The Original Argument: The Federalists'

It took me 18 evenings (about 25 pages per day) to finish The Federalist Papers. The book was loaned to me, but now I must purchase my own copy for daily reference. The main reason for not having bought my own copy was that I had promised myself that I would never purchase ANY book written by ANY political pundit, period..!! A few things that stood out for me: [1] It entirely blows my mind that somehow this was not taught (or emphasized) in my American History classes––in either high school or college––when in fact it really should be emphasized. And my college course was top-of-the-line, supposedly one of the best in the nation. [2] (pp 115-116) The Constitution emphasizes (also p 412) that "no State can ever be deprived (without its consent) of having equal representation (i.e. two members) in the Senate; this prevents us ever changing from a republic to a democracy. I never knew that. [3] (p 195) "There should never be any laws that give special privileges to Congress or that exempt Congresspersons from anything being imposed on the People". Wow. Congress has certainly been violating that rule in recent decades. [4] (pp 239-241) "States should remain powerful and independent of the federal government and should never allow the federal government to become too powerful". This is another thing that the Founders believed would never happen but has now happened: i.e. the states depend financially so heavily on federal money that it is disgusting (and scary). [5] (p 279) Here and elsewhere Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay repeatedly speak of Divine Providence, Divine Sovereignty, andthat our human rights are endowed upon us not by some government or a human being, but by God, "by our Creator". [6] (p 296) "Each of the three Branches of Government should never overstep their limits of power granted to them by the Constitution". And look at this country now: the Executive Branch creates "czars" who serve the President but have never been elected by anyone; the Legislative Branch makes laws that gives them special privileges and hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits and entitlements, exempts them (for example) from the new healthcare laws, and performs so many other violations; the Judicial Branch overrules the majority of voters who had voted for or against some bill (e.g. making civil marriages legal), when judges have no rights to do this. [7] (pp 337-343) "The tax base ultimately is a function of the country's wealth, which in turn is a function of the amount of commerce––not government regulation". The past 3-4 decades have certainly seen this philosophy reversed. [8] (pp 344-346) "Hard work reaps its rewards, makes the worker proud, and this brings in the tax revenues––NOT the other way around". Again, this approach has gone out the window in recent decades. [9] (p 347) "One cannot raise a lot of money by direct taxation alone". [10] (p 339) "Whereas our tax rates have been all over the board these last few decades, the amount of tax revenue we take in is consistently around 18% of gross domestic product. It's not the rates that matter; it's the amount of economic activity that can be generated. Hamilton and many of the other Founding Fathers understood that, and they believed that direct taxation and higher rates punished hard work, discouraged entrepreneurism, and ultimately slowed down economic growth". Overall, this book makes an excellent read. I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to become enlightened about how our country and its Constitution was REALLY founded.

Awesome, informative, readable and understandable version of the Federalist papers

Great