Congratulations to the Freedom Library. The time we spend with Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry was delightfully entertaining and instructive. And the debate rages on. How do we create a more perfect union, a system of self-governance for people who, although “noble in reason, infinite in faculties,” are so wretchedly imperfect? Our founders faced a challenge that no other leaders had ever cared to face.
         “Patrick Henry” and Bill Bubbert argued for a return to the Articles of Confederation.  They admired it for its inefficiency.  I was quite convinced.   A federal government so loosely held together could not have become the behemoth that threatens us today at every juncture.
          In the end, I was swayed by arguments made by “Thomas Jefferson” and Mark Greenough defending the constitution.  Jefferson’s pivotal claim?  The Articles were “Godless.” The fact that our rights are endowed by our creator makes all the difference.  Abraham Lincoln’s arguments for emancipation would not have had teeth or legs under the Articles of Confederation.
           The other fault of the Articles is that they are based on a faulty idea, that man is essentially good and did not need much government to manage affairs. Jefferson understood that man was not essentially good, and that given a chance, given the power, given the opportunity, he would walk all over the rights of others.
          The balance of powers built into the constitution was devised to prevent that from happening.  No one can be trusted with power, so one’s ambition must be held in check by another’s ambition. Likewise, the ambitions of each branch of government were to be held in check by the other branches.  It was ingenious, a delicate balance.  The only problem with the constitution is that we have not been vigilant.  And you say, “Oh no!  Not that again.”
             But it has to be said again.  Jefferson and Madison and Franklin and Washington and Mason and Wythe, all of them,  gave us a government by the people, and they hoped that we would remain an informed and attentive people.  They kept it simple because they knew that a “country swimming in laws would be drowning in corruption.” They wrote 2 pages of laws.  Now the EPA codicil alone numbers 25,000 pages of laws.
         We have been much too involved in bread and circuses and have let their carefully crafted vision nearly drown in excrement.
It was great fun.  Thanks.

May 16, 2012