men and women who want a better way of life and search diligently and process sound information to influence such outcomes. They are those who find TRUTH. Those who know the TRUTH have the greatest responsibility of findings those who are searching for it, join forces and bring about this “change” that people are talking about. We are the “vigilante” as they are called in Latin America….we hold the light, what will we do with it?

I believe in this idea of what this Republic encourages us to do. Although I do not know all things, I do know that there is a God and that He is a God of freedom, dicipline and charity. We are meant to be something more than mere human beings. The ideology offered in this country is the labatory where the experiement of freedom can truly determine ones potential in life. May we find that potential and long live the Republic that has long been ignored!

Just say no to Madeleine Albright… please.

Like Jefferson said, we need a revolution every 20 years in this country.

I passionately hate that quote from Jefferson. It was a stupid thing to say and it shouldn’t be lauded as some sort of political guide. It makes Jefferson appear to desire bloodshed on a fairly regular basis in America, which, if it is accurate in expressing what the man actually thought, makes him both stupid and bloodthirsty. I never think about it without wanting to throw up a little in my mouth.

End of threadjack; please continue.

K – I just think the picture is creepy. . .

Revolutions don’t have to be bloody. And yes, we need revolutions to keep government in check, if history and our current state are any indication.

They don’t have to be bloody. Fair enough. Here’s the quote, “What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

He elsewhere suggests that we need a revolution like the American Revolution (one involving quite a bit of spilled blood) every twenty years or so.

He was a great devotee of liberty, but he also seemed to think regular bloody revolt was a good thing. That is, IMO, crazy.

Jefferson was what we might refer to as an anarchist during the revolution and somewhat thereafter. After the Constitution was ratified, he began to see it work. By this time, he had grown much older and wiser. He saw that this form of government was unique in history.

As Washington’s Secretary of State he witnessed first hand the “stepping away from power” that Washington performed. He came to understand that elections could indeed be bloodless revolutions. Such a possibility had not been seriously considered by Jefferson before.

Bottom line: Don’t hold his “youthful indescretions” against him. He learned, like many of the founders did, how different this nation was going to be.