Thomas Jefferson Explained

The following quotes all come from: Ellis, Joseph J.. American Sphinx (p. 8). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Jefferson was not a profound political thinker. He was, however, an utterly brilliant political rhetorician and visionary. The genius of his vision is to propose that our deepest yearnings for personal freedom are in fact attainable. The genius of his rhetoric is to articulate irreconcilable human urges at a sufficiently abstract level to mask their mutual exclusiveness. The Jeffersonian magic works because we permit it to function at a rarefied region where real-life choices do not have to be made.

For example: that abortion is a woman’s right and that an unborn child cannot be killed; that health care and a clean environment for all Americans are natural rights and that the federal bureaucracies and taxes required to implement medical and environmental programs violate individual independence; that women and blacks must not be denied their rights as citizens and that affirmative action programs violate the principle of equality.

The primal source of Jefferson’s modern-day appeal is that he provides the sacred space - not really common ground but more a midair location floating above all the political battle lines - where all Americans can come together and, at least for that moment, become a chorus instead of a cacophony.