Someone I know was showing a new addition to their house that he was proud of, and there were a couple of tag-alongs hanging out to enjoy the benefits of his luxury. This didn’t seem remarkable by itself, however they were watching a movie and in it there were images that were alien in design when one of the guys pointed at and declared with a laugh—“those look like penises.” I had to wonder if I had heard what I did, this was a guy in his early 40s—clearly above the age of such sophomoric humor. But I did, and he thought it was funny—that the images on the movie screen were so similar to phallic representation. I don’t normally associate with those types of people, so it is often shocking to me how stupid people are happy to be—but this guy was proud of his lack of sophistication leaving me no wonder as to why the nation of America is in such bad shape. There are hoards of these types of people voting, working, and living in the world around us—and they are really—truly unambitious in the ways of learning.
This guy was a reminder that any nation where such stupid people are in a majority is a guarantee that democracy will fail. If people are so stupid and easily distracted and see penises in every object that could be construed inadvertently as phallic—there is just no hope that anybody of such a caliber can be expected to vote for a proper elected official, decipher the contents of the nightly news, or even read a newspaper with the eye of a critical thinker. For such people, their minds are turned off—their primary desires are food and reproductive concerns. They are the bricks of a crumbling civilization cracking at the foundations that will soon be a mere pile of rubble. They are unequipped for the task of a democracy—and are the exclusive reasons that they all fail.
A successful nation cannot be maintained by such people. It is impossible to consider that life can go on for any country that is run by minds addicted to low quality attributes. And America finds itself in this condition currently. It is a far cry from the vision of the Founding Fathers and their philosophic approach to the beginning of America. Those were wise men, deeply committed to thought. They worked hard all their lives to be men of knowledge and still felt they hadn’t done enough. This was obvious to me when I took my family to visit Monticello in Virginia which is the home of Thomas Jefferson. I had always respected Jefferson as my favorite president, but after actually visiting his home, I had even more respect for him. Fairly or unfairly, I have judged most of the people I met against Thomas Jefferson. For instance, the guy watching the movie doesn’t even live in the same universe as Jefferson’s America. On the other hand, my father-in-law is very close. He and Jefferson would be right at home with one another. My father-in-law knows something about just about everything and you could speak to him all day and only tap the surface of his knowledge. You won’t hear fart jokes around his dinner table—or references to penises without a deep scowl. He puts up with the rest of the world with a kind of quiet impatience where he overlooks a crowd and places his consciousness behind layers of protective friendliness; much the way an adult speaks to a kindergarten class knowing they have extremely low vocabulary skills and worldly knowledge—slow and purposeful. He doesn’t even try to speak to them because it takes too much work to dumb himself down enough to have a conversation that they can understand.
Jefferson seems remarkable today, but in his day, he was not alone in his ambitions. When the Constitution of America was written, there were many like Jefferson who woke up each morning trying to prepare their minds for virtually anything. It was a hobby for them to be smart—and Jefferson made good use of his time in this regard.
Thomas Jefferson started learning very early in life and never stopped. The following is based on a popular email distribution listing that has been going around which makes some excellent points about one of the most prominent, and finest examples of what Americans should strive to be.
At 5, Thomas Jefferson began studying under his cousin’s tutor.
At 9, studied Latin, Greek, and French.
At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages.
At 16, entered the College of William and Mary. Also could write in Greek with one hand while writing the same in Latin with the other.
At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.
At 23, started his own law practice.
At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
At 31, wrote the widely circulated “Summary View of the Rights of British America?” And retired from his law practice.
At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence.
At 33, took three years to revise Virginia’s legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.
At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry.
At 40, served in Congress for two years.
At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.
At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.
At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society.
At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party.
At 57, was elected the third president of the United States.
At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation’s size.
At 61, was elected to a second term as President.
At 65, retired to Monticello.
At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.
At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president.
At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams.
Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws, and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the past to lead us in the future:
John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the White House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: “This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.”
— Thomas Jefferson
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
— Thomas Jefferson
“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes, a principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.”
— Thomas Jefferson
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
— Thomas Jefferson
“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”
— Thomas Jefferson
“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”
— Thomas Jefferson
“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”
— Thomas Jefferson
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
— Thomas Jefferson
“To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”
— Thomas Jefferson
It would be impossible for many contemporary voters to even comprehend many of these statements by Thomas Jefferson because they have devolved as human beings into a kind of slime permeating society as a parasitic organism. The world makes so much sense when I read, write, and contemplate things alone with my thoughts. But things rapidly fall apart when such ideas are bounced off the minds of people like that penis guy. There is no way to speak to someone like that, let alone expecting them to vote correctly or even raise children properly. When I hear from those people, the real hopelessness of our present condition is grossly knowable. Most people are just too stupid to be Americans. They are not smart enough to understand its freedoms, its Constitution, its global necessity. They are not capable of voting and living good productive lives—because it’s just not in their minds.
I used my father-in-law as an example of some modern embodiment of Thomas Jefferson. I actually know quite a few people like this—but in the context of society at large; they are like drops of water in the ocean. They are few and far between and what fills those gaps are people who think fart jokes are funny, a woman’s breasts are something to crash a car to see, and everything that is elongated in a cylindrical shape has a reference to phallic pursuits. There is simply no hope for a society made of such minds, and it is from such people who Obama was elected president and continues to rule like a European prince placed in power not by intellect, but by the heritage of his past. It was the very dumb, and literally stupid that elected him—and will continue through the rule of the masses to keep idiots constantly flowing into the White House leading to the end of American civilization as Jefferson conceived it yielding to the buttheads who would rather listen to a fart joke than read Ulysses.
Rich Hoffman
The Gunfighter's Guide: 