History and politics don't always mix

[struggle4progress]

By KEVIN McDERMOTT

ST. LOUIS • Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones on Saturday opened his "Lincoln Days" speech with a Thomas Jefferson quote that seems to endorse modern Republican philosophy regarding tax policy:

“Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who are not.”

Problem: Jefferson never said it.

That's according to The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the ultimate arbiter of stuff like this. The Foundation's website says it's a 1980s quote that has been wrongly attributed to Jefferson ...

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/kevin-mcdermott/history-and-politics-don-t-always-mix/article_e9f2f52b-f053-52bd-905a-5e0495bef2f1.html

[bluestateguy]

1. And didn't TJ also not say that line about "government that governs least"?

And for our side, Lincoln never said that much repeated quote about "corporations have been enthroned".

[struggle4progress]

2. ... Although the saying "That government is best which governs least" is often attributed to Thomas

Jefferson, we have not found this particular statement in his writings ...
http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/government-best-which-governs-least-quotation