James Madison Saw This Abusive Government Thing Coming

http://townhall.com/columnists/austinhill/2013/07/28/james-madison-saw-this-abusive-government-thing ^ | July 28, 2013 | Austin Hill

[Diogenesis]

"One of the traditional methods of imposing statism
or socialism on people has been by way of medicine..."
President Ronald Reagan

[MissMagnolia]

A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government……”

The flip is true now .... with many decades of work by the Dems/Progs/Libs and with enabling help and outright support from the Republicans, the people are dependent on the government. I don't see it getting turned back around.

[unixfox]

Protesting is insufficient.

No doubt. There comes a time when people have to ACTUALLY take matters into their own hands. By whatever means necessary.

[Kaslin]

[Kaslin]

Very well said

[GeronL]

that emoticon is me right now

[central_va]

Unfortunately they lost but the Confederacy proved one thing that the reconstructed historian cannot dilute; they proved it takes four weeks for a state or group of seceding( I prefer the word escape or escaping) states to go from no central government at all to having a functioning Federal govt. This amazing feat was done under war time conditions in the age of the steam engine and telegraph. Now we have jets and the internet so it might only take a week.

[charlie72]

In George Washington’s Farewell Address (paragraph 22), he warned about the diversity of factions whose ideologies would destroy our unity around the Constitution and lead to a dictator and the loss of freedom.

[yldstrk]

Uh James Madison also saw it in his world and in the past world, government is abusive, once the narcissists get power, they abuse it

[Jacquerie]

Always a great quote, but I wish more columnists would go further.

A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government . . . But experience has taught mankind that auxiliary precautions are necessary.

A few paragraphs later, Madison said, " In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is subdivided to the administration of a single government. To guard against usurpation, the government is divided into distinct and separate branches. In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, state and federal. Then the portion allotted to each is subdivided among distinct and separate branches. Hence the rights of the people are doubly protected."

The first and most important division of power was between the states and feds. The 17th Amendment removed the first division. Here in the age of Obama, the second division, that of three branches within the national government has become muddied to point that judges and the executive make proclamations with the force of law.

Very little time remains to save our republic. It is way beyond time for an Article V amendment convention.

[supercat]

This amazing feat was done under war time conditions in the age of the steam engine and telegraph. Now we have jets and the internet so it might only take a week.

I'm not sure faster communications would expedite things. In the days of the steam engine and telegraph, the parties involved would recognize that people they chose to represent them might reach consensus with other representatives in ways that might not be 100% agreeable to the people appointing them, but accepting such imperfect consensus would be deemed better than spending time on multiple iterations of "improvements". Modern technology improves the speed of iteration, but would likely increase the number of iterations people would want. It's unclear which effect would dominate.

[Spok]

The American dream, as well as the American nightmare, were accurately envisioned by our founders. Their uncanny perception and brilliance makes Divine Intervention easy to argue.

[Prospero]

Just finished reading Ralph Ketcham's excellent biography of Madison to reacquaint myself with President Madison, and I'm once again amazed at his singular place in history. Taking nothing away from his very close friend Thomas Jefferson, Madison was the more influential of the two at the opening of our on-going Great Experiment with a "composite" constitutional republic.

He wrote George Washington's first inaugural address, was the first (unofficial) Senate majority leader and as Jefferson's Secretary of State might well have been nearly at the same place of highest influence through Jefferson's and his own four terms in early Washington.

I could go on and on, but I won't.

I'm going to Montpelier ASAP to pay respects.

Steer clear of the elementary websites devoted to children and child-minds, if you want to understand these remarkable people and their time, and our country.

[wjcsux]

The so called racist white guys saw this day coming.

[Publius]

I rarely invoke this Federalist Papers ping list. This article is good, but I would have preferred that it be longer and go into more detail. Regrettably, most of these websites hold their contributors to a certain number of words, and more could -- and should -- have been said.

Perhaps some on this ping list would like to contribute.

[M Kehoe]

Thanks for the ping.

5.56mm

[rlmorel]

It is worthy. I think there were more than a few of the founders who could have seen this coming. I don’t think Alexander Hamilton was one of them, but I think even he would be astonished and repulsed if he saw the way our government was today, particularly with respect to our debt.

[American in Israel]

It’s been nearly five years of the President and Congress spending future generations into the oblivion of debt, the Executive Branch securing control over huge chunks of the private economy (two car companies, multiple banks and the health care industry are only part of it), and a dramatic expansion of both the defined role, and the powers of the IRS.

Somehow I think that Fascism was not what the EBT'ers were Hoping for when they voted for change. But it certainly is what we got.

[musicman]

"James Madison Saw This
Abusive Government Thing Coming"



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