James Madison on war. Not too good for the chimp.

[Gato Moteado]

The Most Dreaded Enemy of Liberty
by James Madison, August 1793

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. . . . inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and . . . degeneracy of manners and of morals. . . . No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. . . .

that the powers proposed to be surrendered to the Executive were those which the Constitution has most jealously appropriated to the Legislature. . . .

The Constitution expressly and exclusively vests in the Legislature the power of declaring a state of war . . . the power of raising armies . . . the power of creating offices. . . .

here's the rest:
http://www.fff.org/freedom/0893e.asp

a short, but fantastic, work by james madison. and proof that liberty and the bush administration are diametrically opposed to each other. madison, if alive today, would probably title this piece "bush: the most dreaded enemy of liberty".

[GainesT1958]

1. Shoot, today James Madison would be reminding us of something...

A contemporary of his did to the America of the beginning of the 19th Century; namely, John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts. Those undermined everything he stood for, and encouraged the same kind of "abuse of the Executive" that the Patriot Act (and its abuse by Dub and Ashcroft) does today. It took the election of a fellow Virginia patriot, Thomas Jefferson, to fully purge the threat posed by those Acts on America, and to help prove James Madison right once again.

B-)

[ElementaryPenguin]

2. Madison was an evil scum liberal traitor!! mAnthrax Coutler told me so!

Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reily - these are America's true Founding Fathers! Who cares what Madison thinks!

[Gato Moteado]

4. that's scary, because that's the way a lot of freepers think

nt

[The Stranger]

3. Can Chimp read?

Them that there has some mighty bigs words in it.

[Gato Moteado]

5. kick....

people need to read madison's words. every single prediction he made has come true under the chimp.

[enki23]

6. madison was generally very much in favor of such executive power

he was explicit in designing the constitution to defend the rights of the wealthy property owners against the "leveling impulses" of the masses. of course, armies can take from the wealthy as well. maybe that was his major concern. that's not much of a worry with the bush administration in charge, however.