Fake Jefferson on Remaining Silent
The Canadian trucker’s convoy, which was protesting covid-19 vaccines in the most obnoxious way possible this past winter, released a “Memorandum of Understanding” that opens with a Jefferson quote.
“All that tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent,” the imagined Jefferson said.
The problem, of course, is that Jefferson never said it. As pointed out by the fact checkers at Monticello, Jefferson’s home that is now a museum about his life and work, the quote is more often attributed to Edmund Burke, but there’s no solid evidence that he said it either. It’s admittedly a good quote, but it’s not a Jefferson quote.
