James Madison - Federalist 10:
Everyone has different abilities.
There is not a damn thing we can do about that (YET)
Protection of the results of a lifetime expressed as a result of these abilities and hard work is the FIRST OBJECT OF AMERICAN GOVT.
People with different abilities and who have exerted different effort will stratify society and cause the birth and growth of factions...but that does not change the PRIORITY of the American way, which in its most pure form is ONLY a recognition of human nature, which is to say, NATURE itself.
This all assumes one factor - EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
The accuracy of these observations IS what has been responsible for our success as a nation, and as individuals compared to other nations and social systems.
The caution:
So let's judge Mr. Obama as he goes about attempting to do what he is, by his valuing the primary goal of American govt as the founders saw it... protection of the diversity of the faculties of men, and their results, expressed from a base of equal opportunity...NOT the enforcement of un-objectified 'fairness' as a mandatory result, policed by the force and intimidation of a distant central political authority.
The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests.
The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.From the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results; and from the influence of these on the sentiments and views of the respective proprietors, ensues a division of the society into different interests and parties.
The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society.
Everyone has different abilities.
There is not a damn thing we can do about that (YET)
Protection of the results of a lifetime expressed as a result of these abilities and hard work is the FIRST OBJECT OF AMERICAN GOVT.
People with different abilities and who have exerted different effort will stratify society and cause the birth and growth of factions...but that does not change the PRIORITY of the American way, which in its most pure form is ONLY a recognition of human nature, which is to say, NATURE itself.
This all assumes one factor - EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
The accuracy of these observations IS what has been responsible for our success as a nation, and as individuals compared to other nations and social systems.
The caution:
Nice to know NOTHING has changed among men, and in human nature.So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual
animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts. But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views.
The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation, and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of the government.
So let's judge Mr. Obama as he goes about attempting to do what he is, by his valuing the primary goal of American govt as the founders saw it... protection of the diversity of the faculties of men, and their results, expressed from a base of equal opportunity...NOT the enforcement of un-objectified 'fairness' as a mandatory result, policed by the force and intimidation of a distant central political authority.
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