“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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