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>Politicians steal your freedom. Then, they insult your intelligence by >asking for your vote. >-- Thomas Jefferson > That one was supposedly from >TJ. I don't think so. I am quite sure the quote is not by Jefferson. It is not his style. The conceptual expression does not reflect that period of time. "Politicians" as a class of persons was just not well-recognized back then. The idea that anyone could "steal your freedom" was not the way they would express it. Freedom was a state of existence which people impinge upon, but don't "steal." "Insult your intelligence" and "asking for your vote" are 20th century concepts. Intelligence was like an attribute, a possession. It would be like saying Insult your finger. People didn't speak in those terms in those days. But some authentic quotes along the same lines are: "Unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals and their families selected for the trust." - -Thomas Jefferson to M. van der Kemp, 1812. ME 13:136 "Were parties here divided merely by a greediness for office,...to take a part with either would be unworthy of a reasonable or moral man." --Thomas Jefferson to William Branch Giles, 1795. ME 9:317 Also: "Either force or corruption has been the principle of every modern government." --Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1796. Notice that TJ says about the same thing, just a little more eloquently.