“[T]he powers proposed to be lodged in the federal government are as little formidable to those reserved to the individual States as they are indispensably necessary to accomplish the purposes of the Union; and that all those alarms which have been sounded of a meditated and consequential annihilation of the State governments must, on the most favorable interpretation, be ascribed to the chimerical fears of the authors of them.” Publius
As the newly drawn Constitution was being considered for ratification by the various States, some patriots were wary of the broad powers of the proposed federal government. They were troubled by the prospect that the federal government would become a leviathan that swallows up individual rights of citizens and powers reserved to the States. Publius (James Madison) not only reminded, but emphasized to, his fellow citizens that the central government would be endowed with only those powers “indispensably necessary to accomplish the purposes of the Union . . . .”
Could it be that Publius was mistaken? Perhaps this is an instance when he was too optimistic about, and held too resolutely to, his conviction that Americans, even those 200 years into the future, would vigilantly safeguard their liberties. Look what has happened since his assurances were given. The federal government has intruded into virtually every aspect of our lives! Ask the farmer. Ask the businessman. Ask health care providers. Ask professional athletes. Ask students of the Supreme Court. Ask those who are assessing the official actions of Mr. Obama on a daily basis.
Yes, our federal government is out of control. It is nothing but a parasitic behemoth that has annihilated State and local decision-making. Our hard-earned tax dollars are being consumed by the most profligate spending in the history of this republic. This is FACT.
The real question is how we the people reign in these sorry excesses. We must begin to organize in village after village, city after city, and State after State. Tea parties are an excellent beginning! We must make sure that Mr. Obama and his minions hear our voices. We must let him know that it will not do for him to blame the current financial crisis on George W. Bush, when Democrats have controlled Congress since 2006 and Obama’s spending proposals are the most outrageous in history. What will it take to impress upon him that ceding ever-increasing power and authority to the federal government is contrary to the balanced system of national, State, and local government that our founders bequeathed to us?
At first, we must attempt to reason. That, however, will fail, because tyrants are never reasonable. Then what? Patrick Henry’s words come to mind, “Give me liberty or give me death.” Should we internalize these words as merely an empty burst of flashy rhetoric, or as a choice forever before us?
Federalist #46
ReplyDeleteI wish you would begin referencing which Federalist paper you quote from. It is sometimes a bitch to discover the source. Like my other powers my power of recollection is not what it once was. But I managed to find the summation of Federalist Paper #46 which you quoted.
“[T]he powers proposed to be lodged in the federal government are as little formidable to those reserved to the individual States as they are indispensably necessary to accomplish the purposes of the Union; and that all those alarms which have been sounded of a meditated and consequential annihilation of the State governments must, on the most favorable interpretation, be ascribed to the chimerical fears of the authors of them.”
You then ask “Could it be that Publius was mistaken?” Being as he was a man, and all men are fallible, I assume he could be mistaken. I tend to be a little curious about the reason or reasons he may be mistaken in his conclusions. Which of the proofs of his arguments were in error? Were his errors factually incorrect or logical fallacies? Or was Mr. Madison functioning as a partisan propagandist, what we would today call a spin-meister? But that is simply a manifestation of my own preferences in intellectual investigations.
Your do not answer the question “Could it be that Publius was mistaken?” Instead you provide contemporary examples that the power of the federal government is indeed overwhelmingly formable. That these formable powers are indeed a threat to the liberties of the citizen seems to be self evident. You then ask “How can we the people reign in these sorry excesses?”.
Publius appears to believe that the people are capable of reigning in the government. He claims that “..the ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the people alone,...” I prefer to believe, or agree with this statement. It can be cast into existential terms of master and slave. If or when the slave refuses to be a slave he says “I will be free or I will not be” the master must free or kill the slave and he can no longer be the master. You used the deathless prose of Patrick Henry “Give me Liberty or Give me death.” I accept it as a choice that is forever before us and has always been.
Just as tyrants are never reasonable they also are never reluctant to kill large numbers of persons who indicate in some manner that ‘They would be free or they would not be.” Unfortunately I am of the opinion that the majority of humans have always had a preference ‘to be’ which greatly exceeds their desire to be free. If they were to be polled I believe they will plainly agree that it would be nice to be free but it is not a condition worth getting killed to achieve. The majority of mankind though out history would “rather be red than dead” or whatever the form of oppression that is popular in their area at the time they are living.
I am not at all convinced that the federal government has intruded into every aspect of our lives. I agree that it is controlling and directing a vast multitude of minute activities concerning my daily life that are or should be private activities of no concern to the federal government. I disagree that it has intruded.
A burglar is not invited to come into your home and help themselves to your belongings. A burglar intrudes into your home and life. I believe that the federal government has been invited by the citizens, their agents, or elected leaders, to entwine itself intimately into our private and public lives.
Publius claims that “…the ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the people alone…” I believe that his is a valid observation for our nation. The situation we are in today is the result of about 150 years of the people inviting the federal government into their local lives. At every step citizens of a region or a particular class or group petitioned the federal government requesting it step in and remedy a local situation that they felt needed a remedy. The civil war, the end of slavery, the subjugation of the Mormons, the eight hour day, the end of child labor, safe work conditions, universal suffrage, public education, are all areas where citizens have asked or insisted that the federal government become involved in activities which were rightly the preserve of the states. Incrementally the behemoth that you and I recognize it to be grew as it complied with requests of its constituents. .
The federal government is not the burglar who intrudes into our lives it is the invited house guest who has outlasted its welcome and is reluctant to leave. A burglar is an enemy from the moment he enters our home. The guest becomes an enemy only after their presence has become obnoxious. I believe this is an important distinction to remember when discussing our relationship with those who rule us. Incidentally this is when the house guest became obnoxious, the moment it began to rule us.
Tea Parties are important to developing local political communities which will hopefully reverse the trend and begin evicting federal programs as opposed to welcoming them.
That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.