When winter and the news leave me cold, reading warms me.

In 1859, Abraham Lincoln said, “The principles of Jefferson are the definitions and axioms of free society. And yet they are denied, and evaded, with no small show of success … Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and under a just God, cannot long retain it.”

In 1932, FDR said, “It was the purpose of Jefferson to teach the country that the solidarity of Federalism was only a partial one, that is represented only by a minority of the people, that to build a great nation the interests of all groups in every part must be considered, and that only in a large, national unity could real security be found.”

In 1948, Harry Truman said, “I have a profound faith in the people of this country. I believe in their common sense. They love freedom and that love for freedom and justice is not dead. Our people believe today, as Jefferson did, that men were not born with saddles on their backs to be ridden by the privileged few. We believe, as Jefferson did, that ‘God, who gave us life, gave us liberty.’ We protect our liberty against those who threaten us from abroad, and we do not propose to give it up to those who threaten it at home. We will not give up our democratic way to a dictatorship of the left; neither will we give it up to a despotism of special privilege.”

Charles Hamblen
Gorham