Great Quote from the Federalist

I found an interesting quote while reading the Federalist, actually I’ve found multitudes of them. The genius and wisdom of these men was far beyond their years and far beyond themselves.

As a background, the Federalist is actually a collection of essays published in various newspapers throughout the country during the late eighteenth century. It was an attempt by Publius (actually Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison) to convince the people that the newly created Constitution was the best solution for the country. Up until that time the infant country had been loosely governed by the ineffective and remarkably deficient Articles of Confederation. At the time of the drafting of the Constitution, all options were on the table, including breaking up the fledgling country into separate confederacies. The authors sought to convince the people that what was needed was a stronger union of the states, hence the preamble of the Constitution, “…in order to form a more perfect union…”

Great stuff.

In any case, here is the quote.

“On the other hand, it will be equally forgotten that the vigor of government is
essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and
well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a
dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the
rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the
firmness and efficiency of government. History will teach us that the former has
been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the
latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics,
the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the
people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.”

You are probably shaking your head at this point. Really to understand the writing as it is you have to read it for a while, then you don’t get so hung up on the language and the highly educated verbage of the day.

In essence it says that you have to listen to what a politician is telling you and what he is doing. People pandering to groups of individuals are usually the ones that you need to fear, rather than the ones that are trying to build a fair and efficient government. “The former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter…”

Now turn on your TV and listen to the presidential candidates.
Are they talking about helping out low income families?
Are they talking about paying for your child’s college?
Are they talking about the plight of those who have fallen prey to corporate greed?
Are they talking about delivering people from the current “tyrant”?
Are they talking about saving families from their mortgage mess?

Do you hear anyone talking about improving the efficiency of the federal government?
Do you hear anyone talking about speeding up the judicial process?
Do you hear anyone talking about cutting taxes and decreasing government spending across the board?
Do you hear anyone talking about limiting government’s roll in your life?

So my question then is, what kind of politicians are we setting ourselves up with?
Are we creating despots or securing our liberties?