DAVE ROSS

And now a word from Thomas Jefferson

Feb 14, 2013, 11:05 AM | Updated: Feb 15, 2013, 9:51 am

Dave Ross takes a lesson from the words of Thomas Jefferson. (AP Photo/file)...

Dave Ross takes a lesson from the words of Thomas Jefferson. (AP Photo/file)

(AP Photo/file)

I’ve been reading Jon Meacham’s book “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power.”

It’s the portrait of a man who declared all men are created equal, but kept slaves, and was in part urged to revolution because the British threatened to free those slaves. He comes across as more inconsistent and conflicted than the image we get in school.

But one thing everyone seemed to agree on was that he understood politics, and how to get things done.
And in 1797, when he was Vice President, and the new nation was facing crisis after crisis – he wrote a letter to his grandson, laying out what he’d learned about political debate.

The language is a little stilted, 215 years later, but here’s what he says. His most important rule for social interaction was “never entering into dispute or argument with another. I never yet saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument.”

He goes on. “I have seen many, on their getting warm, becoming rude, and shooting one another. ” And then he says this – and when he uses the word conviction, he means it in the sense of convincing someone – he says, “Conviction is the effect of our own dispassionate reasoning, either in solitude, or weighing within ourselves dispassionately what we hear from others, standing uncommitted in argument ourselves.”

In other words, you can never change anyone’s mind by arguing with them in front of others. People only change their minds upon quiet reflection, weighing what they’ve heard, and then coming to their own conclusions.
And then he ends by quoting Benjamin Franklin who used to tell him, “Never contradict anybody.”

Dave's Commentary

Dave Ross on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM
  • listen to dave rossTune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.

Dave Ross

drivers data insurance...

Dave Ross

Ross: As cars release driving data to insurance, is your driving my business?

Every move you make, every swerve you take, every lane change you fake – someone’s watching you. Do drivers have a right to keep driving data private?

20 hours ago

rent control...

Dave Ross

Ross: Rent control was never the answer in Wash.

The rent control bill died in the Washington State Legislature this week, even though Democrats control both houses.

21 days ago

end of democracy...

Dave Ross

Ross: Conservative activist earns applause for pledging an ‘end of Democracy’

The theme from Jack Posobiec's speech is that Jan. 6 was a righteous attack not on democracy, but on those who threaten democracy.

22 days ago

Image: Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, is seen on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2023. (Photo: Alex Brand...

Dave Ross

Ross: Voters can help cull bad politicians from the herd early

Let's remember that just about every occupant of a higher office once occupied a lower office, and was put there by us, Dave Ross says.

29 days ago

Super Bowl celebration...

Dave Ross

Ross: The NFL does it again

The NFL once again put on a show that was able to keep me tuned in for four hours even though I had no stake in either team.

1 month ago

social media...

Dave Ross

Ross: Is the Wild West of social media over after Senate hearing?

The original social media business model was genius -- get ordinary people to create content for free, sell ads and give the content creators a cut.

2 months ago

And now a word from Thomas Jefferson