James Madison - 4th President of the United States Documentary

Recommendable!

James Madison-Checks and Balances to Limit Government Power

Very recommendable! Rarely in history have so many great minds met in one place!

In particular, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson had apparently a very close and affectionate friendship:
"As Jefferson wrote in his most poignant letter, February 17, 1826 [just a few month before his death on July 4]: “The friendship which has subsisted between us, now half a century, and the harmony of our political principles and pursuits, have been sources of constant happiness to me. . . . It has also been a great solace to me, to believe that you are engaged in vindicating to posterity the course we have pursued for preserving to them, in all their purity, the blessings of self-government. . . . To myself you have been a pillar of support through life. Take care of me when dead, and be assured that I shall leave with you my last affections.”"

James Madison-Checks and Balances to Limit Government Power - Foundation for Economic Education: James Madison didn't originate the idea of checks and balances for limiting government power, but he helped push it farther than anyone else before or since. Previous political thinkers, citing British experience, had talked about checks and balances with a monarch in the mix, but Madison helped apply the principle to a republic. Contrary to such respected thinkers as Baron de Montesquieu, Madison insisted checks and balances could help protect liberty in a large republic.

State Nullification Doctrine Revisited

Prologue

This is only a sketch as I did not yet have more time to research this subject in more depth.

A quote from Daniel Websters:

“... those other words of delusion and folly, "Liberty first and Union afterwards"; …  that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart,— Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!”

Here are some sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Webster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster%E2%80%93Hayne_debate

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/jeffken.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_and_Virginia_Resolutions

Some Observations

1. Not lunatics, but Thomas Jefferson & James Madison have advocated state nullification
2. Daniel Webster was dead wrong to equate union and liberty. In the end union triumphed over liberty in the following years.
3. States who initially opposed the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions later resorted to state nullification when their interests were violated by federal laws.

Time For A New Era Of Enlightenment

Past Great Minds

Just a few names:

Friedrich Hayek died 1992.

Ludwig von Mises died 1973.

Alexis de Tocqueville died in 1859.

James Madison died 1836.

Thomas Jefferson died 1826.

Benjamin Franklin and Adam Smith died 1790.

Where are the new great minds?

Recent Lessons Of History Forgotten

Ronald Reagan said it best: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction”. How true!

World War II or the victory of freedom over totalitarian regimes. Those who witnessed it have either died or are very old by now. However totalitarian regimes are still around.

There are fewer totalitarian regimes than compared with a few decades ago, but Big Government is on the march and ever expanding in many developed countries.

Ominous Omens Of Our Times

We have entered an era of ignorance, arrogance and delusion of government power:

·         European politicians breach major European contracts with impunity, the courts look the other way.

·         US and European politicians and bureaucrats bail out so called too big to fail financial companies instead of allowing bankruptcy to take its course.

·         Major central banks lowered twice in a decade key short term interest rates to recklessly low levels for too long fueling speculation and indebtedness.

·         Irresponsible politicians in the US and Europe have run up government debt to incredible peace time levels.

·         In the 21^st century, a US President in collaboration with a democratic majority in the US Congress tries to outdo the horrible New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by, e.g., further nationalizing the health care system of the USA.