By Jerry Franklin
Jerry is a retired high-school Government teacher residing in San Diego County, California.
Jerry is a retired high-school Government teacher residing in San Diego County, California.
The Essence of Free Government
Our granddaughter Amelia just received her Masters in Education in Portland and we were proudly there to watch. I chose to give her historian Jon Meacham’s latest publication Songs of America, a splendid little tome reflecting the role of music and songs of either praise or protest in our history. He wrote the book in concert with country music’s Tim McGraw. In the contextual introductory chapter I discovered the following quote from our second—and notably prickly—President, John Adams.
The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries. The executive and the legislative powers are natural rivals; and if each has not an effectual control over the other, the weaker will ever be the lamb in the paws of the wolf. The nation which will not adopt an equilibrium of power must adopt a despotism. There is no other alternative. Rivalries must be controlled, or they will throw all things into confusion; and there is nothing but despotism or a balance of power which can control them.
For those familiar with Meacham there can be little doubt that he chose to include this prescient insight of Adams with anything save dyspeptic regard for its application to our current political circumstance.
1) Am I the only one who finds the dominant Five Supremes teetering on the edge of fantasy—more likely hypocrisy--when they suggest that they won’t involve the court in the gerrymandering of North Carolina because it is a “political issue” and the court cannot involve itself in “political issues”?
“Double, Double, Toil and trouble
Fire burn and cauldron bubble;
Filet of Alito snake; stroke of Thomas,
Hand of Gorsuch; gall of Kavenaugh
Cool it all with Robert’s blood;
Then the ruling is firm and good.”
2) Further, I think it absurd that we are supposed to pick and choose a President from a “debate” that involves 20 people! The DNC wants to be fair to everybody, but it is either a bad idea or simply foolish to ask unwashed masses to winnow through that many aspirants by making choices between “sound bites” and “bumper stickers.”
The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries. The executive and the legislative powers are natural rivals; and if each has not an effectual control over the other, the weaker will ever be the lamb in the paws of the wolf. The nation which will not adopt an equilibrium of power must adopt a despotism. There is no other alternative. Rivalries must be controlled, or they will throw all things into confusion; and there is nothing but despotism or a balance of power which can control them.
For those familiar with Meacham there can be little doubt that he chose to include this prescient insight of Adams with anything save dyspeptic regard for its application to our current political circumstance.
1) Am I the only one who finds the dominant Five Supremes teetering on the edge of fantasy—more likely hypocrisy--when they suggest that they won’t involve the court in the gerrymandering of North Carolina because it is a “political issue” and the court cannot involve itself in “political issues”?
“Double, Double, Toil and trouble
Fire burn and cauldron bubble;
Filet of Alito snake; stroke of Thomas,
Hand of Gorsuch; gall of Kavenaugh
Cool it all with Robert’s blood;
Then the ruling is firm and good.”
2) Further, I think it absurd that we are supposed to pick and choose a President from a “debate” that involves 20 people! The DNC wants to be fair to everybody, but it is either a bad idea or simply foolish to ask unwashed masses to winnow through that many aspirants by making choices between “sound bites” and “bumper stickers.”
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