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Thomas Jefferson warned us. We didn’t listen.
In 1789, while serving as U.S. minister to France, Jefferson sent a letter across the Atlantic to James Madison. He offered Madison this thought: “the earth belongs in usufruct to the living… that the dead have neither powers nor rights over it.”
Elegant, precise language worthy of a defining time.
Jefferson was arguing that one generation had no right to bind another. He made that argument (not exclusively) in terms of public debt, framing it as a way for the desires of the past to tie the hands of the future. On that point, he could not have been more right.
Sadly, we don’t often think of debt as limiting our freedom. Burdening our children with debt is a familiar talking point, but we seldom describe it as bondage to the past. If more people saw public debt as a curbing limit on their ability to choose their own path – seemingly trapped by indentured servitude – shaped not by the needs and ideals of their time, but of the past, perhaps they would feel the urgency of the problem.
Talking heads like me share some of the blame. We harp on the financial madness of a national debt that has passed $40 trillion. We talk about the irresponsibility of relying on annual deficits to pay for services we continue to use. We warn of risks to the broader economy, the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency, and American influence abroad.
Those concerns are real, but they can feel distant. Most Americans will never handle a million dollars, much less a trillion. It is hard to feel the weight of a number you cannot picture or of economic consequences that seem far removed from daily life. So we agree that the debt is out of control, but we do not care quite enough to demand a change.
Now frame it another way: Previous generations are spending part of your future. They are narrowing your ability to decide what matters to your generation and how those priorities should shape policy and politics. They have decided what is best for you. If we understood the debt in those terms, I think we would be angrier.
Jefferson’s argument survives in letters many people will never read. It deserves a place in the public conversation.
At this point, arguing over who is to blame will get us only so far. Responsibility is widely shared; nobody is clean. What matters is whether we become concerned enough to act. To do that, those of us who care about this crisis need to make Jefferson’s warning clear: The living should be free to choose their future – one fitted to their era; not one molded by another generation now gone.
Editor’s Note: Jefferson’s letter proffered examples beyond debt. This piece should not be interpreted as reflective of his ideals beyond debt.