Of The Laws Which Establish Political Liberty
In Book XI of The Spirit of the Laws, Charles de Montesquieu touched on the nature of liberty and representation in republics. While the term ‘liberty’ is somewhat ambiguous, he… Read more »
Spirit of Governments
On February 18th, 1792, James Madison posted an anonymous squib in his newspaper, the National Gazette. He asked: May not governments be properly divided, according to their predominant spirit and… Read more »
A Presumption of Liberty
This squib goes hand-in-hand with my two earlier posts that made the case for an annual Article V state convention, here and here, to defeat both an out control administrative… Read more »
Democrats, Democracy & Article V
Democrats just love democracy. Who could possibly oppose democracy? Didn’t progressive icon Woodrow Wilson inform the nation that the purpose of the United States was to make the world safe… Read more »
Toward an Annual Article V State Amendments Convention (II)
Subtitle: Who Shall Determine our Rights? In Part I, I examined how and why an Annual Article V State Amendments Convention should become a regular feature of the American governing… Read more »
Montesquieu’s Quips on Corruption
Not forty years after publication of Montesquieu’s great work, The Spirit of the Laws, our framing statesmen would combine their experiences with Montesquieu’s (and others) philosophy, and draft a Constitution…. Read more »
Best Friends: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
For some time, I’ve had a squib in mind that connected the Declaration and Constitution. Professor William B. Allen of Michigan State University beat me to it some years ago… Read more »
The Value of Virtue (II)
In yesterday’s blog I related the founding generation’s assumptions regarding the necessity of virtue in stable republics. Many conservatives today believe our early years after Independence was an idyllic era… Read more »
The Value of Virtue
I recently dusted off an old friend: Gordon S. Wood’s The Creation of the American Republic 1776 – 1787*. His research in the newspapers, pamphlets and sermons of the Revolutionary… Read more »
Montesquieu on the Corruption of Republics
The corruption of republics typically begins with corruption of its principles. In this squib, Charles de Montesquieu* could equally describe America’s corruption of separation of powers and embrace of populism…. Read more »