Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Quote of the Day (James Madison, on War as an Enemy of Liberty)



“Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”— James Madison, "Political Observations," Apr. 20, 1795, Founders Online, National Archives

Remember that even Madison, with his clear-eyed view of the dangers of conflict, yielded to the temptation to enter the War of 1812, a conflict for which neither he nor his predecessor had propertly prepared the nation. 

Then, think of the man who now occupies his office in DC—someone with nowhere near his intellect, experience or gravitas—and start praying immediately as you consider the ramifications of “fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”

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