I’m a bit confused here.
Just got this Patriot Post email this morning, and I’m wondering how many ways this can be taken out of context by the left:
“It is too early for politicians to presume on our forgetting that the public good, the real welfare of the great body of the people, is the supreme object to be pursued; and that no form of government whatever has any other value than as it may be fitted for the attainment of this object.” –James Madison
I, quite quickly, can see several different ways which some may be able to interpret this. As, I’m sure, can many of you. Did Madison really imply that a Marxist style of governance, the control of every facet of our lives, was the Founders intent? Or was it merely to protect the people from foreign influence that we may excel within our borders, protected only from foreign invasion and internal interpersonal criminal behavior? What did he consider “the real welfare of the great body of the people”? Safety and freedom are what I see as the answer.
But if we look at what Franklin Pierce said, it becomes somewhat clearer:
“The constitutionality and propriety of the Federal Government assuming to enter into a novel and vast field of legislation, namely, that of providing for the care and support of all those … who by any form of calamity become fit objects of public philanthropy. … I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for making the Federal Government the great almoner of public charity throughout the United States. To do so would, in my judgment, be contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution and subversive of the whole theory upon which the Union of these States is founded.” –President Franklin Pierce (1804-1869)
I see that as a far better explanation. If you want to help others, generate a private support group to take donations and disperse them. It is not the governments purpose to do anything other than insure that it is not done as a scam or criminal enterprise. This is where I see the value of the tax exemption for non-profit companies, and the only purpose the government has there is to examine the operation to make sure that it stays clean. That USED to be what the churches did. And, what business should it be of theirs whether there be a certain level of profit anyway? There is where we fall into personal responsibility. Algore, for example. What the fuck does giving him money for “carbon offsets” actually DO for the environment? Not a damn thing. What does contributing to the Salvation Army, or the Lighthouse Mission do for people? These are groups that actually have a purpose, They feed and clothe people in hard times, and they have offices which help in job searches. Pay a wage to those who help in their operations, help to provide a roof and heat to those until they can find a roof of their own, and attempt to inspire individuals to pull themselves out of the mud.
But, if we speak of taxation, that was not in the Constitution to begin with. Other than taxing foreign investors on the sales of their products to the American people. Income tax, as we know it today, did not exist until WW2. The government sold “bonds” to support their funding for operations of whatever form.
A return to limited government, responsible only for law enforcement and national defense, is the main answer to our troubles. Allow We The People to excel, and we may yet return to the absolutely amazing growth levels of our first 150 years. Retain the government as it has grown to be, and we will continue down the path of our last 75 or so. Government interference only gets in the way of achievement. </rant
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Madison, being one of the architects of the Constitution and one of the actual founding fathers has a bit more weight than a Pierce, who was born seventeen years after the Constitution was adopted, and became president 66 years after that date. He wasn’t an author, or even a participant in the deliberation of that document and the founding of our country.
Madison, on the other hand was a participant and obviously had influence on the crafting of that document.
What Madison said in his quote was his attitude, and his opinion, and even though not specifically codified in the Constitution, is no less important to determine where at least one of these founders stood.
There are writings from many of these founders that mention their attitudes, and opinions. They are for insight only — an idea of what our founding fathers were actually thinking at the time.
I know that I have confused some people at the Rott by mentioning the fact that there is a difference between the “spirit” of the law and the “letter” of the law. That while the letter of the law is cold and hard, the spirit behind it gives us an idea of the intent.
I doubt seriously that any of the founding fathers intended a nanny state.
Nor do I. Or should that be “As do I”? What became of our government is wrong. Absolutely wrong.
A fine rant CM. Kudos to you.
Double kudos for finding a Franklin Pierce quote that was relevant. After all Mr Pierce is one of the more obscure men ever to hold the presidency as he rose from being the Whig party chairman in New Hampshire to the Presidency. He was a US Senator a little earlier in life. He also habitually rates in the bottom two of most presidential assessments right before James Buchanan and right after Millard Fillmore both chronologically and in competency. He also was kind of an early day Jimmy Carter(right before Fillmore on the depth chart) as he continually sniped at Lincoln for his handling of the “War Between the States”.
He is so obscure that they think he was the crazy surgeon on M*A*S*H.
However it doesn’t mean he wasn’t correct in his assessment of the extent of the powers of the Federal government as he was raised in an era before the specious and noxious notion of the “living constitution” and the risible idea that 5 justices could change the plain meaning of the constitution. The “living constitution” concept may be wholly the most destructive idea to come out of the so-called progressive ie nanny state movement as it promoted a mode of interpretation that encouraged justices to advance personal agendas and not the rule of law. Any one of this school of thought is an enemy of the liberty laid down by the founders and an open proponent of creeping government power into areas they were not contemplated to govern or have the competence to do so.
They deprecate the rights and obligations of the citizenry for the material “equality” of those they wish to subjugate under the rubric that they as the self anointed elite know better. This is fascism with a happy face as no one is more annoying than one who claims he has your best interests at heart. This leads to the assumption of power because the so called do gooder only has good intentions. The fact that they create great and wide spread harm in order to perform a narrow good is a perversion of the concept of “general welfare. They do this too plump their over developed sense of self righteousness and moral vanity.
Madison himself explained it best as he said that (paraphrase) the general welfare of the people was to be attended to through the enumerated powers granted in article one(section 8) and adherence to the proscriptions therein(section 9). He was clearly one who wished to have a choke chain around the Federal government and devolved much of the domestic policy power to the several SOVEREIGN states. Any spinning of the above quote is just another example of leftist sophistry and an attempt to take advantage of their fellow travelers in academia obscuring and perversion of history.
I know of at least one case where Madison got up and deplored such governmental largess from the Fed while he was a congressman from Virgina and Jefferson’s right hand man. The only way you can take Madison as a big government socialist is to take him completely out of context. Of course we no the sophists and demagogues on the left have no scruples in twisting events to try and substantiate a point, don’t we.
The only way to combat this is through us making sure the history and context are not subverted by those who wish to turn this country into something it was never intended to be.
My Heavens you’re good at sorting my thoughts! Thank you for your addendums, they explain my readings, as I’ve said, better than I can put into words.