Jefferson is also famous for having said:
[2]
Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment... But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times.
Thomas DiLorenzo - RationalWiki
YES,
Dante
And when the "institutions advance and make changes with the times"
it is by CONSENT. Things change when someone's CONSENT is left out, and that group petitions for their interests or objections to be included in policy instead of excluded. It would not make sense to change things where it then violates or excludes other people's consent, because that wouldn't fix the problem but replace it with a different conflict that has to be worked out again. Why not resolve all objections and conflicts, as they arise, and get the laws written and passed by consent? Why try to push bills through KNOWING there are fundamental objections.
When a law or contract is changed, it should be by the MUTUAL consent of the parties affected.
NOT by some elite faction that abuses the media to tell other people what the terms need to change to, and won't take into account their input, perspectives and effect on people being overruled.
Democratic process is not about one group bullying another "by majority rule"
as the parties would have it.
Jefferson did believe there was some element of "divine providence."
That sometimes public policy should not be left to public opinion,
but that God might bestow certain duties or wisdom on the leaders of govt
to make decisions that aren't to be swayed by "pandering to what is popular."
That is probably where the left and right part ways and distrust the other:
The Left distrusts when the Right believes that God ordains some things
and that govt is supposed to serve that higher truth, regardless of those whose beliefs disagree.
Likewise, the Right distrusts when the Left tries to dictate "the will of the people" and mandate public policy based on what they deem to be politically correct agenda, even in conflict with half the nation.
both the left and right have a different way of justifying
when it is okay to override the dissent of the opposing views.
That is where they both claim the other is abusing govt to establish
private political agenda; whether this imposition on the public
is blamed on religious bias, or political secular beliefs.
It's still the same complaint.
The REAL issue, Dante, is whether the group that is pushing their religious or political agenda
is one that you align with or not.
And Govt laws are not supposed to be determined by "which group's beliefs are more popular"
or have more members to push that through.
Does it make a difference if the belief set being pushed onto the public
is religious, secular or political in its expression?
Isn't a belief by any other name still a belief?