Join the debate at Constituting America

Comments on the Federalist No. 35

By Seth Richardson

June 12, 2010

Hamilton writes, “There is no part of the administration of government that requires extensive information and a thorough knowledge of the principles of political economy, so much as the business of taxation. The man who understands those principles best will be least likely to resort to oppressive expedients, or sacrifice any particular class of citizens to the procurement of revenue. It might be demonstrated that the most productive system of finance will always be the least burdensome.”

Dr. Postell writes, “Most importantly, we can only pursue the common good by abandoning the idea of separating ourselves into classes. Dividing ourselves into separate classes overlooks the natural human equality that is the basis of our rights, and it overlooks the common interests and affections that bind us together as Americans.”

Both statements are true, but they only work to effect individual liberty and stable society when the ideology of the nation comports with the Founder’s intent.

The difficulty we face today is the deliberate creation of faction, something the Founders went to great lengths to prevent and minimize. The Progressive and Socialist influences in our government require faction, require the creation, or at least the identification of class as a necessary component of the Marxist process of pitting one group against another. Without faction, with a unity of resolve as to the proper place of government and the proper duty of the citizen, there is no place for revolution.

What we have seen since Woodrow Wilson is an increase in faction, not a decrease. This is not accidental, it’s very deliberate and calculated. The Progressives need to create a dependent class that outnumbers the productive class in order to aggregate and maintain power.

Hamilton’s statement, “The man who understands those principles best will be least likely to resort to oppressive expedients, or sacrifice any particular class of citizens to the procurement of revenue” only remains true when the intent of the man making the decisions is not to oppress and sacrifice a particular class of citizens to the procurement of revenue.

Socialism and Progressivism hold as their fundamental precept the sacrifice of the “wealthy” class to the procurement of the revenue, and therein lies the fault in Hamilton’s rather optimistic view of human nature and the representative process. Living in a time when the resistance and objection to the excesses of monarchy were nearly universal, and when the revolutionary zeal to secure the liberty so lately won by blood is likely the source of Hamilton’s error.

Today, we face the specter of Marxism and Marxism-lite (Democratic Socialism) in the guise of a dependent class that has been raised up for nearly four generations in the Progressive propaganda of “social justice” and welfarism, who believe it is just and righteous to appropriate by force the labor and property of “the wealthy” in order achieve equality of outcome for themselves.

© 2010 Altnews

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.