Federalist No. 61 – Janine Turner

Howdy from Texas! I want to thank you for joining us today and I want to thank Professor Kyle Scott for his insightful essay. We are so blessed to have such esteemed scholars donating their time to Constituting America and to all of us who are reading, blogging and eager to learn.

I always strive to find what it is in the Federalist Paper of the day that is relevant to today. I am never without a loss, as there is always something that is brilliantly and passionately poignant.

Today, in Federalist Paper No. 61 by Alexander Hamilton, I was captivated by his arguments, which are consistently coherent and colorful. How much fun it would have been to have watched him in action and listen to his orations. His mind was active, alert, educated and astute. His intellectual reasoning and educated acumen, when paired against his opponent, was like a chess game and Alexander Hamilton was always saying, “check mate.”

The obvious relevancy of Federalist Paper No. 61 to today is in regard to his comparisons that the federal rules of the government regarding elections were no different than the rules of the state. Flip this and we have Arizona.

Arizona’s law is no different than the Federal law.

If anything, the state law is more lenient than the Federal law. Oh, if only, we had Alexander Hamilton here with us today to reveal this absurdity with his eloquent and searing charm.

My friend, Mark Joseph, writes about American’s knee jerk reaction to issues without taking the time to understand them. The link to his essay is at the end of this essay.

Many people in America have lost all reason, all desire to check the facts. One just jumps on the ideological bandwagon of the “party line.”

Political activism without preparation is like a powder keg. It only leads to dangerous incitation.

Corrupt or devious officials in power feed on the naiveté of the people. This is their trump card.

The genius and majesty of the people prevail only with an inquisitive and hungry appetite for the truth.

As John Adam’s said, “Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge amongst the people.”

I say, “Liberty cannot be sustained without a general knowledge of the United States Constitution.”

God Bless,

Janine Turner

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

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