Happy birthday, Thomas Jefferson.
It's a rerun from last year: Happy birthday, Thomas Jefferson.
Link to 2017 Muzzies coming up, when they're announced.
Full disclosure: I have several $2 bills in my wallet.
Born, on April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia, to the Jefferson family, a baby boy. They gave him the name Thomas. (April 13 is the date of birth using a Gregorian calendar. On a Julian calendar, in use at the time, his date of birth was April 2.)
He went to school at William & Mary and read for the law. You can still do that, in Virginia and in Tennessee.
He wrote of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and of a wall of separation between church and state.
He wasn't perfect.
He became the second governor of Virginia. Patrick Henry was the first. There was a tough act to follow.
Jefferson's gravestone notes the three accomplishments in his life that he felt were of the most importance:
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence
of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom
& Father of the University of Virginia
Of the University of Virginia, Jefferson said:
- Thomas Jefferson to William Roscoe, December 27, 1820
He was fortunate enough to live in a time of complete civility in politics, so unlike today.
Well, maybe not.
It's No Laughing Matter - Analyzing Political Cartoons
The prairie dog sickened at the sting of the hornet or a diplomatic puppet exhibiting his deceptions
Since 1992, the Thomas Jefferson Center has celebrated the birth and ideals of its namesake by calling attention to those who would censor free expression.
Announced on or near April 13—the anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson—the Jefferson Muzzles are awarded as a means to draw national attention to abridgments of free speech and press and, at the same time, foster an appreciation for those tenets of the First Amendment. The Muzzles are a good-natured rebuke to all government officials, lest they forget or disregard Mr. Jefferson’s admonition that freedom of speech “cannot be limited without being lost.”
Because the importance and value of free expression extend far beyond the First Amendment’s limit on government censorship, acts of private censorship are not spared consideration for the dubious honor of receiving a Muzzle.
Unfortunately, each year the finalists for the Jefferson Muzzles have emerged from an alarmingly large group of candidates. For each recipient, a dozen could have been substituted. Further, an examination of previous Jefferson Muzzle recipients reveals that the disregard of First Amendment principles is not the byproduct of a particular political outlook but rather that threats to free expression come from all over the political spectrum.
2010 Muzzles: Top 10 winners Jefferson Muzzle Awards (for anti-free speech efforts)
2012 Muzzles: The Wait is Over: Announcing the 2012 Jefferson Muzzles!
2015 Muzzles
2016 Muzzles: Efforts to stifle speech by colleges, students 'honored' with Jefferson Muzzle Awards