March 23, 2009
Germane
I got a book for my Kindle, and I confess I did not pay much attention to its background. The book is titled "James Madison and the Future of Limited Government. edited by John Samples" And a quick search brings up the CATO page of a symposium featuring all the essayists in the book. CATO offers a paperback and an ebook; Amazon has only the Kindle edition.
I am not yet all the way through it yet but it is scarily reflective of current ThreeSources discussion. Madison on nullification, Madison on tyranny of the majority, Madison on the amendment process and potential to devolve into little-d democracy. I'll post a review corner pretty soon, but I would highly highly recommend getting your hands on it where you can. Amazon has a free Kindle reader app for the iPhone and iTouch.
It's not long but it is comprehensive and thoughtful.
It did inspire my melancholy comment on the difficulty of structuring limited government. We traffic in a lot of certainty around these parts. And I confess when it comes to economics I am pretty sure that the principles I espouse will optimize prosperity and individual freedom. But giving people the right amount of control over the law that governs them is somewhere between voodoo and art. I'm happy that we added the 13th Amendment, but I weep that the same process allowed the 18th.
I don't think anybody could have done better than Madison, and I wouldn't trust our current political class to create the menu for a lemonade stand much less seat a Constitutional Convention. Perhaps we accept the current Constitution with its flaws and failures, but find a political class that will live within its definitions.
Sounds excellent. Is it available as a *book*?
On your closing missive, haven't we already tried that "trustworthy political class" idea long enough to convince you it's a detour-less road to the U.S.S.A?
Posted by: johngalt at March 23, 2009 5:17 PMThat CATO link has a paperback for $7.50 (the Kindle version is $3.60). I wonder if a little aggressive browsing on the CATO site wouldn't find you most of content for nothin'
Yes, the last line is inartfully worded and poorly thought. I have wondered that a new or existing party might sell itself as a "Constitutional" party. That might popularize a good portion of the libertarian platform and escape some of the loonier labels. I did not mean a better political class, perhaps a better electorate. Both, like Barbie's math, are hard.
Posted by: jk at March 23, 2009 5:44 PM | What do you think? [2]