In one of my college classes, I have a poll I give the students each term, during the week we discuss Locke and Hobbes. It goes something like this:
“You have $25 you want to use to help the poor. You have four options: you can let the government use it for welfare; you can hand it to homeless people on the street corner; you can donate it to the private charity of your choice (Salvation Army, Goodwill, Catholic Charities, etc.); you can microloan it to a poor person via Kiva.org to help him/her build a business. List your preferences in order of first to last.”
Almost invariably, the students will choose microloans first, private charity second, street corner third, and government fourth. Then I ask them if they vote for candidates who promote welfare, and almost invariably they say yes. Until the thinking of the voters begins to become reflected in the voting of the voters, this will not change.
I’m not sure if the following is a direct quote from David Hume or from my notes on him. Whatever:
“On their own, personal honor is a strong check against immorality, deceit, theft. Get men together in a group, and honor begins to disappear. The larger the group, the less honor. Men are naturally corrupted with lust for power, and the structure of government should harness those passions, and direct them toward the public good. “ . . . people would act in the public interest if government made it advantageous for them to do so, and constitutions and laws should recognize that fact.”
Our framers put that logic into practice with a senate of the states. No return to a free republic is possible without repeal of the 17A.
Article V before we can’t.