Good Day citizens and welcome to what would Jefferson do. Our weekly opportunity to discuss

current American events with President Thomas Jefferson who is seated across for me now. Good day to you, Mr Jefferson. Good day to you, my dear citizen.

Mr Jefferson, I wanted to talk to you about political rhetoric. I think every politician uses rhetorical arguments, maybe speaks above what he

actually believes to make points, but at what point does it become too much, even dangerous?

I differentiate between my time as president, between 181 and 189, when I attempted to be as

mild as possible and always to play down any volatility.

And then my time out of power when I spoke in private letters in a much more dramatic and sometimes I suppose you would say extreme

fashion.

So as a public figure I felt that it was my duty always to smooth the waters and to be more harmonious perhaps than I even felt.

Several of my annual messages to Congress were seen by my political adversaries as what they called

milk sops or things of milk and water because I was so mild about things that they knew were

quite serious national and international affairs.

But in private, when I was writing a letter to Mr. Madison or Francis Hopkinson or to John

Adams or to Elbridge Gary, I tended to speak a little bit more forcefully and in fact my dearest

friend James Madison after my death said you have to understand in Jefferson and other men of great genius that there

are sometimes as a tendency to overstate the case and I think that certainly could

be said of some of my private pronouncements.

Well, far be it for me, Mr. Jefferson,

to be critical of you, but I can say that in my time,

it alarms me some of the rhetoric that I hear coming out of both elected politicians, the

press, commentators, we really lost a great deal of civility.

I understand people wanting to further their arguments and convince an audience,

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