Thomas Jefferson's Prophecy

Thomas Jefferson, who affirmed our "unalienable" rights on July 4, 1776, knew that those rights were not guaranteed. In 1781, while the war for independence was still being fought, he noted that although the present times were marked by an enthusiasm for the rights of the people, this would not be so forever. With an uncannily accurate look into the future, he wrote:

Besides, the spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless.... From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, will remain on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion.

Many people will quote from the Declaration of Independence today. Most of them will stop after the phrase "... life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." But it's what comes next that makes the Declaration one of the most radical political documents ever written:

... that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it....

Today, 233 years later, our rulers have become corrupt, our people careless, save in the sole faculty of making money. Will our rights revive, or expire in a convulsion?