Was Jefferson wrong as a liberal to believe in a free press, helping the poor, and thinking unencumbered?

Question

"Were it left to me to have a government with no newspapers, or newspapers with no government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

"Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind; for I can apply no milder term... to the general prey of the rich upon the poor."

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

Be a liberal, think big, think without prejudice!

Randy C, well, to state the obvious, since reagan, conservatives tend to hate the media, education, and government programs helping the poor.

Answer 1

Where are any "Liberal" ideas like that today? Not in the Democrat party.
Democrats favor-
(1) the fairness doctrine that targets only talk radio and allows all bias as long as you label someone as opposition whether they are or not. You constantly wish to shut down talk radio and even Fox news which is balanced unlike any other outlet.
(2) Keeping the poor poor by making them wards of the state.
(3) encumbering free thought through censorship labeled as politically correct speech and actions.

Answer 2

No, he was not wrong. But when you say "free press" you must also assume he never envisioned a one sided Liberal media where almost all journalists are Liberal Democrats.

Helping the poor is correct, but not keeping them poor by lifelong government programs. I believe Jefferson would have believed in a "hand up" rather than just a "hand out".

Unencombered thinking denotes that citizens would not be the subject of indoctrination, and this is definitely happening in our state universities where the Liberal elite force their beliefs upon students at the cost of their future via grades.

You fail to mention that we have very few poor in the USA, which shows that the rich are not preying on the poor. In fact, our capitalistic system still makes it the best place in the world for a poor person to one day become wealthy via their own efforts.

I wish that your goal as a Liberal could be true, but what Liberalism means today is definitely not without prejudice, as evidenced by any blog or website. There hatred is the rule, and thought and reasoning is disdained.

Answer 3

"Randy C, well, to state the obvious, since reagan, conservatives tend to hate the media, education, and government programs helping the poor."

Wrong. Conservatives dislike the LEFT-LEANING mainstream media and the liberal government programs that PURPORT to improve education and help the poor but have the net result of doing the opposite (all while enriching the bureaucrats running them)!

Answer 4

You mean Republican Party founder Thomas Jefferson? The one who said this?

"I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it"

"No government ought to be without censors & where the press is free, no one ever will. "

Picking and choosing which facts to use in an argument is no way to the truth.

Answer 5

No, Jefferson wasn't wrong, yet I see no quotes listed to suggest he thought the government should help the poor, nor an endorsement of state supported education.

Think. Be Libertarian.

Answer 6

Was Ronald Reagan wrong to believe in a free press, helping the poor, and thinking unencumbered??

Answer 7

"Were it left to me to have a government with no newspapers, or newspapers with no government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."
Small government... AKA conservative.

Answer 8

Well, you lost me when you stated "Republicans tend to hate.."
Obviously you as a liberal CANNOT "think without prejudice"