It Got Me To Thinking

Amid warnings that we are in for a severe winter, I wondered, “Just where the heck is Al Gore when you need him most? I mean I could sure use some extra heating oil, and Thanksgiving isn’t even here yet. It would be nice if the man behind the Global Warming hoax actually presented himself front and center to explain what in God’s name is going on here. His earlier invention, the internet, has been largely useless in terms of finding the man. I want answers, and I want them now!

Well, I’ll have to turn to lesser things, such as pulling out my copy of the US Constitution, and reading once more the words of Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison. These two men spent many a cold night in the late 1700s answering their own questions, and the questions of those who opposed the Constitution’s adoption by the colonies. Their work, known as the Federalist Papers, pre-supposed the value of constitutional government, and their articulately stated opimions and views hold forth to this very day. An amazing byproduct, is that the keen intellect, and prescience on display back then, has not replicated itself unto this very day. Say what you will about Liberal influences in our public education system, the fact remains that these men were perfect not only for their time, but, boy, could we use men like that today.

Quite tellingly, Hamilton in his concluding remarks, said: “I answer in the next place, that I should esteem it the extreme of imprudence to prolong the precarious state of our national affairs, and to expose the Union to the jeopardy of successive experiments, in the chimerical pursuit of a perfect plan.” Further, Hamilton reasoned that: “I never expect to see a perfect work from imperfect man.” All men that is, who desire finding the “perfect plan” Hamilton admonishes us: “The result of the deliberations of all collective bodies must necessarily be a compound, as well as of the errors and prejudices, as of the good sense and wisdom, of the individuals of whom they are composed.”

Finally, Hamilton, in a moment of pure candor, quotes another writer: “To balance a large state or society, whether monarchical or republican, on general laws, is a work of so great difficulty, that no human genius, however comprehensive, is able by the mere dint of reason and reflection, to effect it. The judgements of many must unite in the work, experience must guide their labor, time must bring it to perfection, and the feeling of inconveniences must correct the mistakes which they inevitably fall into, in their first trials and experiments.”

These were not simply words of caution, they were instructions to those willing to listen. It is hoped, but not likely, that Barack Obama hears these words from his ancestral forefathers. Social experiments, over the years, have failed miserably when done on the grandest of scales. So too, will this be the fate of most of the program changes Obama has promised to us in the name of “change”

Since the Founding of America, many Congresses, and Presidents have tinkered their way around constitutional constraints, mostly with abysmal results. Today is no exception, save one fact: The current Congress, and the incoming President, seem hell bent on casting aside the wisdom of men like Madison, and Hamilton. All this in the name of what? Certainly not a better America, for America is greater when men disavow themselves of the notions that THEY can do better.

Madison and Hamilton wrote by the light of flickering candles at night, and by the strength of their publicly stated convictions during the light of day. Before the current crop decide to “change” America, it would be better if they first ask themselves, “What would Madison and Hamilton have said?”