What follows is an essay penned by my friend Carl, an attorney, gun-owner, and lover of all things related to the Founders and the Founding Documents. Every time I see him, under his arm is yet another book on American history, especially the time of the Founding. I find Carl's passion for this nation and its history and traditions virtually unmatched, and it shows in this essay, which he asked me, being a blog owner, to share with you all.
With less than a week until arguably the most important election in the last seventy years, I am asking the citizens of the United States to do a little homework. This is not a request for anyone to vote for a particular party or a particular candidate, but rather to remind themselves and to understand the principles upon which this great, not perfect, nation was founded.
The assignment is simple; review three of the nation’s most important documents; namely, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Federalist, also known as the Federalist Papers. These documents hold the answers to today’s most pressing questions.
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are the documents most individuals are familiar with, and express the basic principles upon which this nation was founded. Reread these documents and rediscover the genius of the Founding Fathers. Many people gave their lives to bring forth this nation conceived in the principles set forth in these documents. Many others fought and died to preserve those very same principles. Rereading these documents every now and then is the least we can do as citizens.
The Federalist is a compilation of eighty-five essays written individually by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay in an attempt to explain the various provisions and ideals expounded in the Constitution in order to garner popular support for ratification of the Constitution. Even a cursory review of the Federalist reveals that the Founding Fathers knew that the Constitution was not perfect, but the best possible Constitution that could be created by fallible men. The importance of the Federalist may best be summed up by Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 1, wherein he writes, “It has been frequently remarked, that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country to decide, by their conduct and example, the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force.”
Although the Federalist is over two hundred years old, it is as applicable today as when it was written. For example, in Federalist No. 35, Alexander Hamilton discusses the importance of balance in taxation wherein he writes, “There is no part of the administration of government that requires extensive information, and a thorough knowledge of the principles of political economy, so much as the business of taxation. The man who understands those principles best, will be least likely to resort to oppressive expedients, or to sacrifice any particular class of citizens to the procurement of revenue. It might be demonstrated that the most productive system of finance will always be the least burthensome.” Hamilton understood that taxation requires reflection, consideration as well as balance, and not just the redistribution of wealth. The redistribution of wealth not only violates the founding principles but also has the potential to foster class warfare which also is discussed in the Federalist.
In Federalist No. 10, James Madison writes, “But the most common and durable source of factions, has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold, and those who are without property, have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a monied interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests, forms the principal task of modern legislation, and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of government.” There will always be classes in any society. It is not the function of government to eliminate classes or redistribute wealth amongst the classes, but rather to regulate the various classes so that the nation works to the advantage of all its citizens.
In Federalist No. 57, James Madison addresses the principle that the laws passed by Congress should apply equally to all citizens, including themselves, wherein he writes, “I will add, as a fifth circumstance in the situation of the house of representatives, restraining them from oppressive measures, that they can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as the great mass of society. This has always been deemed one of the strongest bonds by which human policy can connect the rulers and the people together. It creates between them that communication of interest, and sympathy of sentiments, of which few governments have furnished examples; but without which every government degenerates into tyranny.” Based on this fundamental tenant, each of us should ask our representatives why the new health care legislation does not apply to members of Congress.
Also applicable to the recent health care legislation is Federalist No. 62. In Federalist No. 62, James Madison writes, “The internal effects of a mutable policy are still more calamitous. It poisons the blessings of liberty itself. It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood: if they be repealed or revised before they are promulg[at]ed, or undergo such incessant changes, that no man who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow.” The current speaker of the House of Representatives recently informed the nation that we will have to pass the bill to find out what it says. I cannot conceive of any government which passes an almost two thousand page law that no one understands or has even read and then has the arrogance to announce that we will find out what it says after it is enacted.
In Federalist No. 41 James Madison explains that the Constitution and the laws that flow from it are not perfect, but they represent the best that people can do wherein he writes, “It may display the subtlety of the writer; it may open a boundless field for rhetoric and declamation; it may inflame the passions of the unthinking, and may confirm the prejudices of the misthinking: but cool and candid people will at once reflect, that the purest of human blessings must have a portion of alloy in them; that the choice must always be made, if not of the lesser evil, at least of the GREATER, not the PERFECT good; and that in every political institution, a power to advance the public happiness, involves a discretion which may be misapplied and abused.” Every law enacted may be misapplied or abused and thus it is up to the people and the courts to ensure that it is not. The new Arizona immigration law is the perfect example of a law that is good and necessary, albeit not a perfect law. Immigration should be handled by the Federal Government, who should start enforcing the existing laws rather than suing the states that attempt to enforce Federal Law.
One hears, especially in law school, that the Constitution is a living, breathing document. I believe this is correct, but not in the way the phrase is used today. The Founders built in a provision that allows the Constitution to be amended. In this sense, it is a living, breathing document. However, certain individuals, both in government and society at large believe that the elements or provisions of the Constitution itself are open to change based on the situation. I respectfully submit that this cannot be the case. There must be certain fundamental principles that govern us as a nation, otherwise everything is subjective. In Federalist No. 78, Alexander Hamilton writes, “The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is in fact, and must be, regarded by the judges as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body. If there should happen to be an irreconcilable variance between the two, that which has the superior obligation and validity ought of course to be preferred; or in other words, the constitution ought to be preferred to the statute, the intention of the people to the intention of their agents.” The people have the power in the end, and the government needs to be reminded that they govern us only with and by our consent.
Regardless if you agree or disagree with anything that I have said, James Madison in Federalist No. 62 sets forth the purpose of good government, wherein he writes, “A good government implies two things: first, fidelity to the object of government, which is the happiness of the people; secondly, a knowledge of the means by which that object can best be attained. Some governments are deficient in both these qualities: most governments are deficient in the first. I scruple not to assert, that, in the American governments, too little attention has been paid to the last. The federal constitution avoids this error: and what merits particular notice, it provides for the last in a mode which increases the security of the first.” Let us make sure we have a good government by reminding ourselves of the founding principles and exercising our right to vote. The right to vote was a gift from our Founding Fathers who wanted us to have an enduring republic with a strong, but limited central government.
Abraham Lincoln, in a speech at Cooper Union in New York City, ended with the following pledge:, “LET US HAVE FAITH THAT RIGHT MAKES MIGHT, AND IN THAT FAITH, LET US, TO THE END, DARE TO DO OUR DUTY AS WE UNDERSTAND IT.”
God Bless the United States of America.
Carl J. Evens, New Jersey USA
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