RealClearPolicy Newsletters: Original Articles
Madison's Experiment
Dear Reader —
Given “the natural diversity of human opinions on all new and complicated subjects, it is impossible to consider the degree of concord which ultimately prevailed as less than a miracle.” Thus wrote James Madison, the so-called father of the Constitution, in describing the events that led up to the ratification of that document.
Besides playing a decisive role in framing the Constitution, Madison also offered a vision of the political community he took to animate the skeleton of laws enumerated therein. It brought together into a peculiar harmony — often described by contemporaries using the analogy of a Newtonian planetary system — the countervailing forces of individual liberty and central authority. This “political experiment,” as Madison put it, “combin[ed] the requisite stability and energy in government with the inviolable attention due to liberty, and to the republican form.” But this vision also depended on a people that, though large and diverse, nevertheless remained committed to a common principle: that of self-government.
Some decades later, Alexis de Tocqueville came to the United State and was struck by the democratic culture then thriving in the young republic. In particular, he praised Americans’ entrepreneurial spirit and propensity to form and participate in institutions that mediated between the individual and state. This civil society acted as a kind of glue, holding together the Madisonian mechanism of self-government outlined in the Constitution.
But Tocqueville also saw a danger. An overemphasis on individualism could undermine these institutions, by casting their civic bonds as constraints from which the autonomous individual must be liberated. Thus the threat of tyranny would come not so much from the top-down as the bottom up: Americans would cease to understand themselves as citizens of a common form of government — a republic (literally, “the public’s thing”) — and become, instead, an aggregation of isolated individuals. They would then have nowhere to turn but to an expanded federal government for protection against one another.
In formulating his political vision, Madison carefully studied not only ancient and modern political philosophy, but also the rise and fall of past “confederacies.” Why? Because, he believed, “the past should enlighten us on the future: knowledge of history is no more than anticipated experience.” It is a worthy injunction today, Madison’s birthday, when passion seems to have strained, if not broken — to paraphrase another figure from our country’s past— the bonds of affection upon which Madison’s democratic republic was intended to rest.
These are some of the many issues lately taken up at RealClearPolicy. Below you will find just a few highlights.
— M. Anthony Mills, editor | RealClearPolicy
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Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Help American Workers. Chad Stone makes his case in our pages.
We Don’t Need Government to Regulate the Internet. Ryan Hagemann argues that calls for government action to break up alleged tech monopolies are misguided.
Are Trump’s Tariffs Justified by National Security? In RealClearEnergy, Jay Hakes contends that the move signals a troubling expansion of executive authority.
A Gas Tax Hike Is Not the Way to Pay for Infrastructure. Also in RealClearEnergy, Tracy C. Miller takes issue with the proposal.
Five Facts You Need to Know About Steel & Aluminum Tariffs. The bipartisan group No Labels offers this overview.
The Charter School Challenge. Frederick M. Hess and Amy Cummings suggest ways to improve the authorization process for these schools.
To Help Troubled Students, Teachers Need Support Not “Guidance.” In RealClearEducation, Emily Langhorne urges the Trump administration to propose a better alternative to Obama-era guidance on school discipline.
New Bill Would Incentivize Defaulting on Student Debt. Jason D. Delisle takes issue with a proposal by Democrats to reform student loan policy.
Rural America’s Health Care Crisis. In RealClearHealth, Suzanne Harrison & Kim Templeton suggest ways to make health care more accessible.
The Public School Myth. Also in RealClearEducation, David S. D’Amato criticizes the rhetoric employed by critics of school choice.
