The theme of this week's show is America's population during Jefferson's time and ours. President Thomas Jefferson speaks about the responsibilities of new citizens, an essay written by Thomas Robert Malthus and the choice of rural life vs. the culture found in cities.
“The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.”
Further Reading
- Project Gutenberg: "An Essay on the Principle of Population" by T. R. Malthus
Clay S. Jenkinson talks about an article written by Hugh Sidey which appeared in Time magazine in 1978. Sidey writes about his visit with the acclaimed Thomas Jefferson biographer Dumas Malone. Describing Jefferson, Malone says, “Jefferson was a humanist in the complete sense of the word. Human beings always came first … His world is gone. His standards and values went with rural life.” Near the end of the show, Clay receives a very special present from long-time listener, and friend of the Jefferson Hour, Brad Crisler.
The theme of this week's show is America's population during Jefferson's time and ours. President Thomas Jefferson speaks about the responsibilities of new citizens, an essay written by Thomas Robert Malthus and the choice of rural life vs. the culture found in cities.
I love North Dakota. I was born here, raised here, and my heart has always resided here, even when I lived in really interesting other places. Although I resided in Nevada for 17 years, when people in other places asked me where I was from, I always said North Dakota—boldly and with pride.
There is a North Dakota that is disappearing—the old ethnicities are being washed into homogeneity, my mother locks her door now every time, and our heritage of rural stoicism and strength is becoming the stuff of nostalgia.