For years now I have held that the genius of our founding Framers embraced the clear-eyed acceptance of the frailties of human nature and its persistence. They determined, therefore, the necessity to engineer a Constitutional structure that could distribute the pressures of power in such a manner as to counterpose any serious imbalance of load,Continue reading “Structural Integrity”
Tag Archives: politics
Post-Constitutional America
Governor Greg Abbott of Texas laments the prospect of living in a “post-Constitutional” America. And well he should. So do we all. It hasn’t happened yet, of course, but he fears that he will be compelled to bring it on. How is that possible, one might ask. Because the Supreme Court might decree that heContinue reading “Post-Constitutional America”
The Long Clasp (Post 12)
Part IIThe Threat **THE PEOPLE §§ Difference is not Division §§(continued) {But what if the lowliest of us are the regulators? What if we take it upon ourselves to determine how best, how reasonably and justly, to regulate conflict? A place to start would be to discern why earlier attempts failed.} [end of post 11]Continue reading “The Long Clasp (Post 12)”
The Long Clasp (Post 8)
Part IIThe Threat **THE PEOPLE The arrangement addressed by the proposed Constitution and dissected by Hamilton amounted to a government of the States, by the States, and for the States. Thirteen sovereign States established it by agreement amongst themselves. Their legislatures appointed the delegates to the Congress. The business of the government included little elseContinue reading “The Long Clasp (Post 8)”
The Long Clasp (Post 7)
Part IIThe Threat *UNION §§ The Defect In considering the necessity to throw over utterly the Articles of Confederation as inadequate to sustain the Union, Hamilton, in particular, analyzed nine major defects of that document. The great and radical vice in the construction of the existing Confederation is the principle of LEGISLATION for STATESContinue reading “The Long Clasp (Post 7)”
The Long Clasp (Post 6)
Part IIThe Threat *UNION § Politics How shall we understand “power”? Without waxing prolix and philosophical, I offer the following thoughts by limiting its use to the everyday world of human beings. “Power” refers to the wherewithal to direct and control desired outcomes. The strength of that power may emanate from the character, the will,Continue reading “The Long Clasp (Post 6)”
The Long Clasp (Post 3)
** The Aspiration Between the first and last phrases of the Constitution’s mission statement—its Preamble—are the following six phrases, which, in fact, list the long-range goals, the desired outcomes that lay behind the system of governance set out within the document: in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provideContinue reading “The Long Clasp (Post 3)”
The Long Clasp 