The Very Defnition of Tyranny, James Madison
No political truth is certainly of greater intrinsic value, or is stamped with the authority of more enlightened patrons of liberty than that on which the objection is founded. The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. - James Madison, The Federalist Papers, Number 47
Liberty Letters comment: So goes the very definition of tyranny, and yet we see it occurring in our day at the U.N., in budding regional governments (so-called “trade arrangements”), in regulatory (administrative law) agencies on the international, national, and state levels, and in the U.S. Supreme Court. So where is our protest, alarm, outrage, and action? If we neglect to take measure against such tyrannical accumulations of power, don’t we deserve the tyranny that follows? But I think better of the American people. The time has come (indeed we see the signs everywhere) to reign in real and budding tyrannies. And reign them in we will, if we are educated, organized, action oriented, determined, enduring, and ever vigilant. We can and will turn the tide.
Liberty Letters editor Steve Farrell is a pundit with America's Newspage, Newsmax.com, associate professor of political economy at George Wythe College, and the author of the highly praised inspirational novel, "Dark Rose." | More from Steve Farrell
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