This letter is among Cato’s best. Like Machiavelli in a few of his Discourses on Livy, Cato touches on the nature of despots, and the measures taken by the Roman… Read more »
On the eve of troubles with George III in the 1760s, His Majesty’s subjects on the North American continent regarded themselves among the luckiest people on earth. Charles De Montesquieu… Read more »
Men naturally seek to better their conditions and protect what is theirs, among which is their country. I’m continually surprised that so many do not take a look at history,… Read more »
While Charles de Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws was an oft-cited source during the federal convention of 1787, his observations weren’t limited to the balance of powers in government…. Read more »
Near the core of John Birch Society opposition to an Article V Convention of the States is mistrust of the American people. Dig further and one cannot avoid the conclusion… Read more »
“I don’t accept the law of gravity.” “Then I encourage you to jump, sir.” Over the course of a weekend lunch with my wife, we pondered the goodness of craft… Read more »
Cato began his letter of July 15th 1721 with praise for the republican martyr, Algernon Sidney. Just a few decades after Sidney’s execution, open republicanism in Hanoverian England was still… Read more »
The full title to this letter from 1720 doesn’t do justice to its content: how the fallen nature of men is concentrated once they become politicians. The outcome of party… Read more »
A visitor to America, say a modern Alexis de Tocqueville, might conclude that the American form of government is despotic. Considering we have presidential elections every four years, our imaginary… Read more »
At least two historic American statesmen attempted to insert the guarantee of internal police power to the states in both the Constitution and Articles of Confederation. Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman… Read more »