Was Jefferson right?

Nobody disagrees with Patrick Henry, that “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.” But how do we do that, exactly, when politicians can mess with the Constitution and, for example, give themselves more power, retirement pay after one year, and a raise every year?

If you hate all that, then do you think Jefferson was onto something when he said, “To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”?