Category: National
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News and Government
I have been reading Breaking The News and consequently thinking about the role of the media in disseminating information and the effects of that process in the political arena. I don’t know that my thoughts are fully formed here, but I had to get something down. The media has been called the Fourth Branch of…
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Annapolis Convention
It was not so long ago that I became aware of the Annapolis Convention of 1786. Though I had started reading the resulting report before I got my pocket Constitution I was very excited to see that it was included there. It was there that I finally sat down and read the report through. I…
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Federalist No. 45
I wish we had a constitutionally limited federal government such as the one that Madison is promoting/defending in Federalist No. 45. the next question to be considered is, whether the whole mass of {the powers transferred to the federal government} will be dangerous to the portion of authority left in the several States. Madison argues…
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Federalist No. 44
Although it is not the central point of Federalist No. 44, I found it very interesting to read the fervent distrust of paper money that the defenders of the Constitution had based on their experience – especially considering our present circumstances of economic uncertainty that are largely due to the instability of paper currency (which…
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Federalist No. 39
Federalist No. 39 seems to contain the central argument that is being addressed in the debate over ratifying the constitution: "But it was not sufficient," say the adversaries of the proposed Constitution, "for the convention to adhere to the republican form. They ought, with equal care, to have preserved the FEDERAL form, which regards the…
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Bill of Rights Day
Today is Bill of Rights Day, the day when the Bill of Rights was ratified 217 years ago. This holiday, along with Independence Day and Constitution Day, represents the real celebration of the great country we should be striving to maintain. Interestingly, while Independence Day is the most celebrated of the three our independence did…
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Federalist Nos. 30 – 36
Federalist 30 Money is, with propriety, considered as the vital principle of the body politic; as that which sustains its life and motion, and enables it to perform its most essential functions. A complete power, therefore, to procure a regular and adequate supply of it, as far as the resources of the community will permit,…
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Our Tranquil Times
I’m glad that our country has so few problems that, in order to feel useful, we have a Representative proposing a bill to end the BCS system. I’d hate to think what kind of legislation we would be getting out of such a Congress if we were living in turbulent times with a depressed economy,…
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Oath of Ignorance
I thought the following idea was laughable in light of something I heard recently: [Charles Tiefer, whom Congress appointed earlier this year to the new Commission on Wartime Contracting, which oversees Pentagon contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan] says, federal employees take an oath to [support and defend] the Constitution, while private contractors are just motivated…
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Holding Out Hope
Our President-elect ran a primary campaign on themes of hope and change – I liked the tone he set at that time. Once he had secured the Democratic party nomination he insisted that the Democratic party cease accepting money from political action committees – I liked that action towards change. Once the general election campaign…