Federalist Paper No. 51 – Janine Turner
Howdy from Texas. Here we are at Federalist Paper No. 51! I want to thank Professor John S. Baker for his wonderful essay and gracious time. I also thank all of you who are blogging with us. Isn’t the conversation stimulating? Isn’t it wonderful to have this forum to discuss and interpret the United States Constitution and the Federalist Papers?
I am very intrigued with Federalist Paper No. 51. I feel as if I need to read it again and again. It is filled with perpetually profound paragraphs.
As I read through these papers, many of Publius’ explanations are starting to gel in my mind. One is the importance of faction and the meaning of James Madison’s words, “Liberty is to faction what air is to fire.” Faction not only exists between states but it is essential that faction exist within the government. As Professor Baker stated, so often we hear that we should have harmony in our congress, yet total and complete accordance represents a tyranny and a monopoly, a trumping so to speak, of the diversity of voices in America.
In Federalist Paper No. 51 James Madison states:
“In framing a government that is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
Faction is a function of this control.
Another intriguing point of James Madison’s is:
“In a free government, the security for civil rights must be the same for that of religious rights. It consists in one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects.”
Security for civil rights and religious rights represent free government. I wonder how James Madison would view our religious rights in America today?
However, the most stunning, revealing and relevant statement of Federalist No. 51 is the following:
“Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be, pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.”
We, as citizens, as humans, as spiritual beings must be allowed to seek, succeed, stumble and rise again. It is only through the hard times that we truly learn and grow. I teach my daughter that failure is an essential element of life. She must not fear it. She can only succeed if she can run the risk of failing. True genius requires true grit.
If we take away the freedom to rise and fall, then we take away our primary principle of liberty.
Liberty will be lost in the pursuit of the great cultural equalizer.
Spoon feeding justice to all Americans will not only sap the soul, it will sap our economy which will lead to a decline of industry, a debilitating debt which will jeopardize our freedoms.
Capitalism must be allowed to succeed, fail and rise again.
These are the great ingredients of success: ambition, hunger, drive, competition. This is human nature. Defy human nature and the riddle will unravel.
“Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be, pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.”
Wise, prophetic words that need to be heard now. As John Adams said, “Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge of the people.”
History holds the key to the future.
God Bless,
Janine Turner
Thursday, July 8th, 2010
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