Good Advice For Troubled Times: ‘We Must Have Patience Till Luck Turns’

Arizona Capitol Reports Staff//November 26, 2004//[read_meter]

Apropos of the recent election, your readers might enjoy the following, taken from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in 1798 after passage of the Alien and Sedition Act:

“A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt… If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake.”

We can substitute the Patriot Act or Proposition 200 quite easily here, but we should also remember that within two years Mr. Jefferson was president.—

Rick Lyons Pima County Assessor

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