How the Jefferson Foundation Betrayed Thomas Jefferson
letter to Sites of Conscience
by Ballard Quass, the Drug War Philosopher
May 26, 2023
The following letter was emailed today to the Sites of Conscience organization, asking them to revoke the S-O-C status of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation until such time as they acknowledge the 1987 DEA raid on Monticello.
Dear Sir or Madam:
In 1987, the DEA stomped onto Monticello and confiscated Thomas Jefferson's poppy plants in violation of the natural law upon which he had founded America. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation quickly caved to all demands and even burnt t-shirts that showed pictures of the poppy, without even having been asked to do so. Of course, they were under legal duress at the time and employees could have even been jailed for not playing ball with the DEA. However, that does not excuse the fact that, since that time, the Foundation has never told the story of that raid to the public. They have pretended that the raid never even happened.
This is a betrayal of Jefferson's legacy. It is a coverup.
The Jefferson Foundation should tell that story to its visitors and donors.
The failure to do so, I strongly believe, should deny the Foundation its privilege of being classified as a "Site of Conscience." Surely, the least that can be expected of such a site is that its representatives speak up against injustice. Instead, they have pretended that the injustice did not even happen.
The hallowed ground of Monticello is no longer hallowed and will not be, until the Foundation starts defending those principles that Thomas Jefferson stood for: natural law and what John Locke himself called our right to the use of the earth "and all that lies therein."
I believe that if the title of "Sites of Conscience" is to remain meaningful, you must insist that the Jefferson Foundation acknowledge the raid and disclose all relevant details to the public.
What You Can Do
Write to the Jefferson Foundation and ask them to start telling the public and their donors about the 1987 DEA raid.
If they are no help, then ask S-O-C to revoke their listing of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation as a "Site of Conscience."
According to Wikipedia...
The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience is a global network of historic sites, museums, and memorials that are dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights across the world. The Coalition is registered as a non-profit association in the United States.
Note
By its coverup of the DEA raid of 1987, The Thomas Jefferson Foundation has shown that it is more than happy to ignore the most fundamental of human rights when pressured to do so by the government, thereby betraying their mission to protect the legacy of Jefferson himself.
Author's Follow-up: May 27, 2023
Hey, guys, guess who's thinking seriously about putting an advertisement in The Cavalier Daily of the University of Virginia to bring the students' attention to the outrage perpetrated on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson. Something like: "Attention, UVA Students: Speak up for the legacy of your school's founder. Demand that the Thomas Jefferson Foundation acknowledge and protest the DEA raid of 1987!" Stay tuned to see if and when I follow through on this threat. It could happen any day now when the slightly unpredictable Senate of my mind finally approves the necessary expenditure, for which my superego is arguing vigorously even as I type.
Author's Follow-up: May 28, 2023
I was just reminded on Twitter that Monticello has also caved on hemp in order not to incur the wrath of the feds. It's funny, I was just reading Hogshire's book on the poppy. It tells us how the DEA does not crack down on garden poppies because it would be embarrassing to arrest and hassle old white women. This may at first sound humorous, and it is, but it's also more proof of the racist nature of the Drug War.
Author's Follow-up: September 11, 2023
Remember that ad I was going to put in the Cavalier Daily back in May, to remind UVA students about the DEA raid on Monticello? The Cavalier Daily ad team stopped communicating with me the moment they heard about the subject matter of the ad that I wanted to post. In America, one must not challenge the national religion of the War on Drugs. But then the ad team has been programmed from birth to hate drugs -- watching TV shows that were tweaked by the White House itself to carry anti-drug messages, in conformance with the drug-hating Christian Science religion of Mary Baker-Eddy.
Monticello Sells Out Thomas Jefferson
In 1987, the jackbooted DEA stomped onto Thomas Jefferson's estate of Monticello and confiscated the founding father's poppy plants in violation of everything that he stood for politically speaking. And yet the Thomas Jefferson Foundation pretends to this day that the raid never took place. They give no explanation to their visitors as to why the Foundation sold out the man whom they were meant to be honoring. And so all their visitors get a sanitized version of history, designed to let Americans feel that everything's fine, that there is no drug war, and life goes on. What an absolute disgrace, this so-called Thomas Jefferson Foundation. They should remove all the signs in Albemarle County that read "Hallowed Ground" -- because those grounds have been dishonored by the Foundation itself. THEY SOLD OUT THOMAS JEFFERSON -- and are now so pusillanimous and cowardly that they will not even admit that the raid ever took place -- a raid to confiscate flowers, for god's sake.
I wrote a letter to the head of Guest Services at Monticello and he responded: "I'm sorry you do not think that we are doing enough to explain the DEA raid." I responded in turn: "But you are doing NOTHING to explain the raid! You are pretending it never happened!" I then asked the director of guest services to correct me if I was wrong -- and he had nothing further to say. What absolute schmucks! Jefferson is spinning right now in his thoroughly dishonored grave.
The Drug War is a religion. The "addict" is a sinner who has to come home to the true faith of Christian Science. In reality, neither physical nor psychological addiction need be a problem if all drugs were legal and we used them creatively to counter problematic use.
Folks who believe in the drug war should consider that it is a multi-billion-dollar campaign to enforce the attitude of the Pizarro's of the world when it comes to non-western medicines. It is the apotheosis of the colonialism that most people claim to hate.
Two weeks ago, a guy told me that most psychiatrists believe ECT is great. I thought he was joking! I've since come to realize that he was telling the truth: that is just how screwed up the healthcare system is today thanks to drug war ideology and purblind materialism.
"Users" can be kept out of the workforce by the extrajudicial process of drug testing; they can have their baby taken from them, their house, their property -- all because they do not share the intoxiphobic attitude of America.
In 1886, coca enthusiast JJ Tschudi referred to prohibitionists as 'kickers.' He wrote: "If we were to listen to these kickers, most of us would die of hunger, for the reason that nearly everything we eat or drink has fallen under their ban."
This is why America is creeping toward authoritarianism -- because of the prohibitionists' ability to get away with everything by blaming "drugs." The fact that Americans still fall for this crap represents a kind of collective pathology.
I'm looking for a United Healthcare doctor now that I'm 66 years old. When I searched my zip code and typed "alternative medicine," I got one single solitary return... for a chiropractor, no less. Some choice. Guess everyone else wants me to "keep taking my meds."
When people tell us there's nothing to be gained from using mind-improving drugs, they are embarrassing themselves. Users benefit from such drugs precisely to the extent that they are educated and open-minded. Loudmouth abstainers are telling us that they lack these traits.
I have dissed MindMed's new LSD "breakthrough drug" for philosophical reasons. But we can at least hope that the approval of such a "de-fanged" LSD will prove to be a step in the slow, zigzag path toward re-legalization.
The goal of drug-law reform should be to outlaw prohibition. Anything short of that, and our basic rights will always be subject to veto by fearmongers. Outlawing prohibition would restore the Natural Law of Jefferson, which the DEA scorned in 1987 with its raid on Monticello.
Buy the Drug War Comic Book by the Drug War Philosopher Brian Quass, featuring 150 hilarious op-ed pics about America's disgraceful war on Americans
You have been reading an article entitled, How the Jefferson Foundation Betrayed Thomas Jefferson: letter to Sites of Conscience, published on May 26, 2023 on AbolishTheDEA.com. For more information about America's disgraceful drug war, which is anti-patient, anti-minority, anti-scientific, anti-mother nature, imperialistic, the establishment of the Christian Science religion, a violation of the natural law upon which America was founded, and a childish and counterproductive way of looking at the world, one which causes all of the problems that it purports to solve, and then some, visit the drug war philosopher, at abolishTheDEA.com. (philosopher's bio; go to top of this page)
You have been reading an article entitled, How the Jefferson Foundation Betrayed Thomas Jefferson: letter to Sites of Conscience, published on May 26, 2023 on AbolishTheDEA.com. For more information about America's disgraceful drug war, which is anti-patient, anti-minority, anti-scientific, anti-mother nature, imperialistic, the establishment of the Christian Science religion, a violation of the natural law upon which America was founded, and a childish and counterproductive way of looking at the world, one which causes all of the problems that it purports to solve, and then some, visit the drug war philosopher, at abolishTheDEA.com. (philosopher's bio; go to top of this page)
