Jon's Soapbox
Founding Father's Had Concerns About Populist Demagogues
(posted 2/29/2024) - Just decades after the American Constitution was ratified founding fathers Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madisson were aware of the risk to the new nation should a popular politician with low moral values seize the presidency for their own benefit.
I found an interesting opinion piece by Jeffrey Rosen, president and chief executive of the National Constitution Center, in which those concerns were made manifest through correspondence from that time,
Rosen quotes from letters between the founding fathers and I've included a copy as a PDF file HERE.
Postscript: I've often wondered why otherwise intelligent successful people support autocrat/dictator types around the world. An article in The Atlantic by Franklin Foer goes a long way towards explaining the siren call felt by a significant percentage of the elite and well heeled in every society. The linke to the PDF file is HERE.
Post-Postscript: We've been here before. There were quite a few congress persons during the 30's and early 40's who spoke passionately for letting Europe and Asia sort their own problems (with aggressive neighbors). Here's a timely (and well sourced) piece by Thomas Hartmann which demonstrates a very selective form of projection aimed at casting doubt on our own government's motives while lauding dictator's agression. The link to a PDF file is HERE.