The Most Dreaded Enemy of Liberty
by James Madison, August 1793
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. . . .
inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and . . . degeneracy of manners and of morals. . . . No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. . . .
that the powers proposed to be surrendered to the Executive were those which the Constitution has most jealously appropriated to the Legislature. . . .
The Constitution expressly and exclusively vests in the Legislature the power of declaring a state of war . . . the power of raising armies . . . the power of creating offices. . . .
here's the rest:
http://www.fff.org/freedom/0893e.asp
a short, but fantastic, work by james madison. and proof that liberty and the bush administration are diametrically opposed to each other. madison, if alive today, would probably title this piece "bush: the most dreaded enemy of liberty".
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