Posted on 05/22/2010 3:40:40 AM PDT by RogerFGay
In some ways Madison comes off worse than Hamilton. At least Hamilton was big gov all the way and no doubt about it. Madison helped create the monster, then scurried around trying to undo what he'd just done, apparantly caught flatfooted by the very things the antifeds had warned about and Madison as Publius had mocked--implied powers, unaccountable judiciary, etc.
Why is it that no one, not Henry, not Yates, ever offered specific corrections to The Articles of Confederation?
What would you have done?
Answer: Confederacies do not constitute government.
Even if there were no chance of implementation today, you would think Anti-federalists would memorialize their improved document for the sake of future generations.
I'm certainly not going to hold my breath waiting for the Anti-federalist unicorn.
That is as far as I'll go, I get paid to lecture about this... but the gist of this is - Madison was nothing like Hamilton and if you think so then you truly have not researched and read about these two men.
I didn’t say Madison was like Hamilton. I said Madison, in some ways, was worse. Hamilton was a big gubmint guy all the way. Madison was a sucker who created a big government and then got hoodwinked by his own creation-—numerous times.
The antifeds HAD their document-—the Articles of Confederation.
Articles of Confederation - epic fail, as judged by the men who crafted it and who abandoned it as inadequate only six years after it went into effect. But if that’s the Anti-federalists’ recommendation for a better document than the Constitution, hey, good luck to them with that.
Constitution—epic fail. Limited government? LOL. Few and defined powers? LOL. Oh man, it sure is good for a laugh though.
And it's a failure. First, the idea of a part-national, part-federal system is a failure. When you have a supreme national government, the states become mere administrative agencies, retaining only those powers the national government lets them keep. Second, the "few and defined" powers has been proven a failure. And it didn't take long. The Implied Powers doctrine was applied in the Washington administration (the first time Madison got hoodwinked.) Third, the unaccountable judiciary has proven to be a virtually limitless loophole for the nationals to expand power, with common law principles making it virtually impossible to undo the damage done over the course of our history. Finally, the system is just as indebted as the old government was under the Articles. Supposedly that was why we needed consolidation--to pay our debts. How's that working out.
In short, any objective observer can see the Constitution completely failed to create the government Madison described in his Federalist papers. What the Constitution created was a leviathan.
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For the sake of argument assuming the Constitution was all bad, wrong, evil, pernicious, (insert additional negative adjectives here), you would think the Anti-federalist Constitution should be leaping off (the Anti-federalists’) pens... well, to update the image leaping off their keyboards. Yet the mountains groan and bring forth... nothing, not even a mouse.
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Articles of Confederation - epic fail, as judged by the men who crafted it and who abandoned it as inadequate only six years after it went into effect. But if thats the Anti-federalists recommendation for a better document than the Constitution, hey, good luck to them with that.
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I'm reminded of Churchill's statement: No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
So it is with the Constitution: the worst organizational document, except for all the others proposed. The only other document that was ever come up with was the Articles of Confederation, and its flaws were what led to the Constitution.
In the end there are two types of Anti-federalists:
1) those that have come up with something better,
2) the critics, whiners and complainers.
So far there are no Anti-federalists who qualify for 1).
Perhaps it is long past time for Anti-federalists to actually come up with a document. (A small addition:) Or admit they cannot.
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There's a saying in politics - you can't beat someone with no one. It means no matter how bad the other party's guy is, you've still got to put up someone better.
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You know my position - I know yours. We must agree that we disagree and will not come to any agreement.
Good luck to you in future ventures.
That's not correct. The flaws in the Articles led to delegates being sent to Philly, with instructions to amend the articles--on commerce, on taxation.
What led to the Constitution was the desire on the part of certain key elites to create a consolidated government worthy of empire. The convention was merely the political opportunity they seized upon to hatch their plan.
It's all water under the bridge now. The Constitution has brought us to where we are. Not much we can do about it now. The "framers" really screwed the pooch.
Good point. Certainly there would have been no Louisiana Purchase and no War with Mexico. Hence, nothing recognizable as the US past the Mississippi. Most likely, the Lousiana Purchase lands would have gone to Britain after defeating Napoleon. It would make an interesting alternative history novel.
SO you think a loose confederation would still be standing? Excuse me, but that did give me quite a chuckle.
The problem started with the radical Congress during and after the Civil War. Then FDR didn’t help with the threat of stacking the court. Most of all, Marxist professors teach that the strict literal misinterpreted is wrong, because they believe the Constitution is a living breathing document.
The Constitution worked for well over 150 years, until the Marxist came along and interepreted the Post Civil War amendments.
You’re quick to blame Madison, but why don’t you do your homework with the Moonbat Brigade and the last 100 years???
related...
http://gunnyg.wordpress.com/2010/05/29/obama-threatens-14-us-governors-with-immediate-arrest-2/
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