Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Bush Edits Thomas Jefferson

If I had to choose a motto for the Bush Administration, it would have to be "Screw the facts!" Sure, there are others that come to mind like "Warmongers Unite," "What's a Constitution" and many more. "Screw the facts" fits those other suggestions and then some, because it allows George Bush to do and say whatever he pleases, even editing text from the speeches of Thomas Jefferson.

From The Science Blogs:

Hat tip to Sandefur for catching this. President Bush was at Monticello for a 4th of July celebration and he delivered an address. But it's quite telling that his speechwriters, in quoting Jefferson, cut out an anti-religious statement from a long and famous quote. Here's the way Bush put it:

Thomas Jefferson understood that these rights do not belong to Americans alone. They belong to all mankind. And he looked to the day when all people could secure them. On the 50th anniversary of America's independence, Thomas Jefferson passed away. But before leaving this world, he explained that the principles of the Declaration of Independence were universal. In one of the final letters of his life, he wrote, "May it be to the world, what I believe it will be -- to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all -- the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government."

Now let's look at the full quote, including the part that was cut out. This is from a letter he wrote to Roger Weightman reflecting on the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (which, it turns out, was the day both he and John Adams died):

May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.

Now we wouldn't want people to know that Jefferson envisioned a secular government. That would get in the way of Bush's deluded reality on how our democracy is supposed to function. So instead of fully quoting the founding father, he just deleted the segments he disagreed with....kinda like when he signs alters bills passed by Congress.