Would Madison Be Optimistic Today?  

   "Misrepresentation and party feuds have arisen to such a height" that they may not end "at any point short of confusion and anarchy," said the president. 

   That was George Washington, who along with John Adams and Alexander Hamilton thought the American experiment was a failure and the U.S. would soon be disunited. Slavery was the problem Jefferson thought would kill the deal.

   Adams (the capitalization was his) wrote, "There is So much Rascality, so much Venality and Corruption, so much Avarice and Ambition, such a Rage for Profit and Commerce among all Ranks and Degrees of Men." 

   Other founders shared Adams' concern. Benjamin Rush wrote that the U.S. "will certainly fail. It has already disappointed the expectations of its most sanguine and ardent friends." He told his children that he felt "shame for my zeal in the cause of our Country." As for the Constitution, he wrote, "I cannot meet a man who loves it." 

   Dennis Rasmussen, whose book provided these quotes, says, "The looming demise of American democracy has been announced countless times in the course of history. We are bombarded with similar pronouncements today." 

   But James Madison said the American constitutional order in 1834 was "successful beyond any of the forms of government, ancient or modern, with which it may be compared." 

   Yesterday we completed our six-part summary of the threat posed by critical race theory. America-hating leftists are getting closer to totalitarian levels of power, we are purposely divided, and lied to, institutions are wobbling, faith is viewed as radical, and few care about our exploding debt. 

   We survived the Civil War, and we may survive yet. God knows.   

   Our nation is farther down the road of "rascality" than Adam's day. 

         Jimmy