Jefferson said what?

Does an editor ever evaluate or fact-check columnist Sue Lani Madsen, or does the S-R simply print anything she writes? Her Jan. 6 column, “Health care talk: Value these two principles,” begins with a quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson, “Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” Something seemed wrong. A bit of research confirmed that Benjamin Franklin, not Jefferson, said something roughly similar but with distinctly less libertarian spin: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

A reader might ordinarily shrug and let a columnist apply whatever spin she wants, but in this case the “two principles” this column is asking us to value are apparently freedom and security. Indeed, liberty and safety are never happy traveling companions and adjusting the tension between the two is often the crux of political negotiation. In addition to liberty and safety, I value fairness. In the context of current battles over health care, it is not fair to advance an argument by recruiting to your side a Founding Father with a bogus, misattributed quote.

William Siems

Spokane