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Thomas Jefferson: Good day, sir. I’m Thomas Jefferson. I wrote the Declaration of Independence and served as the third President of the United States of America.
Thomas Hobbes: A pleasure. I am Thomas Hobbes. I wrote Leviathan, which established the foundations of social contract theory and legitimate sovereign power, and I survived England’s civil war to warn future generations about the dangers of divided authority.
Thomas Jefferson: I understand we’re to discuss a troubling matter, Mr. Hobbes. In the American system, there exists a provision allowing the President to impose tariffs by declaring a national emergency, bypassing Congress entirely. This strikes me as dangerous executive overreach.
Thomas Hobbes: Dangerous? Or merely practical? Tell me, Mr. Jefferson, in your republic does the President not bear responsibility for protecting the commonwealth’s economic security?
Thomas Jefferson: He does, but that responsibility doesn’t grant him unlimited power. The Constitution explicitly gives Congress the authority to regulate commerce and levy taxes. That’s fundamental to our system.
Thomas Hobbes: Let me see if I understand your position correctly. You believe that even in moments of genuine crisis—perhaps when a hostile nation suddenly embargoes critical goods or when economic warfare threatens the very survival of your people—the President should wait weeks or months for your Congress to debate, amend, and vote?
Thomas Jefferson: That’s not quite fair, Mr. Hobbes. I acknowledge that emergencies exist and that swift action may sometimes be necessary. But the question is: who determines what constitutes an emergency? If the President alone decides, then every political objective can be dressed up as a crisis.
Thomas Hobbes: A thoughtful concern. But consider the alternative you propose: requiring legislative approval for every tariff, even in crisis. This assumes your Congress will act quickly, wisely, and in the national interest. Yet legislatures are notoriously prone to faction, delay, and parochial interests. While they debate, your enemies act.
Thomas Jefferson: Now let me steelman your position, Mr. Hobbes. You argue that in the state of nature, there is perpetual insecurity, and we form governments with sufficient power to protect us from threats both foreign and domestic. A government too weak to act in emergencies is no government at all—it’s merely a debating society while the nation perishes. Unity of command, you’d say, is essential for survival.
Thomas Hobbes: Precisely. You do understand my position, even if you reject it.
Thomas Jefferson: I understand it, but I reject it because history teaches a different lesson. Every tyrant from Caesar to Cromwell to Bonaparte rose to power by claiming emergency powers. The emergency becomes permanent, and the exception becomes the rule.
Thomas Hobbes: But your country already grants emergency powers to the President. You’re not debating whether such powers should exist, but rather their scope and oversight. That concedes my fundamental point—that divided sovereignty is impractical in crisis.
Thomas Jefferson: It concedes only that we live in an imperfect world. The framers of our Constitution understood that pure separation of powers might occasionally be too slow. But they never intended emergency powers to become a substitute for legislative authority.
Thomas Hobbes: And yet here we are discussing precisely that substitution. Perhaps the flaw lies not in granting emergency powers but in your Constitution’s naive faith that such powers would remain limited. Power, once granted, expands to fill the needs of those who wield it.
Thomas Jefferson: That’s exactly why we must resist this expansion. The power to tax has always been the most sacred legislative prerogative. It was the very foundation of our revolution—”no taxation without representation.” If a President can impose tariffs by decree, what’s next? Suspending habeas corpus? Seizing property? Where does it end?
Thomas Hobbes: It ends where the sovereign determines it must end. Your error, Mr. Jefferson, is assuming that liberty and security exist in balance. They don’t. Liberty is only possible when security is assured by sufficient sovereign power.
Thomas Jefferson: Now you reveal the heart of our disagreement. You see liberty as derivative of power. I see power as derivative of consent. The people grant limited powers to government for specific purposes. When government exceeds those limits, it becomes tyranny.
Thomas Hobbes: The people? The people are inconstant, emotional, and easily swayed. They grant power and then complain when it’s exercised. They demand protection but resent the authority necessary to provide it.
Thomas Jefferson: Better the people’s inconsistency than the sovereign’s ambition. At least the people can change course through elections. Your sovereign, once empowered, has every incentive to maintain and expand his authority.
Thomas Hobbes: Your President faces elections. If he abuses emergency powers, he can be voted out or impeached. These are checks on his authority.
Thomas Jefferson: Elections every four years are insufficient when damage can be done in days. And impeachment? That’s a remedy so extreme it’s practically useless for anything short of the gravest offenses. You can’t impeach a President merely for aggressive use of emergency powers.
Thomas Hobbes: Then perhaps the answer is better definition of what constitutes an emergency, not elimination of emergency powers altogether. Your position seems to be that Congress should control all tariffs in all circumstances, which is simply impractical.
Thomas Jefferson: My position is that tariffs are taxes, and taxes require representation. If genuine emergencies require swift action, then limit such powers strictly: define emergencies precisely, require immediate Congressional review, and sunset all emergency tariffs after ninety days unless Congress votes to continue them.
Thomas Hobbes: And if Congress refuses to act while the emergency continues? If partisan faction prevents them from protecting the nation?
Thomas Jefferson: Then the President must make his case to the people and to Congress. Persuasion, Mr. Hobbes, not decree. That’s how republics function!
Thomas Hobbes: That’s how republics collapse! While your President “makes his case,” your enemies act decisively. You’re bringing philosophy to a knife fight!
Thomas Jefferson: I’m bringing constitutional government to prevent autocracy! Your problem is that you learned the wrong lesson from England’s civil war. You saw chaos and concluded that only absolute power could prevent it!
Thomas Hobbes: And you learned the wrong lesson from your revolution! You overthrew a king and concluded that all strong executive power is tyranny! But your Constitution grants substantial executive authority—you merely quibble about its extent!
Thomas Jefferson: I don’t quibble! There’s a vast difference between executive authority and legislative authority! When the President can tax by decree, he holds both powers! That’s monarchy in all but name!
Thomas Hobbes: It’s efficient government! Your fetish for separation of powers ignores reality! In crisis, someone must decide and act! Better one accountable executive than 535 legislators pursuing 535 different agendas!
Thomas Jefferson: Accountable?! How is he accountable if he can bypass the people’s representatives entirely?! You call that accountability—I call it DICTATORSHIP!
Thomas Hobbes: DICTATORSHIP?! Your President serves limited terms, faces judicial review, and can be impeached! That’s NOTHING like dictatorship! You throw around words like “tyranny” and “monarchy” without understanding what real tyranny looks like!
Thomas Jefferson: I understand tyranny PERFECTLY WELL! It’s what happens when power is concentrated without effective checks! Your Leviathan DEVOURS liberty in the name of security!
Thomas Hobbes: And your divided government accomplishes NOTHING in the name of liberty! You’d rather be free and poor than prosperous and secure!
Thomas Jefferson: YES! EXACTLY! I would rather be FREE! That’s the ENTIRE POINT of republican government!
Thomas Hobbes: Then ENJOY your freedom while foreign powers DESTROY your economy! Enjoy your liberty while your people STARVE because Congress couldn’t agree on emergency tariffs!
Thomas Jefferson: Better temporary hardship than PERMANENT SUBJUGATION! You’d trade essential liberty for temporary security and end up with NEITHER!
Thomas Hobbes: And YOU’D sacrifice security for abstract principles and end up with CHAOS! Your founders knew better than you—that’s WHY emergency powers exist!
Thomas Jefferson: Those powers were NEVER meant to replace Congressional authority! You TWIST their intent to justify EXECUTIVE TYRANNY!
Thomas Hobbes: I TWIST NOTHING! I simply recognize that in the REAL WORLD, divided authority means NO AUTHORITY!
Thomas Jefferson: And I recognize that concentrated authority means TYRANNY! ABSOLUTE TYRANNY!
Thomas Hobbes: Your naive faith in legislative supremacy will DESTROY your republic!
Thomas Jefferson: YOUR worship of sovereign power DESTROYS EVERYTHING FREE PEOPLE HOLD DEAR!
Thomas Hobbes: EVERY FAILED REPUBLIC IN HISTORY PROVES MY POINT!
Thomas Jefferson: AND EVERY TYRANT IN HISTORY USED YOUR EXACT ARGUMENTS!
Thomas Hobbes: YOU’RE A FOOL, JEFFERSON!
Thomas Jefferson: AND YOU’RE A BOOTLICKER FOR DESPOTS, HOBBES!
Thomas Hobbes: HISTORY WILL PROVE ME RIGHT!
Thomas Jefferson: HISTORY ALREADY HAS—IN EVERY FREE NATION THAT REJECTED YOUR POISON!
Thomas Hobbes: WE’RE DONE HERE!
Thomas Jefferson: THANK GOD FOR THAT!
Thomas Jefferson: If you enjoyed watching me dismantle Mr. Hobbes’s authoritarian fantasies, please like and subscribe.
Thomas Hobbes: Yes, do subscribe—so you can witness Jefferson’s republic crumble exactly as I predicted, since apparently he learned nothing from my warnings about the dangers of divided sovereignty.
Thomas Jefferson: Subscribe to see why concentrated power is the enemy of free people everywhere—a lesson Mr. Hobbes will never understand because he’s too busy polishing the boots of imaginary tyrants.
Thomas Hobbes: Subscribe to learn why Jefferson’s philosophical principles make for pretty speeches but catastrophic governance—ask the Romans how well their Senate protected them from Caesar.
Thomas Jefferson: I’d rather fail with liberty than succeed as a tyrant’s apologist like you, Hobbes.
Thomas Hobbes: And I’d rather face reality than live in Jefferson’s philosophical dreamland where legislatures magically act swiftly and wisely.
Thomas Jefferson: Like and subscribe!
Thomas Hobbes: Like and subscribe!
