4 responses to “This!”

1. 

   MrLiberty

   April 14, 2026 at 11:26 am

   “When the people fear the government there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.” – Thomas Jefferson

   Reply
   1. 

      David DeGerolamo

      April 14, 2026 at 11:47 am

      John Basil Barnhill (in 1914), not Thomas Jefferson (despite the common misattribution).

      The exact wording you provided—“When the people fear the government there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.”—is a well-known spurious quotation. Jefferson’s own foundation confirms there is no evidence he ever said or wrote it (or close variations), after exhaustive searches of his papers, letters, and biographies. It was first falsely linked to him around 1994.

      The earliest known appearance in print is from 1914, in Barnhill-Tichenor Debate on Socialism (a published debate). There, John Basil Barnhill (an American anti-socialist lecturer) stated: “Where the people fear the government you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty.”

      Reply
      1. 

         Lineman

         April 14, 2026 at 5:09 pm

         The government hasn’t feared the people from way before that quote was spoken…If they did we wouldn’t of had a war of northern aggression…

         Reply
2. 

   MrLiberty

   April 14, 2026 at 6:39 pm

   Time to get them terrified, regardless of who said it…

   Reply