Sunday, June 27, 2010

Hamiltonian quote of the day: on the trick in governing well

"In framing a government which 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."

- Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), American Founding Father. 

3 comments:

Phil Johnson said...

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I think this is the kind of reference that takes America back to the arguments/debates/discussions over rights that evolved during the late colonial era.
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Are we in a new era where those arguments/debates/discussions are going to be rehashed again?
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Who will the villan be this time?
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mickey said...

I'm fairly certain that history has recorded that Hamilton ultimately compromised on thoughts such as these.

Honestly, the quote disgusts me.

Being controlled by govt is the exact opposite of liberty. Until a man breaks a law, the govt should have exactly ZERO control over him.

And we will NEVER have a govt that controls itself under our present system where the primary job of elected officials is to get re-elected.

King of Ireland said...

I agree with Mickey and think Hamilton was slime. He and Madison worked together to get the Constitution through but later parted company on some severe differences on the power of government.