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>Did Thomas Jefferson ever say either of the following or something like >them? > >"In a democracy the people get the leaders they deserve." > >or > >"In a democracy the people elect the leaders they deserve." I have not seen either of those quotes in the writings of Jefferson, and I doubt very much that he wrote either. Jefferson had a higher regard for the people then these quotes seem to imply. He felt that the oversight of the people was the only chance we had for good government. Jefferson never had anything good to say about the rich, but he always seemed to have a great respect for "the people", as the following quotes suggest: "The ultimate arbiter is the people of the Union." --Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 1823. ME 15:451 "[The people] are in truth the only legitimate proprietors of the soil and government." --Thomas Jefferson to Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, 1813. ME 19:197 "Lay down true principles and adhere to them inflexibly. Do not be frightened into their surrender by the alarms of the timid, or the croakings of wealth against the ascendency of the people." -- Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816. ME 15:35 "In general, I believe the decisions of the people in a body will be more honest and more disinterested than those of wealthy men, and I can never doubt an attachment to his country in any man who has his family and peculium [i.e., private property] in it." -- Thomas Jefferson to Edmund Pendleton, 1776. Papers 1:504 "These rogues set out with stealing the people's good opinion, and then steal from them the right of withdrawing it, by contriving laws and associations against the power of the people themselves." --Thomas Jefferson to Mann Page, 1795. ME 9:306 "[It is] the people, to whom all authority belongs." --Thomas Jefferson to Spencer Roane, 1821. ME 15:328 With Jefferson, it always seemed to be others who were corrupt, and the people were the only reliable element. That does not necessarily contradict the idea of "they get what they deserve," but I don't think it is in accord with that spirit.