Thomas Jefferson believed that local community self-government was essential for freedom. Jefferson’s archenemy, Alexander Hamilton, and others wanted to concentrate all American power at the national level. And this made states and local communities as well as individual citizens dependent on a tyrannical national government. Consequently, it greatly troubled Jefferson: Were not this great country … Read more
Who first brought corruption into the American government? Corruption existed in Great Britain before there was an American government. Consequently, Edmund Burke, a Member of the British Parliament, wrote: There is no safety for honest men but by believing all possible evil of evil men, and by acting with promptitude, decision, and steadiness on that … Read more
Would a truly wise person even want to run for political office today? In a previous post, I said that a wise person would desire a solid and comfortable income. And I described how that is different from the ridiculous wealth that most politicians are able to amass through their manipulation of insider information. Corruption … Read more
Is our government a work of genius, a cesspool of corruption, or both? Virtually all agree that the men who designed America’s government were geniuses and patriots. And they clearly intended to direct all the incentives for politicians toward the public good. But the corruption in that same government has become the butt of jokes. … Read more
If you had to choose either liberty or equality for America, which would you choose? Of course, that begs a more important question: Do we have to choose between them at all? Do we even have to compromise between them? I argue that this is simply another way of looking at the false choice between … Read more
Thomas Jefferson wanted America to be a bottom-up multi-layered republic. In other words, he wanted citizen decision-making power at all levels. That is to say, true sovereignty would exist in local communities, counties, states, and the nation. That should be the definition of the phrase “Jeffersonian democracy”. But what America has is a top-down system … Read more
We tend to waste time, money, and energy attacking the symptoms of problems and ignore their root causes. What is the root cause of most of America’s problems? I believe it is government corruption. Moreover, I think that happens because we don’t know how to separate money and politics. The love of money is the … Read more
