The center of the problem of big government were the Federalists; John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and others lobbied for and eventually succeeded at diminishing state sovereignty and rights creating a strong central power (government). Madison; highly educated (at what was later Princeton), son of a wealthy planter who owned over 3000 acres in Virginia (grew up on an estate known as Montpelier). John Jay, a brilliant man and well established lawyer in colonial times was far from poor and was well connected. While attempting to work toward a peace treaty with Brittan (which he successfully did later with Ben Franklin) worked feverishly to preserve business ties and contractual rights for he and his friends in America, however the war would end. Hamilton was described by John Adams as “the bastard brat of a Scottish peddler.” Of course Ben Franklin, the 15th child of 17 came from humble beginnings grew to be an extremely affluent inventor, publisher, philosopher and businessman well before the revolution. He was the first foreign diplomat abroad and although he lived very frugally was far from a simple country guy.
Jefferson and his group made up the opposing force; the Anti-Federalists, they believed in a strong Union of independent states; all states maintaining sovereignty assuring the rights of the people. Even after losing the battle to keep the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution, Jefferson’s belief was that they had created our government by design and with purpose to have a weak central government in order to guarantee the sovereignty of the states and the people within. The battle to create or repel the creation of a super central government raged on even through Jefferson’s presidency in the early 1800’s.
Madison who penned the first few drafts of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights understood that the Bill of Rights; which could have as easily been amended to the Articles of Confederation would assure a victory for ratification of the Constitution. They wished even that long ago, to centralize power in order to give the Federal Government the rights to impose taxes and other powers. I would point out that the first 8 presidents of the US under the Articles of Confederation were only allowed 1 year terms. Yes that was before George Washington. Term limits were part of the Articles. Under the Constitution there were no term limits. Term limits were not omitted by accident.
The US Senate and the House of Representatives was a compromise between the classes. The Senate was created to appease the smaller states to provide equal say, and the House for the larger states to have more sway in the direction of legislation. As things progressed by the early 1800’s the Congress had pretty much split into the Senate representing the elite and affluent; largely a result of their 6 year term, and the House representing the common people; being up for election every four years.
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) made a living in the mid 1800’s expressing his loathing of Congress. Regarding his take on “the way it used to be” in the mid 1800’s Twain wrote, “My kind of Loyalty was loyalty to one’s country, not to its institutions or its office-holders”. Twain on Congress, “It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress”, finally he said: “Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose that you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself”.
So when I was still doing my political radio talk show and often now I am asked, “as a patriot, survivalist, and conservative you must be a strict Constitutionalist? I tell them that I am not. They have always been befuddled by the fact that I would say, I love my country, I am a Jeffersonian and believer in State Sovereignty. They often say, but we have state sovereignty under the Constitution. I explain that is incorrect and that the state sovereignty was killed by President Lincoln when he, along with his elite cronies, declared that no state should have the right to secession from the Union.
Right on the heels of the Civil War, in 1872, are the scandals involving US Congressman receiving graft, gifts, and outright bribes in return for their vote funding the Union Pacific Railroad and the Crédit Mobilier of America Construction Company. Crédit Mobilier was contracted to build the eastern portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. The scandal began during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln and nearly derailed the construction project. The federal government awarded and chartered the Union Pacific Railroad in 1864. It was later revealed that in 1868 Congressman Oakes Ames had distributed Crédit Mobilier stock shares to several congressmen, and later made cash bribes, during the Andrew Johnson presidency.
So the next time that you hear someone talk about how much better it was in the “old days” you can laugh and say not really. It’s nothing new, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely. The easiest way to kill mold is sunlight, so too with Government, whenever the Government is allowed to act in secret people’s rights and interests will be denied. Unless we are talking about troop movements, defense activities, plans, and weapons, transparency should be our demand, not our goal.
It is unfortunate that the few good people who put everything on the line to do things right are rarely ever remembered. Instead it is a smoothed out version choosing winners and losers, heroes and villains. Omissions and redactions are the tool of King Makers with which they make villains and cowards into heroes. The idea that is represented by “the good old days” is a wonderful one, and hopefully someday we can find some people to represent us who can resist the human failings of ego and power long enough save our freedoms and great nation. It is that very challenge and our Founding Father’s misgivings of human nature that caused them to wish to limit the size, scope, and power of government. They understood the need for basic order, law, and international relations; the rest was to be left to the states who would be forced to respect the will of their people.
Will
The (Not So)
Good Old Days
Did You Ever Notice
How Everything Was Always Better
Some Time Long Ago?
A friend of mine, a bright guy who has been all over the world like me, and is a true patriot posted a comment on his Facebook page lamenting the need for a sense of honor, common our government. He was yearning for the good old days. There certainly were people like Jefferson, John Adams, and others who were educated men that had a strong commitment and interest in the betterment of all. Jefferson said, ” we created this government to be lead by men, who leave their respective walks of life, server the people, and then return to their respective walks of life”. He did not say that by accident, he said it regarding his concern of what was already becoming evident of a growing career political “ruling class”.
These thoughts certainly rouse the sentiments of us who yearn for the image of the “good old days”, unfortunately there is no truth to such euphemistic recollections. In fact what you see today is a direct result of the powerful lesson of Attila; it is not “to the victor goes the spoils”, it is; “to the victor goes the history”. The death of Attila at the hands of his new bride allowed history to be written by Rome, not the Huns. So today you know Attila as a barbaric mad man written by the Romans, who had he lived would have overrun Rome in weeks. So goes our history diminishing those who shunned the idea of a super central government.
What we are experiencing right now has been a long time in the making by many of those to whom you refer. Those Founding Fathers responsible for our current woes of over reaching government laid the groundwork long ago. Most of them were very wealthy, influential and connected.
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