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Monday, November 08, 2004

Click Here For The Wisdom of the Electoral College

The Wisdom of the Electoral College: "Some of us forget that old motto 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely' had a sister motto, '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.'

That is, there were three extremes that tended to tyranny: monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. That's right: Democracy was on the list and was considered by most of the Founders the worst form of all.

Madison noted in Federalist 10, 'Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention, have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have ever been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.'
Hamilton noted at the Constitutional Convention that 'the fate of Republican government' hinges upon 'due stability.' Democracies were not stable: 'If we incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot into a monarchy.'"

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